434 



ILLUSTRATIONS OF THIS NATURAL ORDERS. 



calyx. On the other hand, they run close to Scrophulariacese and 

 Apocynaceae. — Spigelia Marilanclica (the Carolina Pink-root, a 

 well known vermifuge, of somewhat acrid-narcotic properties), and 

 Gelsemium (the so-called Yellow Jessamine of the Southern States) 

 are the most conspicuous representatives of the group in this coun- 

 try. The active properties of the family are most conspicuous in 

 species of Strychnos. The fatal drug, Niix-vomica, from which 

 strychnine is extracted, consists of the seeds of an East Indian 

 Strychnos. Tieate, another frightful poison, is prepared from a 

 Java species, and the Ouari poison of South America, from a third 

 species. Meanwhile a Brazilian species, S. Pseudoquina, has a harm- 

 less fruit, and its hark ( Copalche bark) is reputed to he an excellent 

 febrifuge, fully equal to Cinchona. 



842. Ord. ValcrianacefB ( Valerian Family). Herbs with opposite 

 leaves, and no stipules. Flowers often in cymes, panicles, or heads. 

 Limb of the adnate calyx two- to four-toothed, obsolete, or else 



885 



forming a kind of pappus. Corolla tubular or funnel-form, some- 

 times with a spur at the base, four- or five-lobed. Stamens distinct, 

 inserted on the corolla, usually fewer than its lobes. Ovary one- 



FIG. 881 Branch of Fedia Fagopyrum. 882 A magnified Tower 883. A fruit 884. An 

 enlarged cross-section of the same, and the cotyledons of the seed in the single fertile ceil : the 

 two empty cells are confluent into one. 8S5 Flower of a A'alerian, with one of the pappus- 

 like bristles of the calyx unrolled 88G. Section through the ovary and embryo ; the brUtles 

 of the calyx broken away. 



