456 Cl. APOCYNACEZ:. APOCYNUM. 
Orver CI. APOCYNACEA.—Doesanes. 
Trees, shrubs and herbs with a milky juice. Lvs. opposite, entire, without stipules. 
Cal.—Sepals 5, united at base, persistent. p : 
Cor. 5-lobed, regular, twisted in estivation, deciduous. 
Sta. 5, arising from the corolla and alternate with its segments. : x 
My Dads Fil. distinct. Anthers 2-celled, opening lengthwise, 
: < sometimes slightly connected. 2 
Pollen penal, globose or 5-lobed, immediately ap- 
plied to the stigma. ‘™s 
Ova. 2, distinct_or rarely united. Styles distinct or 
united. Stigmas united into 1 which is com- 
: mon to both gy i ’ 
Fr.—Follicles 2, rarely 1 of them abortive. 
Sds. numerous, pendulous, with or without a coma, 
albuminous. Embryo foliaceous. 
Genera 100, species 566, chiefly natives of the torrid 
zone. 
Properties.—These plants possess active and often 
suspicious qualities residing in the white juice with 
which the order is pervaded, and in the seeds which 
are often deadly poets The alkaloid strychnine or 
strichnia, one of the most violent of poisons, 1s the 
active principle of the seeds of the Strychnos Nux- 
vomica of India. It is sometimes administered as a 
medicine, but with doubtful success. S. Tieute of 
Java is one kind of Upas. Cerbera Tanghin, atree of 
Madagascar, is powerfully poisonous, a single seed 
being sufficient to destroy twenty persons. The Apo- 
cynez are emetic, and becoming highly valued in 
hydrocephalus, &c. The juice contains caoutchouc in 
small quantities, but in Sumatra this is obtained 
largely from the juice of Urceola elastica. 
FIG. 54.—1. Apocynum androsemifolium. 2. A 
flower, somewhat enlarged. 3. The flower cut open 
showing the stamens with distinct filaments and united 
anthers. 4. The ovaries and stigma. 5. Plan of the 
flower. 6. Matured follicles. 7. A seed with the long, 
silky coma. 
Conspectus of the Genera. 
with white or flesh-colored flowers. . bid Kids «3 «: « dpocynum. 1 
Herbs ? with blue flowers. OOS ois ere a RE I hme! A) ete 
with opposite leaves and bluish-purple flowers. % - : 3 § : . Vinea. 3 
Shrubs ? with ternately ver cillate leaves and rose-colored flowers. . . . . «- Neriwm 4 
1APOCYNUM. 
Gr. amo, away, xvwy, dog; Pliny says this plant is fatal to dogs. 
Calyx very small; corolla campanulate, lobes short; stamens 
included ; filaments short, arising from the base of the corolla, and 
alternate with 5 glandular teeth ; anthers sagittate, connivent, coher- 
ing to the stigma by the middle; ova. 2; stigmas connate ; follicles 
long, sublinear, distinct.—Herbs, suffrutescent, erect, with opposite, 
enture, mucronate lvs. Cymes terminal and axillary. Pedicels not 
longer than the pale flowers. 
1. A. ANDROSEMIFOLIUM. Dog’s-bane. 
Smooth ; lvs. ovate; cymes lateral and terminal; limé of cor. spreading, 
the tube longer than the calyx.—A smooth, elegant plant, 3f-high, in hedges 
and borders of fields. Stem reddened by the sun, erect, branching above. 
Leaves dark green above, paler beneath, opposite, rounded at base and acute at 
apex, 2—3’ long and 3 as wide, on petioles }/ long. Cymes paniculate, at the 
top of the branches and in the axils of the upper Teaves. Pedicels }/ tone. 
Calyx much shorter than the corolla. Corolla as Iong as the pedicels, bell- 
shaped, white, striped with red, with 5, acute, spreading segments. Medicinal. 
U.S. and Brit. Am. June, July. 
B. incanum. Lvs. hoary pubescent beneath. 
2. A. CANNABINUM. Indian Hemp. 
Lws. oblong, obtuse at each end, mucronate; cymes paniculate, many- 
flowered, terminal and lateral; cal. seg. lanceolate, equaling the tube of the 
corolla; cor. seg. erect.—A species with smaller leaves and erect flowers, found 
