ASCLEPIADACE^E. 453 



100 feet, with a circumference of 20 or 30 feet. The wood of the 

 tree is tough and elastic, and is used for oars, as well as by coach- 

 makers, &c. The wood of its roots is beautifully veined. The pendu- 

 lous variety, called Weeping-ash, is often engrafted on the common 

 Ash, so as to produce a better effect. The leaves of Ligustrum vulgare, 

 common Privet (fig. 254), are astringent. L. lucidum yields a kind of 

 waxy excretion, which is used in China for economical purposes. 



942. Order 124. Asclepiadacete, the Asclepias Family. (Monopet. 

 HyP9-) ( Fi gs- 353, 643-651.) Calyx 5-divided, persistent (fig. 

 646 c). Corolla synpetalous (monopetalous), hypogynous, regular, 

 5-lobed (figs. 644, 645 p p), deciduous; aestivation imbricate, rarely 

 valvate. Stamens 5, inserted into the base of the corolla, and alternate 

 with its segments (fig. 646 e); filaments usually combined so as 

 to form a tube; stamina! tube rarely naked behind, generally fur- 

 nished with a corona (crown) of variously-formed leaves, which are 

 either distinct or connate. Anthers bilocular, each cell sometimes 

 spuriously divided; pollen, when the anther dehisces, cohering in 

 masses (pollinia), which are either as numerous as the cells, or are 

 confluent in pairs, and adhere to the five stigmatic processes, either in 

 sets of two or four, or singly (figs. 349, 353, 647). Ovaries 2 (fig. 

 646 0); ovules 00; styles 2, closely approaching each other (fig. 646 s), 

 often very short; stigma common to both styles, dilated, quinquangu- 

 lar; the angles furnished with cartilaginous corpuscles which retain 

 the pollinia, or with glands (figs. 645, 646 g). Fruit consisting of two 

 follicles (sometimes only one by abortion), having a placenta on the 

 ventral suture (fig. 649). Seeds 00, imbricate, pendulous, usually 

 comose (hairy) at the hilum (fig. 650); albumen thin (fig. 651 p) ; 

 embryo straight; cotyledons leafy; radicle superior (fig. 651 e). 

 Shrubs, or occasionally herbs, usually with milky juice, and often 

 twining. The leaves are usually opposite, sometimes alternate or 

 verticillate, with interpetiolary cilia in place of stipules. The gynoste- 

 gium (yvi/j, pistil, and yrg-yu, I cover), stamina! crown or peculiar- 

 hooded (cucullate) appendages, prolonged from the tube of the 

 filaments, which occur in many of the plants of this order give a 

 peculiar aspect to their flower (see fig. 353). They inhabit chiefly 

 warm and tropical regions, but many species extend to northern 

 climates. Many succulent species are found in the south of Africa. 

 Lindley enumerates 141 genera, including 910 species. Examples 

 Periploca, Asclepias, Calotropis, Cynanchum, Gonolobus, Stapelia, 

 Hoya, Dischidia, 



943. The plants of the order have acrid, purgative, emetic, and 

 diaphoretic properties. The milky juice is usually bitter and acrid, 

 but occasionally it is bland, and is used as milk, as in the case of 

 Gymnema lactiferum, the Cow-plant of Ceylon. Asclepias tuberosa, the 

 Butterfly-weed, or Pleurisy-root, is used as a cathartic and diaphoretic 



