166 PENTANDRIA. DIGYNIA. 



ous, sessile, an.i^Ies opening by 5 longitudinal 

 chinks. Fo//ic/es2,ventricose, acuminate, smooth 

 or muricate. Seed comose. 



Shrubby or herbaceous, stems erect; leaves opposite, or 

 alternate, rarely verticillate; peduncles axillary and termi- 

 nal, solitary; flowers in umbells, numerous. — Antheridinm 

 (antheroid cells, anthers, of some) conic-cylindric, (resem- 

 bling- the 5 united anthers in Syngenesious florets,) sessile, 

 or subsessile, crustaceous, separable only by five longitudi- 

 nal chinks, into 5 lobes, connected to the stigma both above 

 and below, lobes antheroid, 2-celled, cells open, margin 

 reflected, salient, terminating above in membranaceous 

 ovate cusps. Poliinia (concrete masses of pollen) 5 pair, 

 even, suspended from the angles of the stigma, clavate, 

 compressed, diaphanous, solid and concrete, of a yellow, 

 waxy substance, united together by a small, black, cloven 

 tubercle; alternating in the cells of the antheridium, each 

 pair being common to 2 lobes. Style none. Stigma dis- 

 coid, pentagonal. Follicles smooth, or muricated with 

 soft and flexible spines (as in Jl. syriaca. Sec) Seeds 

 pendulous by the coma, obtusely obovate and compressed, 

 or subelliptic, surrounded by a double winged margin; 

 perisperm thin and carnose; embryon fiat; radicle in- 

 verted. Receptacle free, with lateral, imbricated, longi- 

 tudinal lamella for the reception of the seminal coma. — The 

 flowers of the larger species of this genus have the pro- 

 perty of mechanically detaining small insects. The Mus- 

 ca (iomestica or common house-fly is in general the subject 

 of this cruel accident, and may frequently be seen tor- 

 tured by the flowers of Asclepias synaca, and A. in- 

 caniata; they are uniformly held by the tarsi, which 

 get hooked into tiie minute clunk existing in the con- 

 necting tubercle or clasp of the pollinium. — All the spe- 

 cies of this genus afford a silky flax, and generally a lac- 

 tescent sap. 



f Leaves opposite. 



Spbcies. 1. a. syriaca Lepanihium bidentate. Follicles 

 muricate. 2. hhytolaccoides. Lepanthium truncate, internal 

 margin bideiitatt-; petals pale greer), lepanthium whitish, 

 umbels both lateral and terminal. — New York to Carolina, 

 and on the banks of the Ohio. Near Philadelphia on tUe 

 rocky banks of Wishahikon creek. 3 debilis. -i. par- 

 vifora. S.nivca. 6.incarnata. T.amoeiia. Leaf oblong- 

 oval, with an acute point, under side minutely pubescent, 

 petiole very short; umbells terminal, erect; flowers pur- 

 ple; segnients of the lepanthium ovate-oblong, entire, twice 

 the length of the antheridium, central process flattened 



