274 DOGBANE FAMILY. 



87. APOCYNACEiE, DOGBANE FAMILY. 



Herbaceous or woody plants, known mainly by the milky acrid 

 juice, opposite (sometimes whorled) simple and entire leaves, with- 

 out stipules, and regular monopetalous flowers with 5 in the calyx, 

 corolla, and stamens, the lobes of the corolla convolute or twisted in 

 the bud, the anthers conniving around the stigma or often adhering 

 somewhat to it, ordinarj' pollen, filaments separate, the 2 free ovaries 

 commonly separate, but often the styles and always the stigmas 

 united into one. The ovaries also are often united into one, the juice 

 in several (as of Periwinkle and Oleander) is not at all or shghtly 

 milky, and one of our genera has alternate leaves. Some are orna- 

 mental in cultivation, many are acrid-poisonous. There is com- 

 monly a ring, membrane, or other appendage on the style below the 

 stigma, to which the anthers are apt to adhere. 



§ 1. Shrubs cult, for ornament, natives of warm climates: leaves oftener wliorled. 



1. ALLAMANDA. Corolla large, yeUovv, with short tube abruptly expanded into 



cylindi-ical bell-shaped or funnel-form, the 5 lobes broad and rounded. Sta- 

 mens at the summit of the proper tube or throat, alternate and comiiving with 

 as many 2-parted narrow scales. Ovary one and 1-celled, with 2 parietal pla- 

 centa, becoming a prickly pod. Style slender. Seeds naked. 



2. NERIUM. CoroUa salver-form or the long tube narrow funnel-form, the throat 



crowned with 5 slender-toothed scales. Stamens on the middle of the tube : 

 anthers 2-tailed at base and tapering at the apex into a long hairy twisted 

 awn-like appendage. Style 1. Ovaries 2, forming pods. Seeds tufted. 



§ 2. More or less woody-stemmed twiners, with q}posite leaves. 



8. ECHITES. Corolla funnel-form or salver-shaped, naked in the throat. Fila- 

 ments very short. Style 1. Ovaries 2, becoming 2 long terete pods. Seeds 

 with a downv tuft. Flowers large and showy. 



4. FORSTERONIA. Corolla funnel-form, nearly as in Echites, but the flower 

 small, and filaments slender. 



§ 3. Herbs or scarcely woody plants, not twiners : bark usually abounding with tough 

 fibres : ovaries 2, becoming many-seeded pods in fruit. 



* Leaves opposite. 



6. VTNCA. Corolla salver-shaped or the tube funnel-form, the throat narrow 

 and naked. Stamens inserted on the upper part or middle of the tube : fila- 

 ments short. Style 1, slender. Pods rather short. Seeds abrupt at each 

 end, naked, rough. The hardy species trail or creep. 



6. APOCYNUM. Corolla bell-shaped, crowned with 5 triangular appendages in 



the throat. Stamens attached to the very base of the corolla. Style none. 

 A large ovate stigma unites the tips of the 2 ovaries, which in fruit ibiTn long 

 and slender pods. Seeds with a long tuft of silky down at one end. Upright 

 or ascending herbs, with small pale or white flowers in terminal cjTues or 

 corymbs, and very tough fibrous bark. 



* * Leaves alternate, very numerous. 



7. AMSONIA. Corolla salvor-shaped or the slender tube somewhat fannel-form, 



bearded inside, without appendages at the throat, the lobes long and linear. 

 Stamens inserted on and included in the tube: anthers blunt at both ends. 

 Style 1, slender. Pods long (4'- 6') and slender. Seeds cylindrical, abrupt 

 at both ends, with no tuft. Upright herbs, with termijial panicled cjTnes of 

 bluish flowers. 



1. ALLAMANDA. (Named for Dr. F. Allamand, who discovered the 

 common species in Guiana.) 



A. catliS.rtica. A showy shrub of the conservatory, with bright green 

 oblong thinnish leaves, and golden-yellow flowers 2^' - 3' long. 



