300 PLANTS GROWING IN WASTE SOIL. 



SPREADING DOGBANE. {Plate CLIII.) 



Apocyn iim aiidrosc£7nifbliiun . 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Dogbane. Rose colour. Fragrant. Mostly norihivard. June., July. 



Flo'cvers : in terminal cymes ; growing on thread-like flower-stalks. C(7/yx : 

 five-cleft. Corolla: bell-shaped; five-lobed, and veined with a deeper pink. 

 Stamens : five. Ovaries : united by an ovate stigma. Pods : large ; long ; slender. 

 Leaves : opposite ; ovate. An herb two to eight feet high ; forked ; branching. 

 Juice: milk white ; sticky. 



Truly it is the poets and botanists who are mostly alive to 

 the loveliness of the wildings of nature ; and we ever find them 

 singing their praises to the exclusion of their more pretentious 

 sisters that are under the gardener's care. 



The tiny blossoms of the spreading dogbane remind us of 

 the bells of the lily-of-the-valley ; but they have a delicate 

 rose tint, and are exquisitely veined with a deeper colour. 

 This is probably to let the bee know of their five glands of 

 sweet nectar. 



The plant was formerly thought to be poisonous to dogs. 



VIRGINIA CREEPER. AMERICAN IVY. 



Partheridcissus qui7iquefblia. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Vine. WJiite. Scentless. General. J^ly. 



Flotvers : small ; clustered in a cyme. Frziif : small black, or blue berries. 

 Leaves : divided into five lance-oblong leaflets. A vine climbing by means of 

 tendrils and rootlets. 



It is quite distressing to think how often this most beautiful 

 of our climbers is shunned and looked upon with distrust by 

 the non-botanists simply because the difference between it and 

 poison ivy is not known. That it has five leaflets and bluish 

 berries should be remembered as a means to distinguish it from 

 the three leaflets and whitish fruit of the harmful vine. 



It accommodates itself readily to almost every kind of soil, 

 and has been extensively cultivated in Europe and in this coun- 

 try for garden decoration. In the autumn the leaves turn a 

 brilliant crimson. 



