82 DICOTYLEDONS 



Alstonia scholaris {Kan. Hale; Mai. Erilaprda; Tarn. Elilap- 

 pillai; Tel. Edakula; San. Jivani), a large tree with a bitter 

 bark valued in medicine. Base of trunk often buttressed by 

 plank roots; branches spreading horizontally in tiers of whorls. 

 Leaves in whorls of live to ten. 



Tabernaemontana coronaria (Kan. Nandibatlu; Mai. Tagaram; 

 Tarn. Nandyavattam; Te/. Nandivardhanamu; *9a>^. Vishiiupriya), 

 pure, white flowers, often double, fragrant at night. 



Allamanda cathartka {Kan. Arasina-hu, Seitana-hu, Kela), 

 a scrambling shrub with large, grotesque, bell-shaped, yellow 

 flowers, cultivated in gardens and run wild in many places. 



The Oleander {Nerium odorum; Kan. Kanagilu; Mai. 

 Kanaviram; 2'a;^«. Karaviram; Te^. Kasturipatte; iSa/^-Karavirah), 

 a poisonous but beautiful shrub. Leaves in whorls of three. 



The Pagoda Tree {Plumierla acutifolia; ^a>2. Kadusampige; 

 Mai. Veluttarali; Tarn, llattalari; Tel. Adaviganneru), a decidu- 

 ous tree with swollen white trunk and branches, full of a sticky 

 milky juice. Leaves lanceolate, acute, in terminal tufts. Flower- 

 ing usually when out of leaves. Flowers fragrant and white, 

 with a pale yellow throat. A native of Mexico, but cultivated 

 in India from time immemorial; does not produce seed. 



Cerbera Odollam [Kan. Cande; Jia?. Utalam; Tarn. Katarali) 

 grows in salt swamps, adorning them with its thick foliage and 

 its large bunches of white flowers. The fruit, a drupe, is, like 

 the cocoanut, beautifully adapted for dispersion by running 

 water. When a fruit drops into the water, the outer pulp decays, 

 the fibrous covering serves as a swimming belt and the inner 

 hard covering as a protective coat for the seed. 



19. The Milkweed Family 



(Asclepiadaceae). 



Shrubs often twining, usually containing a milky juice. Leaves 

 entire, opposite. Flowers radial; petals five, contorted in bud; sta- 

 mens five, inserted on the base of the corolla. Anthers coherent en- 

 closing the stigma, filaments in most genera connate into a stannnal 

 tube, the end of the style being a broad disk with the stigmatic surface 



