350 ASCLEPIADACEJE. (MILKWEED FAMILY.) 



(EchHes difformis, Walt.) Damp grounds, S. E. Virginia and southward 

 April. 



3. APOCYNUM, Tourn. DOGBANE. INDIAN HEMP. 



Calyx 5-parted, the lobes acute. 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 obsqurely 2-lobed stigma, and are slightly ad- 

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

 lobed. Fruit of 2 long and slender follicles. Seeds cpmose 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 

 OTTO, from, and KVWV, a dog, to which the plant was thought to be poisonous.) 



1. A. :mlios;rimlV>liiiiii, L. (SPREADING DOGBANE.) Smooth, 

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

 cymes loose, spreading, mostly longer than the leaves ; coi'olla (pale rose-color, $' 

 broad ) open-bell-shaped, with revolute lobes, the tube much longer than 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' -4' 

 long, pendent. 



2. A. < :i mi; chin mil, L. (INDIAN HEMP.) Stem and branches up- 

 right or ascending, terminated by erect and close many-flowered 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. HY 

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

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

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

 than the last ; the flowers scarcely half the size. These different varieties evi- 

 dently run into one another. 



VfNCA adNOR, the common PERIWINKLE, and NERIUM OLEANDER, tne 

 OLEANDER, are common cultivated plants of this family. 



ORDER 85. ASCLEPIADACE-ffi. (MILKWEED FAMILY.; 



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

 leaves ; the foliicular pods, seeds, anthers connected with the stigma, sensible 

 properties, fyc.,just as in the last family ; from which they differ in the com- 

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

 stigma, the cohesion of the pollen into wax-like or granular masses, &c., as 

 explained under the first and typical genus. 



