STANDLEY TUBES AISID SHRUBS OF MEXICO. 1157 



8. CATHARANTHUS Don, Hist. Dichl. PI. 4: 95. 1838. 



1. Catharanthus roseus (L.) Don, Hist. Dichl. PI. 4: 95. 1838. 



Tinea rosea L. Syst. Nat. ed. 10. 944. 1759. 



Loelinera rosea Reichenb. Oonsp. Veg. 134. 1828. 



AmmocaUis rosea Small, Fl. Southeast U. S. 936. 1903. 



Cultivated in Mexico for ornament and in some places naturalized ; specimens 

 have been seen only from Sinaloa and Yucatan, but the plant must be much 

 more widely distributed. Widely dispersed in the tropics of both hemispheres. 



Plants herbaceous or woody at base, 1 meter high, thinly pubescent ; leaves 

 opposite, short-petiolate, oblong to elliptic, 3 to 8 cm. long, obtuse or retuse; 

 flowers solitary or geminate in the axils; calyx 5-cleft; corolla salverform, 

 white or pink, the slender tube 2.5 to 3 cm. long; follicles cylindric, 2 to 3 cm. 

 long, pubescent. " Maravilla de Espaila " (Mexico); " flor de todo el aiio," 

 " jazmin del mar " (Porto Rico) ; " vicaria," " Dominica " (Cuba) ; "chichirica " 

 (Philippines); " chula," " mulata " (E! Salvador). 



In the United States and the British West Indies the plant is known as 

 " vinca," " old maid," " red periwinkle," and erroneously as " sweet-william." 

 The flowers are showy and the plant is easily propagated. In Madagascar 

 the bitter astringent leaves are emploj'ed as a vomitive, and the roots are 

 said to be purgative, vermifuge, depurative, and hemostatic, and to be a 

 remedy for toothache. 



9. ASPIDOSPERMA Mart. & Zucc. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 1: 57. 1824. 



1. Aspidosperma megalocarpon Muell. Arg. Linnaea 30: 400. ISGO. 



Type from Colipa, Veracruz. Guatemala. 



Large tree; leaves petiolate, oblong, 12 to 22 cm. long, acute, obtuse at 

 base, coriaceous, glabrous, lustrous, often unequal at base ; follicles obliquely 

 reniform-obovate, 12 cm. long and 10 cm. wide, rounded-obtuse, glabrous ; seed 

 body compi-essed, 2 to 2.5 cm. broad, surrounded by a broad thin wing, the 

 whole 7 to 9 cm. in diameter. " Volador " (Veracruz); " chichique," 

 " chlchica " (Guatemala). 



10. NERIUM L. Sp. PI. 209. 1753. 



1. Nerium oleander L. Sp. PI. 209. 1753. 



Cultivated in all the warmer parts of Mexico, and in places naturalized. 

 Native of the Mediterranean region, but cultivated in all warm regions and 

 in many places naturalized. 



Shrub or small tree, glabrous or obscurely puberulent ; leaves mostly ternate, 

 short-petiolate, linear-oblong or linear-oblanceolate, acute, coriaceous ; flowers 

 pink or white, fragrant, often double, in terminal cymes ; calyx 5-parted, 

 glandular within ; corolla funnelform, the limb 5-lobate ; follicles elongate, 

 straight, appressed. "Laurel rosa," "laurel bianco," "laurel Colorado" (Mex- 

 ico, Porto Rico, Ecuador) ; " adelfa " (Mexico, Porto Rico, Ecuador, Guam) ; 

 " yaga-quiegueze " (Oaxaca, Zapotec, Reko) ; " narciso " (Guatemala, EI Sal- 

 vador); " berberfa " (Venezuela); "rosa laurel" (Mexico, Guam); "adelfa 

 sencilla " (Porto Rico); "laurel rosado " (Porto Rico, Colombia); "flor de 

 Habana " ( Colombia ) . 



The oleander is one of the handsomest of cultivated shrubs and is abun- 

 dantly planted in Mexican parks and gardens. The plant contains alkaloids 

 which act as a powerful cardiac poison, and has been employed in medicine 

 as a heart stimulant and tonic. It has long been used in soutliern Europe for 

 destroying rats, and sometimes for poisoning people. An infusion of the 



