FIBROUS DOGBANES. 303 
some are herbaceous, as in the case of the Vinea, or Peri- 
winkle as it is called, which shows another characteristic, that 
is, the climbing habit of many of these plants, as well as the 
toughness of their fibre, as may easily be ascertained by trying 
to break any of the long, trailing twigs of this plant, so com- 
mon in gardens and shrubberies. Among these, is a plant 
called Nerium piscidium, by Dr. Roxburgh, ‘ Fl. Ind.,’ ii, p. 7, 
common in the Khasya or Silhet Mountains, and there called 
Echalat, It there forms an extensive perennial climber. Its 
bark contains a large quantity of fibre, which the natives use 
for the same purposes as Hemp. Dr. Roxburgh, in steeping 
some of the young shoots in a fish-pond, in order to facilitate 
the removal of the bark and to clean the fibres, found that 
many, if not all the fishes, were killed. Hence the specific 
name which he applied. Dr. Wight has formed the plant into” 
a new genus, Hchaltum. 
It is probable that there are many other fibre-yielding plants 
in this and the next family among the climbing species. 
Ascirpiaps (Asclepiadee), 
_ Closely allied to the Apocynacee is the family of plants 
which has been named Asclepiacee and Asclepiadee, from 
the genus Asclepias, to which most of the species formerly 
belonged. Among these, there are several remarkable for their 
fibrous properties, and many more probably remain to be dis- 
covered. Though many of this family of plants abound in the 
hottest and moistest parts of the world, others are also found 
in the driest and most barren parts of Asia, with a few species 
extending even to the North of Africa and to the South of 
Europe, Siberia, North America, and Japan ;. and southwards, 
to the Cape of Good Hope and New Holland. The great 
majority are distinguished by their twining habit; though 
their flowers are often inconspicuous, their seed-vessels are 
remarkable for being in pairs, and which, on bursting, display 
a quantity of thistle-like down attached to each seed, which 
floats them about as those of thistles and dandelions. This 
down may no doubt be turned to some useful purposes, and 
therefore makes the plants abounding in fibre more valuable, 
as thus yielding a double product; though it is probably only 
