DOG RANK FAMILY. 275 



2. NERIUM, OLEANDER. (The ancient Greek nnd Latin name.) 

 Leaves coriaceous, rigid, closely and transversely veiny. Flowers showy, in 

 terminal cymes, in summer, deep rose-color, or with white varieties, either 

 single or double. 



N. Oleander, the OLEANDER of common house-culture, from the Levant : 

 leaves lanceolate ; appendage surmounting the anthers scarcely protruding ; 

 flowers largtf; scentless. 



N. Odbrum, SWEET 0. : less cult., from India, more tender ; leaves linear- 

 lanceolate ; appendage of the anthers protruding ; flowers fragrant 



3. ECHITES. (Name from Greek word for a viper.) Plants from the 

 warm parts of America, one no* rare as a conservatory climber, viz. 



E. suavdolens, or MAxnisvfLLEA SUAVEOLENS, CHILI JESSAMINE, a 

 slender woody-stemmed tall twiner, with thin oblong or ovate heart-shaped 

 pointed leaves, and slender peduncles bearing a few racemed very fragrant flow- 

 ers, the white corolla with umple 5-lobed border, 2' broad. 



4. FORSTERONIA. ( Named for an English botanist, T. F. Forster. ) 



F. diff6rmis, in low grounds from Virginia S. & W., is a barely woody 

 twiner, the flowering branches herbaceous and downy ; leaves thin, oval-lan- 

 ceolate, pointed, or sometimes linear, narrowed into a petiole; flowers ^' long, 

 in cymes, greenish-yellow, all summer. 



5. VINCA, PERIWINKLE. (Latin name, from a word meaning to bind, 

 from the thread-like stems.) ~H 



1. TRUE PERIWINKLES, cult, from Europe, hardy or nearly so, smooth, trail- 

 ing over the //round or creeping, only the short flowering stems ay-ending, 

 with bine (or by variation white] /lowers solitary in the axils, in spring or 

 early summer. 



V. minor, COMMON PERIWINKLE, in all country-gardens, spreading freely 

 by the creeping sterile stems, evergreen, with ovate or oblong-ovate shining 

 leaves barely 1^' long, and almost truncate wedge-shaped lobes to the corolla: 

 fl. early spring. 



V. major, LARGE P., not quite hardy N., a variety with variegated leaves 

 is most cultivated, larger than the first species and leaves rounder, the lobes of 

 corolla obovate. 



V. herbacea : not evergreen ; stems reclining and rooting ; leaves lance- 

 oblong, lobes of the more purple-blue corolla oblong-obovate : fl. late spring. 



2. Tropical erect, somewhat woody at base: flowers produced all the season. 



V. r6sea, house and bedding plant from West Indies, with oblong-petioled 

 veiny leaves, and showy corolla with slender tube and very narrow orifice, rose- 

 purple, or white, with or without a pink eye. 



6. APOCYNUM, DOGBANE (to which the name in Greek refers \, 

 INDIAN HEMP, from the use made of the bark. Fl. summer. 2/ 



A. androsa3mif61iura, SPREADING D. Along thickets, mostly N. 

 branches forking and widely spreading; leaves ovate, petioled ; corolla open 

 bell-shaped with spreading lobes. 



A. cannabinum, COMMON INDIAN HEMP. Gravelly or wet banks cf 

 streams : branches more erect ; leaves oblong, lance-oblong, ovate, or slightly 

 heart-shaped ; flowers more crowded and erect ; lobes of the corolla Httle 

 spreading. 



7. AMSONIA, (Named for a Mr. Charles Amson.) Low grounds chiefly 

 S. ; very leafy, 2 - 3 high, smooth or somewhat hairy, with rather small 

 flowers, in late spring. 



A. Tabernsemontana. Leaves varying from ovate or lance-ovate to 

 lanceolate, acute at each end, pale beneath. 



A. ciliata. Leaves linear or linear-lanceolate, the margins and mostly the 

 stems beset with some scattered bristles. 



