DOGBANE FAMILY. 285 



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

 Leaves coriaceous, rigid, closely and transversely veiny. Flowers 

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

 varieties, either single or double. 



N. Olednder, Linn. The Oleander of common house culture, from 

 the Levant ; leaves lanceolate ; appendage surmounting the anthers 

 scarcely protruding; flowers large, scentless, with trifid or cuspidate 

 segments to the crown. 



N. odbrum, Soland. Sweet O. Less cult., from India, more tender ; 

 leaves linear-lanceolate ; appendage of the anthers protruding ; flowers 

 fragrant, with multifld crown segments. 



3. AMSONIA. (Named for Mr. Charles Amson.) Low grounds 

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

 rather small flowers, in late spring. % 



A. Tabernaemontana, Walt. Leaves varying from ovate or lance- 

 ovate to lanceolate, acute at each end, pale beneath. Ind. and 111., S. 



A. angustifdlia, Michx. Leaves linear or linear-lanceolate, the mar- 

 gins and mostly the stems beset with some scattered bristles. N. C, S. 



4. VINCA, PERIWINKLE. (Latin name, of obscure meaning.) % 



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

 trailing over the ground or creeping, Only the short-flowering stems as- 

 cending, with blue {or by variation white) flowers solitary in the axils, 

 in spring or early summer. 



V. m)nor, Linn. Common Periwinkle. In all country gardens, and 

 running wild in cemeteries and shady places ; spreading freely by the 

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

 leaves, barely 1 J' long, and almost truncate wedge-shaped lobes to the 

 corolla; flowers early spring. Many horticultural varieties, some with 

 variegated foliage. Sometimes, but erroneously, called Myrtle. 



V. major, Linn. Not quite hardy N., a variety with variegated leaves 

 much cultivated in greenhouses ; larger than the first species and leaves 

 cordate-ovate and (like the calyx) ciliate ; lobes of corolla obovate. 



V. herbdcea, Wald. & Kit. Less evergreen than the first ; stems reclin- 

 ing and rooting ; leaves lance-oblong, revolute ; lobes of the more purple- 

 blue-corolla oblong-obovate ; flowers late spring. 



§ 2. Tropical erect, somewhat woody at base ; flowers produced all the 



season. 



V. rdsea, Linn. House and bedding plant from West Indies, and 

 also growing in S. Fla., where it is possibly native ; leaves oblong-petioled, 

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

 purple, or white, with or without a pink eye. 



5. APOCYNUM, DOGBANE (to which the name in Greek refers), 

 INDIAN HEMP, from the use made of the bark. Flowers summer, y. 



A. androsaemifdlium, Linn. Along thickets, mostly N.; branches 

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

 bell-shaped, with revolute lobes, the tube much longer than the ovate 

 calyx lobes. 



A. cannabinum, Linn. 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, the tube about the length of the lanceolate 

 calyx lobes. 



