APOCYNACEA, 615 
tropics, but a few occur in northern regions. Vinca is the only 
Britishgenus. Illustrative Genera :—Allamanda, Lin. ; Urceola, 
Roxb. ; Apocynum, Tourn. There are about 600 species. 
Properties and Uses.—The plants of this order are gene- 
rally to be suspected, as many of them are intensely poisonous, 
although the fruits of a few species are edible. Some are dras- 
tic purgatives, and in others the bark is tonic and febrifugal. 
India-rubber or Caoutchouc, now commonly known in commerce 
as Rubber, is obtained from the milky juice of several species. 
Fie. 1003. Fia. 1004. 
Fig. 1003. Vertical section of the 
flower of Periwinkle (Vinca). 
Fig. 1004, Diagram of the 
flower of the same. 
Alstonia scholaris, a native of India and the Philippine Islands, has a 
bitter, tonic, and astringent bark, which is much esteemed as a remedy i in 
chronic diarrhoea and dysenter Ve ‘Tt is official in the Pharmacopeeia of India, 
and is known as Alstonia bark or Dita bark. It is also regarded as a valu- 
able antiperiodic and tonic. There has been obtained from it an uncrystal- 
lisable substance called ditain, which, administered in the same doses as 
quinine, is said to be an excellent tonic. Recent experiments have proved, 
however, that ditain is not an alkaloid but a compound substance from which 
an alkaloid termed ditamine may be obtained. More recent investigations 
also show that Cortex Alstoniz is not derived from the same plant as 
that yielding Dita bark, but from A. spectabilis, a native of Timor, the 
Moluccas, and the eastern parts of Java. It is known in Java as ‘ poelé,’ 
and is much used in fevers. It contains a peculiar alkaloid which has been 
named alsto;ine or alstonamine. It also contains ditamine. According to 
Hesse, Australian Alstonia Bark, which is derived from A. constricta, con- 
tains at least four alkaloids, which he has named alstonine (chlorogenine), 
porphyrine, porphyrosine, and alstonidine. 
Alyzia stellata has an aromatic bark, which is analogous in its properties 
to that of Canella and Winter’s Bark. 
Apocynum.—The roots of A. cannabinum and A. androsemifolium are 
emetic, diuretic, diaphoretic, and purgative ; that of the former, under the 
name of American Indian Hemp, is said to be very useful in Bright’ s disease 
and dropsy. The fibre known as Colorado Hemp or Canadian Hemp, which 
may be used in the manufacture of the finer kinds of paper, is obtained from 
A. cannabinum. 
Aspidosperma Quebracho vields White Quebracho Bark, which has been 
highly recommended as a febrifuge and antiperiodic. It is also useful 
in dyspnea. It contains a crystalline alkaloid, which has been termed 
aspidospermine. The investigations of Dr. W ulfsberg indicate that aspido- 
spermine is identical with the alkaloid paytize, described by Hesse in 1870, 
