DOGBANE FAMILY. 28b 



2. NERIUM, OLEANDER. (The ancient Greek and 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. 0/ednder, Linn. The Oleander of common house culture, from 

 the Levant ; leaves lanceolate ; appendage surmounting the anthers 

 scarcely protruding ; flowers large, scentless, with trifid or cuspidate 

 segments to the crown. 



N. odorum, Soland. Sweet 0. Less cult., from India, more tender ; 

 leaves linear-lanceolate ; appendage of the anthers protruding ; flowers 

 fragrant, with multifid crown segments. 



3. AMSONIA. (Named for Mr. Charles Amson.) Low grounds 

 chiefly S. ; very leafy, 2°-3° high, smooth or somewhat hairy, with 

 rather small flowers, in late spring. 2Z 



A. Tabemaemont^a, Walt. Leaves varying from ovate or lance- 

 ovate to lanceolate, acute at each end, pale beneath. Ind. and 111., S. 



A. anguBtifblia, Michx. Leaves linear or linear-lanceolate, the mar- 

 gins and mostly the stems beset with some scattered bristles. N. C, S. 



4. VINCA, PERIWINKLE. (Latin name, of obscure meaning.) "21 



§ 1. True Periwinkles, cult, from Europe, hardy or nearly so, smooth, 

 trailing over the ground or creeping, only the short-flowering stems as- 

 cending, xcith blue {or by variation white) floivers solitary in the axils, 

 in spring or early summer. 



V. minor, Linn. Common Periwinkle. In all country gardens, and 

 running wild in cemeteries and shady places ; spreading freely by the 

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

 leaves, barely li' long, and almost truncate wedge-shaped lobes to the 

 corolla ; flowers early spring. Many horticultural varieties, some with 

 variegated foliage. Sometimes, but erroneously, called Myrtle. 



V. major, Linn. Not quite hardy N., a variety with variegated leaves 

 much cultivated in greenhouses ; larger than the first species and leaves 

 cordate-ovate and (like the calyx) ciliate ; lobes of corolla obovate. 



V. herbacea, Wald. & Kit. Less evergreen than the first ; stems reclin- 

 ing and rooting ; leaves lance-oblong, revolute ; lobes of the more purple- 

 blue corolla oblong-obovate ; flowers late spring. 



§ 2. Tropical erect, someiohat woody at base ; flowers produced all the 



season. 



V. rdsea, Linn. House and bedding plant from West Indies, and 

 also growing in S. Fla., where it is possibly native ; leaves oblong-petioled, 

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

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



5. APOCYNUM, DOGBANE (to which the name in Greek refers), 

 INDIAN HEMP, from the use made of the bark. Flowers summer. ^ 



A. andros8emif6lium, Linn. Along thickets, mostly N. ; branches 

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

 bell-shaped, with revolute lobes, the tube much longer than the ovate 

 calyx lobes. 



A. canndbinum, Linn. Common Indian Hemp. Gravelly or wet 

 banks of streams ; branches more erect ; leaves oblong, lance-oblong, 

 ovate, or slightly heart-shaped; flowers more crowded and erect; lobes 

 of the corolla little spreading, the tube about the length of the lanceolate 

 calyx lobes. 



