DOGBANE FAMILY 



APOCYNACEAE 



SPREADING DOGBANE 



Apocynum androsaemifolium L. 



This is a common perennial along roadsides and in fields 

 and open woods from Georgia, Missouri and Arizona far north 

 into Canada. The widely branching stem grows 1-4 feet high. 



The leaves are smooth 

 above but pale and 

 more or less hairy 

 beneath. Often dur- 

 ing July great num- 

 bers of iridescent 

 b eetles are found 

 feeding upon the foli- 

 age of the Dogbane. 



The flowers bloom 

 from June to early 

 August and though 

 small are fragrant and 

 pretty. The green 

 calyx is 5-parted. 

 The 5 lobes of the 

 corolla are turned 

 back, and the tube, 

 delicate pink with 

 darker veins, is longer 

 than the calyx. To 

 its base are attached 

 the c, yellowish sta- 

 mens, whose anthers 



are crowded around the stigma and slightly attached to it. 



There are 1 ovaries, whose sessile stigmas are united. The truit 



is a pair of follicles containing a large number of small seeds. 



Each seed is tufted with long white hairs which well adapt it 



for wind dissemination. 



The Intermediate Dogbane, Apocynnm medium Greene, is a 

 more or less erect, branching herb 2-4 feet high. The oblong or 

 elliptic leaves are finely hairy beneath and have a fine, sharp and 

 abrupt tip. The compactly flowered cymes are terminal on long 

 peduncles. The white or pink corollas are urn shaped, with the 5 

 lobes acute and spreading. 



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