350 ASCLEPIADACE^£. (MILKWEED FAMILY.) 



(Eehites difformis, Walt.) — Damp grounds, S. E. Virginia, S. Illinois, and 

 southward. April. 



3. APOdlNUM, Toum. Dogbane. Indian Hemi\ 



Calyx 5-parted, the lobes acute. Corolla bell-shaped, 5-eieft, bearing 5 trian- 

 gular appendages in the throat opposite the lobes. Stamens 5, inserted on the 

 very base of the corolla : filaments flat, shorter than the arrow-shaped anthers, 

 which converge around the ovoid obscurely 2-lobed stigma, and are slightly ad- 

 herent to it by their inner face. Style none : stigma large, ovoid, slightly 2- 

 lobed. Fruit of 2 long and slender follicles. Seeds comose with a long tuft of 

 silky down at the apex. — Perennial herbs, with upright branching stems, oppo- 

 site ntucronate-pointed leaves, a tough fibrous bark, and small and pale cymose 

 flowers on short pedicels. (An ancient name of the Dogbane, composed of 

 dno, from, and kvov, a do;/, to which the plant was thought to be poisonous.) 



1. A. aBidt'OSiBiiiifoIiiiiiB, L. (Spreading Dogbane.) Smooth, 

 branched above; branches divergently forking ; leaves ovate, distinctly peticled; 



cymes loose, spreading, mostly longer than the leaves ; corolla (pale rose-color, £' 

 broad) open-bell-shaped, with revolute lobes, the tube much longer them the ovate pointed 

 divisions of the calyx. — Varies, also, with the leaves downy underneath. — Bor- 

 ders of thickets; common, especially northward. June, July. — Pods 3' -4' 

 long, pendent. 



2. A. Cttimiibimiui, L. (Indian Hemp.) Stem and branches up- 

 right or ascending, terminated by erect and close many-flowered cymes, which are 

 usually shorter than the leaves; corolla (greenish-white) ivith nearly erect lobes, 

 the tube not longer than the lanceolate divisio?is of the calyx. — Var. glaberri- 

 mum, DC. Entirely smooth; leaves oblong or oblong-lanceolate, on short bnt 

 manifest petioles, obtuse or rounded, or the upper acute at both ends. — Var. 

 pubescens, DC. Leaves oblong, oval, or ovate, downy underneath or some- 

 times on both sides, as well as the cymes. (A. pubescens, R. Br.) — Var. hy- 

 PERiciFdLiusi. Leaves more or less heart-shaped at the base and on very short 

 petioles, commonly smooth throughout. (A. hypericifolium, Ait.) — River- 

 banks, &c. ; common. July, Aug. — Plant 2° -3° high, much more upright 

 than the last ; the flowers scarcely half the size. These different varieties evi- 

 dently run into one another. 



VfNCA minor, the common Periwinkle, and Neridm Oleander, tne 

 Oleander, are common cultivated plants of this family. 



Order 85. ASCLEFIADACEJE. (Milkweed Family.; 



Plants with milky juice, and opposite or whorled (rarely scattered) entire 

 leaves ; the follicular pods, seeds, anthers connected with the stigma, sensible 

 properties, fyc.,just as in the last family ; from which they differ in the com- 

 monly valvate corolla, and in the singular connection of the anthers with the 

 stigma, the cohesion of the pollen into wax-like or granular masses, &c, as 

 explained under the first and typical genus. 



