DOGBANE FAMILY. Apocynacem, 



DOGBANE FAMILY. Apocyiiacece. 



Chiefly a tropical family with few representatives in 

 our range. Plants with an acrid, milky juice, closely 

 related to the Milkweed Family. Leaves opposite (gen- 

 erallj') and toothless. Flowers perfect, five-parted : sta- 

 mens as many as the lobes of the corolla (flower-cup), 

 the latter rolled up in the bud. Fertilized mostly by 

 butterflies and bees. 



A somewhat tall and shrublike plant, 



prea ing with a smooth, slender, branching stem, 



Apocynum generally reddish on the side exposed to 



androsoimi- sunlight. The opposite growing, lustre- 



folium Iggg light blue-green, ovate leaves are 



White=pink toothless, and ruddy short-stalked. The 

 June-July 



delicate and beautiful little bell-shaped 



flowers are white-pink, five-lobed, and lily-of-the-valley- 

 like, striped with pink on the inside of the cup. The 

 clusters are small and terminate the branches ; their 

 most frequent visitors are bees and butterflies, and 

 among the latter are the ever-present little yellow Colias 

 j)hilodicea.nd the handsome monarch {Anosiaplexippus). 

 Miiller says the flower is fertilized by butterflies, and 

 cements its pollen to their tongues. An insect insepara- 

 ble from the dogbane is the so-called dogbane beetle 

 {Chrysochus auratus), jewellike and resplendent in met- 

 aUic red and green of incomparable lustre; it is scarcely 

 i inch long (see Familiar Features of the Roadside, p. 

 178). 1-4 feet high. Common in half -shaded fleld bor- 

 ders, or in thickets throughout the north, and south to 

 Ga. 



A far less attractive species w4th green- 

 Aioc^nmT^ ish white, tiny flowers erectly five-pointed. 

 cannabinuvi Similar to the above in other respects, but 

 Greenish white less spreading and more upright. The 

 June-August leaves narrower and abruptly acute. 1-3 

 feet high. On sandy river-hanks, in fields, and in thick- 

 ets everywhere. Both species found in Campton, N. H. 

 The name is Greek in origin — a;ro, from, and hvgov, a 

 dog. 



364 



