DOGBANE FAMILY. Apocynaceas. 



DOGBANE FAMILY. Apocynacece. 



Chiefly a tropical family with few representatives in 

 our range. Plants with an acrid, milky juice, closely 

 related to the Milkweed Family. Leaves opposite (gen- 

 erally) and toothless. Flowers perfect, five-parted ; sta- 

 mens as many as the lobes of the corolla (flower-cup), 

 the latter rolled up in the bud. Fertilized mostly by 

 butterflies and bees. 



A somewhat tall and shrublike plant, 

 Dogbane g with a smooth, slender, branching stem, 



Apocynum generally reddish on the side exposed to 

 androscemi- sunlight. The opposite growing, lustre- 

 folium \ ess light blue-green, ovate leaves are 



June-Jut" toothless, and ruddy short-stalked. The 

 delicate and beautiful little bell-shaped 

 flowers are white-pink, five-lobed, and lily-of-the-valley- 

 like, striped with pink on the inside of the cup. The 

 clusters are small and terminate the branches ; their 

 most frequent visitors are bees and butterflies, and 

 among the latter are the ever-present little yellow Colias 

 philodice&nd the handsome monarch (Anosiaplexippus). 

 Mtiller says the flower is fertilized by butterflies, and 

 cements its pollen to their tongues. An insect insepara- 

 ble from the dogbane is the so-called dogbane beetle 

 (Chrysochus auratus), jewellike and resplendent in met- 

 allic red and green of incomparable lustre; it is scarcely 

 £ inch long (see Familiar Features of the Roadside, p. 

 178). 1-4 feet high. Common in half -shaded field bor- 

 ders, or in thickets throughout the north, and south to 

 Ga. 



A far less attractive species with green- 

 ish white, tiny flowers erectly five-pointed. 

 cannabinum Similar to the above in other respects, but 

 Greenish white less spreading and more upright. The 

 June-August i eaV es narrower and abruptly acute. 1-3 

 feet high. On sandy river-banks, in fields, and in thick- 

 ets everywhere. Both species found in Campton, N. H. 

 The name is Greek in origin — d no, from, and xvoor, a 

 dog. 



364 



Indian Hemp 



Apocynum 



