220 APOCYNACEiE. \Vinca. 



without scales at the throat. Anthers included in the tube. Disk of 2 oblong 

 glands, alternating with the carpels. Ovary of 2 distinct carpels united by a 

 single style, with several ovules in each carpel. Stigma conical or cylindrical. 

 Fruit of 2 cylindrical erect or spreading follicles. Seeds oblong-cylindrical, 

 without any coma. — Herbs or undershrubs, erect, or with long creeping 

 branches. Leaves opposite. Flowers axillary, solitary or 2 together. 



A small genus, dispersed over various parts of the world. 



1. V. rosea, Linn.; DC. Prod. viii. 382 ; Bot. Mag. I. 248. An erect 

 slightly pubescent perennial, 1 to 2 ft. high, branching at the base only, and 

 often flowering the first year. Leaves obovate or oblong, very obtuse, 1 to 2 

 in. long, nan-owed into a very short petiole. Flowers pink or white, 2 to- 

 gether in the axils of the leaves, and almost sessile. Sepals short, subulate, 

 pubescent. Corolla-tube slender, about f in. long ; the lobes broad, oblique, 

 not much shorter than the tube. 



In waste places, apparently wild, Champion, also Wright. A tropical American species, 

 introduced into tropical Asia, where it is now a common weed, besides being much cultivated 

 in gardens for ornament. 



6. STlfOPHANTHUS, DC. 



Calyx with a few glands inside at the base of the sepals. Corolla-tube 

 cylindrical, usually enlarged at the top ; the lobes very long and linear, some- 

 what broader at the base, with 2 scales at the mouth ot the tube opposite 

 each lobe. Anthers sagittate, included in the tube, cohering to the stigma. 

 Disk none. Ovary of 2 distinct carpels, united by a single style, with several 

 ovules in each. Fruit of 2 thick follicles horizontally diverging. Seeds with 

 a terminal' coma of long silky hairs. — Erect or climbing shrubs, the branches 

 usually dichotomous. Leaves opposite. Flowers rather large, in short ter- 

 minal cymes. 



A small genus, dispersed over the tropical regions of the Old World. 



1. S. divergens, Grah. in Maund. Bot. iii. t. 150 ; A. DC. Prod. viii. 

 417. An erect, dichotomous, glabrous shrub. Leaves elliptical-oblong, 

 shortly acuminate and mucronate, 2 to 3 in. long, narrowed into a petiole of 

 2 or 3 lines. Flowers terminal, solitary or few together in sessile trichoto- 

 mous cymes. Sepals narrow -lanceolate or linear, about 5 lines long. Corolla- 

 tube about -§ in. long, with a short campanulate throat ; the scales about 1£ 

 lines long ; the lobes lanceolate at the base, ending in narrow-linear points, 

 full 2 in. long when full-grown. Follicles hard and woody, very divergent, 

 4 to 6 in long and very thick. Seeds ending in a long point, with a beau- 

 tiful coma of very long silky hairs. 



Abundant near the level of the sea, Champion. Low ground at Saywan, Wilford, also 

 Wright. Not known out of S. China. 



7. EHYNCHOSPERMUM, A. DC. 



Calyx with a ring of glands inside at its base. Corolla-tube cylindrical ; 

 the limb spreading, with oblique oblong or obovate lobes. Anthers sagittate, 

 included in the tube about the middle. Disk o-lobed or of 5 distinct glands. 

 Ovary of 2 distinct carpels united by the single style, with several ovules in 



