456 LOGANIACE.S. 



The roots of Apocynum cannabinum and androscemifolium are said to 

 be emetic. The Vincas, Periwinkles, are astringent and acrid. Alla- 

 manda cathartica, a native of Ceylon and Java, is emetic and cathartic. 

 Although the milky juice is generally acrid, still in some instances it 

 is bland. Thus, the juice of Taberncemontana utilis, Hya-hya, the Cow- 

 tree or Milk-tree of Demerara, is used as milk. Many of the plants, 

 such as Urceola elastica and Vahea gummifera, supply caoutchouc. 

 Wrightia tinctoria yields a dye like Indigo. Aspidosperma excelsum 

 is a Guiana tree, remarkable for the sinuous arrangement of its wood, 

 which gives the stem a deeply-fluted appearance. 



946. Order 126. L.osaniacce, the Logania Family. (Monopet. 

 Hypog.) Calyx 4-5-partite (fig. 287 c); aestivation valvate or imbri- 

 cate. Corolla hypogynous, regular or irregular, 4-5- or 10-divided 

 (fig. 287 1 1); aestivation convolute or valvate. Stamens inserted on 

 the corolla, 5 or 1, not always corresponding with the divisions of the 

 corolla; pollen elliptical or triangular, simple, or marked with three 

 bands. Ovary free, usually 2 -celled; ovules 00 or solitary, peltate 

 and amphitropal, or ascending and anatropal. Fruit a 2-celled cap- 

 sule, with placentas finally becoming loose; or a nuculanium with 

 1 or 2-seeded nucules; or baccate, with seeds immersed in a pulp. 

 Seeds usually peltate, sometimes winged; albumen fleshy or cartila- 

 ginous; embryo small; radicle turned towards the hilum, or parallel 

 with it. Shrubs, herbs, or trees, with opposite, entire leaves, and 

 usually with stipules, which adhere to the footstalks, or form inter- 

 petiolary sheaths. They inhabit chiefly tropical and warm climates. 

 The order is divided into three suborders: 1. Loganieae, aestivation 

 of corolla convolute, fruit a bilocular capsule or nuculanium, seeds 

 peltate, sometimes winged. 2. Strychneae, aestivation of corolla val- 

 vate, fruit a 2-3-celled berry or capsule, seeds peltate, embryo rather 

 large. 3. Spigelieae, aestivation of corolla valvate, fruit a didymous 

 capsule, seeds apterous, embryo small, cotyledons inconspicuous. 

 There are about 24 known genera, and nearly 170 species. Examples 

 Logania, Potalia, Strychnos, Spigelia. 



947. The plants of this order are highly poisonous. They act 

 energetically on the spinal marrow, causing tetanic spasms, or they 

 produce narcotic symptoms by acting on the brain. Many are very 

 bitter, and a few are tonic Strychnos Nux- Vomtca, the Poison-nut or 

 Koochla, a tree which abounds on the Malabar and Coromandel coasts, 

 supplies the substance called Nux-Vomica. It yields fruit of the size 

 and appearance of an orange, with a coriaceous reddish integument, 

 enclosing a mucilaginous pulp. The seeds, which are imbedded in 

 the pulp, are the officinal part of the plant. They are circular and 

 flat, umbilicated on one surface, and are thickly covered with brown 

 silky hairs. All parts of the plant, especially the seeds and bark, are 

 intensely bitter. The seeds contain two alkaloids, Strychnia and 



