504 



BOTANY. 



Order Apocynacese. — The Dogbane Family. Woody or lierba- 

 ceoDB plants, generally with a milky juice ; ovaries two, diBtinct or co- 

 hering, the style always single; pollen granular. In this order of 

 about 900 species there is very generally present a drastic purgative or 

 poisonous principle. Most of the species are tropical, a few only ex- 

 tending into temperate climates. 



Tlie milky juice of several species produces Caoutchouc when evapo- 

 rated, and that 

 Figs. 428-33.— Illustbationb of Asclepias. from a few species 



of Couma, Tdber- 

 ncemoniana, etc. , 

 in northern South 

 America is used 

 for food. 



TangJiinia vene- 

 nifera, a, tree of 

 Madagascar, pro- 

 duces a fruit 

 Avhose seed is the 

 exceedingly viru- 

 lent Ordeal Poison 

 or Tanghin. 



Some of the 

 trees of the order 

 furnish timber, 

 which is of con- 

 siderable local 

 value. 



Our native spe- 

 cies of Apocynum 

 (viz., A. canitabin- 

 um and A. andro- 



FlG. 431. 



Fig. 428.— Flowrr, with perianth reflexed 

 Fig. 429. — tttamen, with its hood. Magniueti. 

 Fig. 430.— Gyncecium with pollen-masses arlhering to the 

 stigma ; two separated pollen-masses at the side. Magnified. 

 Fig. 431. — Diagram of flower. 

 Fig. 432.— Seed. Magnified. 



sess a tough fib- 

 rous bark which 

 was used by the 

 Indians for mak- 

 ing cordage, nets, 

 etc. 



Among the cul- 

 tivated plants are Nerium Oleander, the Oleander from the Levant, 

 an evergreen shrub or small tree with poisonous wood, bark and foli- 

 age ; Vinca, sp. Periwinkle or, as it is erroneously called, Trailing 

 Myrtle ; Echites, Allamanda, etc. 

 Order Salvadoraceee. — A few shrubs of the Old World tropics. 

 Order Oleaceee. — The Olive Family. Woody or rarely herbaceous 



