APOCYNACEAE. 



293 



Fruit follicular ; seeds comose. 



Fruit a flattened drupe ; seeds fleshy, unappendaged. 



1. Nerium. 



2. Cerhera. 



1. NERIUM L. 

 Large shrubs, with whorled or opposite, entire leathery narrow leaves, 

 and large, white to crimson flowers in terminal cymes. Calyx gland-bearing 

 within near the base ; corolla salverf orm with a narrowly cylindric tube, a cam- 

 panulate throat, and a spreading, 5-lobed limb, the lobes dextrorsely twisted. 

 Stamens borne at the top of the corolla-tube, included, the filaments short, the 

 anthers sagittate, long-appendaged at the apex, connivent around the stigma, 

 their basal lobes also appendaged. Ovary of 2 separate carpels; ovules numer- 

 ous; style slender; stigma with a membranous reflexed 5-lobed ring. Follicles 

 linear, straight, elongated. Seeds oblong, villous, appendaged by a caducous 

 coma. [Greek, name of the Oleander, said to refer to its native habitat in 

 moist grounds.] Two or three known species, natives of Asia and of the 

 Mediterranean region, the following typical. 



1. Nerium Oleander L. Oleander. 

 (Fig. 312.) A shrub 8°-20° high, the 

 twigs and leaves glabrous or nearly so. 

 Leaves opposite, or whorled in 3's, nar- 

 rowly oblong-lanceolate, dull dark green 

 above, paler green beneath, 3'-5' long, 

 ^'-f wide, sharply acute or acuminate at 

 the apex, narrowed at the base into short 

 petioles, the midvein prominent beneath, 

 the lateral veins very many, transverse; 

 cymes several-many-flowered, somewhat 

 pubescent; flowers scarcely odorous; calyx 

 pubescent, about 4" long; corolla l5'^2' 

 broad, often double ,white to purple; pods 

 4'-7' long, about 4" thick, drooping. 



In nearly all situations except saline ones. 

 Naturalized. Native of the Orient. Recorded 

 as introduced to Bermuda in 1790, now one of 

 its most beautiful floral features, blooming 

 more or less throughout the year, most freely 

 in spring and summer. 



Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don., Eed Periv^^inkle, a somewhat woody, 

 herbaceous plant about 2° high, with smooth opposite entire leaves, and large 

 pink, or sometimes white, axillary flowers, the corolla salverf orm, the cylindric 

 pubescent follicles about 1' long, is common in flower-gardens. It is native 

 of the Old World tropics, and naturalized in Florida, the West Indies and 

 tropical continental America. [Vinca rosea L.] 



2. CERBERA L. 



Glabrous trees or shrubs, with alternate narrow often apparently 1- 



nerved leaves, and large yellow flowers in terminal cymes. Calyx 5-parted, 



glandular within at the base. Corolla funnelform, the tube cylindric below, 



abruptly enlarged into a campanulate throat, the spreading limb 5-lobed, the 



