DOGBANE FAMILY. 275 



2. NEEIUM, OLEANDER. (The ancient Greek and Latin name.) 

 Leaves coriaceous, rigid, closely and transversely veiiuy. Flowers showy, in 

 terminal cymes, in summer, deep rose-color, or with white varieties, either 

 single or double. 



N. Oleander, the Oleander of common house-culture, from the Levant : 

 leaves lanceolate ; appendage surmounting the anthers scarcely protruding ; 

 flowers large, scentless. , 



W. odbrum. Sweet O. : less cult., from India, more tender ; leaves linear- 

 lanceolate ; appendage of the anthers protruding ; flowers fragrant. 



3. ECHITES. (Name from Greek word for a viper.) Plants from the 

 warm parts of America, one not rare as a conservatory climber, viz. 



E. suav^olens, or Mandev^llea suavbolens. Chili Jessamine, a 

 slender woody-stemmed tall twiner, with thin oblong or ovate heart-shaped 

 pointed leaves, and slender peduncles bearing a few racemed very fragrant flow- 

 ers, the white corolla with ample S-lobed border, 2' broad. 



4. PORSTEEONIA. (Named for an English botanist, T. J^. J'orsier.) 

 P. diffdrmis, in low grounds from "Virginia S. & W., is a barely woody 



twiner, the flowering branches herbaceous and downy ; leaves thin, oval-lan- 

 ceolate, pointed, or sometimes linear, narrowed into a petiole ; flowers J' long, 

 in cymes, greenish-yellow, all summer. 



5. VINCA, PERIWINKLE. (Latin name, from a word meaning to bind, 

 from the thread-like stems.) ^ 



§ 1. True Periwinkles, cult, from Europe, hardy or nearly so, smooth, trail- 

 ing over the ground or creeping, only the short flowering stems ascending, 

 with blue (or by variation white) flowers solitary in the axils, in spring or 

 early summer. 



V. minor, Commok Periwinkle, in all country-gardens, spreading freely 

 by the creeping sterile stems, evergreen, with ovate or oblong-ovate shining 

 leaves barely 1^' long, and almost truncate wedge-shaped lobes to the corolla : 

 fl. early spring. 



V. m^or, Large P., not quite hardy N., a variety with variegated leaves 

 is most cultivated, larger than the first species and leaves rounder, the lobes of 

 corolla obovate. 



V. herb^cea : not evergreen ; stems reclining and rooting ; leaves lance- 

 oblong, lobes of the more purple-blue corolla oblong-obovate : .fl. late spring. 



§ 2. Tropical erect, somewhat leoody at base: flowers produced all the season. 



V. rdsea, house and bedding plant from West Indies, with oblong-petioled 

 veiny leaves, and showy corolla with slender tube and very narrow orifice, rose- 

 purple, or" white with pink eye, &c. 



6. APOCYNUM, DOGBANE (to ^yhich the name in Greek refers), 

 INDIAN HEMP, from the use made of the bai-k. El. summer. ^ 



A. androssemifblium, Spreading D. Along thickets, mostly N. : 

 branches forking and widely spreading ; leaves ovate, petioled ; corolla open 

 bell-shaped with spreading lobes. 



A. caiiud:binum, Common Indian Hemp. Gravelly or wet banks of 

 streams : branches more erect ; leaves oblong, lance-oblong, ovate, or slightly 

 heart-shaped ; flowers more crowded and erect ; lobes of the corolla little 

 spreading. 



7. AMSONIA. (Named for a Mr. Charles Amson.) Low grounds chiefly 

 S. ; very leafy, 2° - 3° high, smooth or somewhat hairy, with rather small 

 flowers, in late spring. 



A. Tabernsemont^ua. Leaves varying from ovate or lance-ovate to 

 lanceolate, acute at each end, pale beneath. 



A. ciliS.ta. Leaves linear or linear-lanceolate, the margins and mostly the 

 stems beset with some scattered bristles. 



