SWALLOW WORTS 



SWALLOW AVORTS 



Natural Order Asclepiadejc. Genus Asclepias 



AscLEPiAS (Asklepios, the Greek name of ^sculapius, to whom the genus 

 is dedicated). A genus consisting of about twenty -five species of erect, 

 perennial herbs, with milky juice and often fleshy roots. The flowers in this 

 genus as well as throughout the Order AscLEPlADE^ are of very singular 

 structure. There is a five-parted calyx, five petals united at tlieir base, 

 which fall back when the flower opens and hide the calyx: but the 

 remarkable feature is the union of anthers and stigmas in one body 

 above the ovary. The combined filaments of the stamens support a 

 coronet of five hoods, each with a protruding horn. The five anthers 

 each contains two clubbed-shaped masses of pollen (jtwUinia), suspended 

 from a sticky gland beneath the broad disk of the stigma. These 

 adhere to insects visiting the flower for honey, and thus help in the 

 cross-fertilisation. The ovaries develop into two follicles which split 

 along the inner face and disclose a multitude of seeds, each crowned with 

 a plume of silky hairs, which serves to buoy it through the air. They 

 are natives of America and the Temperate Regions of the North. All are 

 more or less poisonous, and several are used medicinally. 



AscLEPiAS cuKASSAVicA (Native of Cura9oa). Red- 

 c pa pecies.j^^^^^ ^^^^ downy, unbranched or but slightly branched, 

 2 or 3 feet high. Leaves opposite, oblong - lance-shaped. Flowers 

 orange-scarlet, in small, axillary, long-stalked umbels ; July to September. 

 Stove. Introduced from Tropical America, 1692. Plate 182. There is 

 a white variety. 



A. DoUGLASii (Douglas'). Stems thick, woolly, unbranched, 2 to 3 

 feet high. Leaves opposite, heart-shaped, downy beneath, half a foot 

 long and nearly as wide. Flowers purplish lilac, large, and waxy-looking, 

 in large umbels ; July to September. Introduced from Western America, 

 1846. Hardy. 



A. INCAENATA (flesh). Stem, branched and woolly at the top, 2 feet 

 high. Leaves opposite, lance-shaped, somewhat woolly above and below. 

 Flowei's red or purplish, in numerous umbels ; July. Introduced in 1710 

 from Canada, where it grows beside the rivers. Hardy. 



A. Syriaca (Syrian). Milkweed ; Silkweed. Stems unbranched, 3 

 to 5 feet high. Leaves opposite, broad-lance-shaped or egg-shaped, woolly 

 beneath. Flowers pale purple, fragrant, in large drooping umbels : July. 

 Introduced from North America, 1629. Hardy. 



