MILKWEED FAMILY. 289 



minal and solitary or corymbed umbels ; pods thick, often with some soft 

 tubercle-like projections. Prairies, 111. to Tex. and S. C. 



3. ACERATES, GREEN MILKWEED. (Name from the Greek, 

 means without a horn, i.e. none to the hood-like appendages, in which 

 it differs from Asclepias.) Flowers green or greenish, in summer. % 



A. viridifl6ra, Ell. Dry sandy or gravelly soil ; soft-downy or smooth- 

 ish, l°-2° high ; leaves varying from oval to linear, mostly opposite ; 

 globular umbels nearly sessile ; flowers short-pedlceled, nearly \' long 

 when open ; hoods not elevated above the base of the corolla. 



A. longifdlia, Ell. Low barrens Ohio, W. and S.; rather hairy or 

 roughish, l°-3° high, with very numerous, mostly alternate, linear leaves ; 

 flowers smaller and on slender pedicels, the umbel peduncled ; hoods ele- 

 vated on a short ring of filaments above the base of the corolla. 



4. ENSLENIA. (Named for A. Enslen, an Austrian traveler.) 11 



E. albida, Nutt. Climbing, 8°-12° ; smooth, with opposite, heart-ovate, 

 long-petioled leaves, and small, whitish flowers, in raceme-like clusters on 

 axillary peduncles, all late summer. River banks, Perm., S. and W. 



5. VINCETOXICUM. (Latin : binding, poison.') % 



V. nigrum, Moench. A low-twining, smooth weed from Eu., escaping 

 from gardens E.; leaves ovate and lance-ovate; flowers small, brown- 

 purple, rather few in axillary umbels, in summer. 



6. CYNANCHUM. (Greek, meaning dog poison.') 



C. acuminatifblium, Hemsley (or Vincet6xicum acuminatum). Mos- 

 quito Plant, so called, because small insects are stuck fast in the clefts 

 of the crown ; flowers white and pretty, in axillary clusters ; leaves 

 lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate and acuminate ; 2°-3°, with a twining 

 tendency. Japan. % 



7. GONOLOBUS. (Greek: angled pod.) Ours are twining herbs, 

 along river banks, with opposite, heart-shaped, petioled leaves, and 

 corymbs or umbels of dark or dull-colored small flowers, on peduncles 

 between the petioles. The following are the commonest. % 



G. lee-vie, Michx. Smooth or only sparingly hairy, the yellowish-green 

 flowers and the longitudinally ribbed pods smooth. Va., S. and W. 



G. obliquus, R. Br. Hairy, somewhat clammy ; flowers minutely 

 downy outside, long and narrow in the bud, dull crimson-purple within, 

 the strap-shaped or lanceolate divisions \' long; pods ribless, warty. 

 Penn., S. and W. 



G. hirsutua, Michx. Differs from the last in its short-ovate flower 

 buds, the oval or oblong divisions of corolla only about \' long. Va., S. 

 and W. 



8. aOTA, WAX PLANT. ( Thomas Hoy, an English gardener.) % 



H. carnosa, R. Br. Well-known house plant from India ; with rooting 

 stems, thick and fleshy oval leaves, umbels of numerous flesh-colored or 

 almost white flowers, the upper surface of corolla clothed with minute 

 papill®. 



9. STEPH ANOTIS. (Greek : crown and ear, referring to the appen- 

 dages of the stamens.) "il 



S. floribunda, Brong. Madagascar Jasmine. A fine hothouse twiner, 

 very smooth, with opposite, oval or oblong, thickish leaves, and lateral 

 gray's f. f. & g. bot. — 19 



