336 APOCYNACEAE. 



Coastal thickets, pine-lands and borders of bracliish swamps, Great Rahama, 

 Andres, New Providence, Cat Island, Great Exuma, Fortune Island and Crooked 

 Island. Endemic. Bahama Neobkacea. 



3. CATHARANTHUS G. Don, Gen. Syst. 4: 95. 1838. 



Herbs or low shrubs, -with opposite leaves, and large axillary flowers, soli- 

 tary or 2 together. Calyx eglandular, 5-cleft^ the lobes narrow. Corolla salver- 

 form^ its eylindric tube slightly enlarged above, its 5 broad lobes sinistrorse. 

 Stamens included; anthers not appendaged. Disk of 2 large glands. Carpels 

 2, distinct; style very slender; stigma thick, pilose; ovules many in each carpel. 

 Follicles narrowly eylindric, many-seeded. Seeds small, unappendaged. 

 [Greek, pure flower.] Three known species, the following typical one native 

 of tropical America, widely distributed through cultivation, one East Indian, 

 the other of Madagascar. 



1. Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don, Gen. Syst. 4: 95. 1838. 



Vinca rosea L. Syst. ed. 10, 944. 1759. 

 Ammocallis rosea Small, El. SE. U. S. 936. 1903. 



Somewhat woody, usually branched, pubescent, 8 dm. high or less. Leaves 

 oblong to oblong-oblanceolate, 3-8 cm. long, obtuse or retuse at the aj)ex, 

 mucronulate, narrowed at the base into short petioles; peduncles very short, 

 pubescent ; calyx-lobes linear-subulate, 3-4 mm long, pubescent ; corolla white 

 or pink, the finely pubescent tube 2.5-3 cm. long, the oblique lobes somewhat 

 shorter than the tube; follicles eylindric, pubescent, 2-3 cm. long. 



Waste grounds, naturalized, Great Cay. Andros, New Providence, Eleuthera, 

 Cat Island, Acklin's, Long Island, Grand Turk, Salt Cay and Inagua : — Florida ; 

 West Indies ; continental tropical America, Old World tropics. Erroneously called 

 Tulip and Sweet William. Red Periwinkle. Old Maid. 



4. ECHITES Jacq. Enum. 2, 13. 1760. 



Twining, somewhat woody vines, with opposite petioled leaves, and rather 

 large flowers in cymes. Calyx 5-lobed, glandular. Corolla salverform, the 

 eylindric tube somewhat swollen, the lobes spreading. Stamens included, the 

 anthers appendaged at the base. Fruit of 2 spreading follicles, many-seeded. 

 [Greek, an adder, referring to the twining stem.] About 40 species, of tropical 

 and subtropical America. Type species: Taberjiaemontana Echites L. 



1. Echites Echites (L.) Britton; Small, Fl. Miami 147. 1913. 



Tahernaemontana Echites L. Syst. ed. 10, 945. 1759. 

 Echites umbellata Jacq. Enum. 13. 1760. 



A glabrous, somew^hat woody vine, 1-2 m, long, the stems sometimes warty 

 below. Leaves rather thick, ovate or broadly elliptic, 3-10 cm. long, short- 

 petioled, pinnately veined ; cymes axillary, few-flowered, peduncled ; pedicels 

 stout, 1-2.5 cm. long; calyx 1.5-2.5 mm. long, its lobes ovate-lanceolate, acute; 

 corolla greenish white, its tube 4-6 cm. long, eylindric below, swollen at about 

 the middle, narrowed above, its lobes obliquely obovate, 1-2.5 cm. long; 

 anthers acuminate; follicles spreading, 1-2 dm. long, subcylindric. 



Scrub-lands and sandy places, throughout the archipelago from Abaco and 

 Great Bahama to East Caicos, Grand Turk. Inagua, Anguilla Isles and Water Cay : — 

 Florida ; Cuba to Porto Rico ; .Jamaica. Devil's Potato-eoot. Wild Potato. Rub- 

 BER-viXE. Danish. Catesby, 1 : pi. 58. 



