350 ASCLEPIADACEJE. (MILKWEED FAMILY.) 



(Echites difformis, Walt.) Damp grounds, S. E. Virginia, S. Illimis, and 

 southward. April. 



3. APOCYJVUM, Tourn. DOGBANE. INDIAN HEMP. 



Calyx 5-parted, the lobes acure. Corolla bell-shaped, 5-cieft, bearing 5 trian- 

 gular appendages in the throat opposite the lobes. Stamens 5, inserted on the 

 very base of the corolla : filaments flat, shorter than the arrow-shaped anthers, 

 which converge around the ovoid obscurely 2-lobed stigma, and are slightly ad- 

 herent to it by their inner face. Style none : stigma large, ovoid, slightly 2- 

 lobed. Fruit of 2 long and slender follicles. Seeds comose with a long tuft of 

 silky down at the apex. Perennial herbs, with upright branching stems, oppo- 

 site mucronate-pointed leaves, a tough fibrous bark, and small and pale cymose 

 flowers on short pedicels. (An ancient name of the Dogbane, composed of 

 a-To, from, and Kucof, a dofj, to which the plant was thought to be poisonous.) 



1. A. aiidrossemifoliuiti, L. (SPREADING DOGBANE.) Smooth, 

 branched above; branches divergently forking ; leaves ovate, distinctly petioled ; 

 yines loose, spreading, mostly longer than the leaves ; corolla (pale rose-color, J ! 

 broad) ojien-bell-shaped, wiili revolute lol)ts, the tube much longer t/tan the ovate pointed 

 divisions of -the calyx. Varies, also, with the leaves downy underneath. Bor- 

 ders of thickets; common, especially northward. June, July. Pods 3'--V 

 long, penlent. 



2. A. 4':sisii:i1>iBiiini, L. (INDIAN HEMP.) Stem and branches up- 

 right or ascending, terminated by ei'ect and close many-jlowcrcd cymes, which are 

 usually shorter than the leaves; corolla (greenish-white) with nearly erect lobes, 

 the tube not longer than the lanceolate divisions of the calyx. Var. GLABERRI 

 MUM, DC. Entirely smooth; leaves oblong or oblong-lanceolate, on short but 

 manifest petioles, obtuse or rounded, or the upper acute at both ends. Var. 

 PUBESCENS, DC. Leaves oblong, oval, or ovate, downy underneath or some- 

 times on both sides, as well as the cymes. (A. pubescens, R. Br.) Var. nv- 

 PERICIF6LIUM. Leaves more or less heart-shaped at the base and on very short 

 petioles, commonly smooth throughout. (A. hypericifolium, Ait.) Kiver- 

 banks, &c. ; common. July, Aug. Plant 2 -3 high, much more upright 

 than the last ; the flowers scarcely half the si/e. These different varieties evi- 

 dently run into one another. 



VfNCA M!NOR, the common PERIWINKLE, and NERIUM OLEANDER, tne 

 OLEANDER, are common cultivated plants of this family. 



ORDER 85. ASCLEPIADACE^E. (MILKWEE:> FAMILY.; 



Plants with milky juice, and opposite or wliorlcd (rarely scattered) entire 

 haves ; the foUicular pods, seeds, anthers connected with the stigma, sensible 

 properties, fyc.,just an in the last family ; from which they itij/er in the com- 

 monly vahate corolla, and in the singular connection of the anthers with the 

 stiama, the cohesion of the pollen into wax-like or granular masses, &c., ac 

 explained under the first and typical genus. 



