523 APOCTNACE^. (dogbane FAMILY.) 



stigma^ and pollen granular — Ovaries 2, united by styles, or 

 1, twocelled; stigma 1; fruit a follicle, capsule, drupe, or 

 berry. Seeds liairy or winged, rarely bald, albuminous. 



* Anthers not spurred at base. Leaves opposite, 



1. VINCA. if Herbs with blue, hypocrateriform, solitary flowers, .02 broad. 



* * Anthers spurred at base. Leaves opposite or temate. 



2. NENIUM. ^ Shrubs with pink, cymose, hypocrateriform flowers, .04 to .05 broad, 



3. APOCTNUM. If Herbs with purplish, cymose flowers, .003 broad. 



1. VIIVCA, L. Periwinkle. 



Calyx 5 -parted, with acuminate lobes. Corolla salver-shaped, 

 with naked, pentagonal throat, and lobes obliquely truncate at apex. 

 Anthers much longer than filaments, connivent above stigma. Style 

 undivided, hairy below apex, surrounded by a stigmatose ring. Fol- 

 licles smooth, striate — Perennial herbs, with opposite leaves. 



1. V. herbacea, W. K. 2f .2 to .4; stems all procumbent, 

 not rooting at base. Leaves ovate to oblong-lanceolate, with scabrous 

 margins. Peduncles axillary, as long as, or longer than leaves — Spring 

 — Thickets and shady places; throughout. 



2. v. Libaiiotica, Zucc. If .3 to .4; stems all procumbent, 

 not rooting at base. Leaves ovate to oblong-ovate, uith smooth margins. 

 Peduncles axillary, as long as or shorter than leaves — Spring — 

 Thickets and shady places; Lebanon and Antilebanon to Nusairy 

 Mountains, Aleppo, Marash, and northward and eastward. Too near 

 the last. 



2. XERIUM, L. Oleander. Difleh. 



Calyx 5-parted, with linear-lanceolate lobes, glandular within. 

 Corolla salver-shaped with 5-parted limb, and fringed crown projecting 

 from throat. Stamens inserted on the middle of corolla tube ; anthers 

 longer than filament, adherent by middle to stigma, sagittate at base, 

 ending at apex in long, hairy, spirally twisted bristles. Style un- 

 divided, stigma obtuse. Follicles 2, apjDressed, at length somewhat" 

 separate. Seeds numerous, hairy — Shrubs with very showy, pink or 

 white flowers, and milky juice. 



IX, Oleander, L. ^ li to 4, clumped. Leaves opposite or 

 ternate, leathery, oblong-lanceolate, minutely tomentellous beneath. 

 Flowers corymbose-cymose ; pedicels and calyx tomentellous ; plume 

 of anther scarcely overtopping throat of corolla — Summer — Banks 

 of streams from el-Ghor to 1000 m. in mountains. 



3. APOCYNUM, L. Dogbane. 



Calyx 5-parted, not glandular within. Corolla small, campanulate, 

 5-cleft; appendages 5 from base of tube, alternating with lobes. 

 Stamens inserted at base of tube, filaments strap-shaped, anthers long- 

 er than filaments, sagittate, adherent by middle to stigma, ending in 



