588 Oedee 96.— APOCYNACE^. 



segm. oblong, thrice aa Ipng as calyx, gland at base hairy, stipitate ; caps, ovoid, 

 twice longer than the calyx ; sty. very short ; seeds lens-shaped, shining, border 

 muricate with sharp tubercles. — Ponds, S. States, Savannah (Feay), N. Orleans 

 (Hale). Petioles 2 to 8f long, according to the depth of the ivater. Lvs. 2f to 4' 

 by 3 to 5', purplish, variegated beneath. Fls. white, with yellow center, 10" 

 broad. Seedastraw-oolor. Jn. (Menyanthes trachyspermum Mx) 



Order XCVI. APOCYNACE^. Dog-banes. 



Plant with an acrid, milky juice, entire, exstipulate, mostly opposite leaven. 

 Flowers 5-parted, regular, the calyx persistent, the coroUa twisted in aestivation. 

 Stamens 5, vrith distinct filaments, anthers filled with granular pollen. Ovaries 2, 

 distinct, but their stigmas blended into a head-shaped mass. Fruit 1 to 2 folliplea, 

 or capsular or baccate, with albuminous seeds. 



Genera 90, species 700, chiefly tropical. 



Froperties. — ^These plants possess active and often suspicious qualities residing in the whitft 

 juice with which the order is pervaded, and in the seeds which fli-e often deadly poisons. Tha 

 alkaloid strychnine or strychnia, one of the most violent poisons is the active principle of the 

 seeds of the Strychnos Nux-voniica of India. It is sometimes administered as a medicine, but 

 with doubtful success. 8. Tieuteof Javaisonekindof Upas. CerberaTanghin, a tree of Madagas- 

 car, is powerfully poisonous, a single seed being sufficient to destroy twenty persons. The Apo- 

 oyneai are emetic, and becoming highly valued in hydrocephalus, etc. The juice contains caout- 

 chouc in small quantities, but in Sumatra this is obtained largely from the juice of Urceola 

 alastica. 



GENERA. 



a Herbs erect, with bell-shaped, "whitish corollas and silky seeds Apoctnum. 1 



a Herbs erect, with funnel-form, blue corolla and naked seeds A.msonia. 3 



a Herbs twining, with fiinn. -foini, yellow corolla and silky seeds Foesteronia. 3 



b Shrubs (cultivated) with the corolla throat 5-angled, crownless ViNCA. 4 



b Shrubs (cultivated) "with the corolla throat crowned with 5 ligules Nerium. 5 



1. APOC'YKUM, Tourn. Dog's-bane. (Gr. dno, away, kvcx>v, dog > 

 Pliny says this plant is fatal to dogs.) Calyx very small ; corolla cam' 

 panulate, lobes short ; stamens included ; filaments short, arising from 

 the base of the corolla, and alternate with 5 glandular teeth ; anthers 

 sagittate, connivent, cohering to the stigma by the middle ; ova. 2 ; 

 stigmas connate ; follicles long, sublinear, distinct. — Herbs, suffrutes- 

 cent, erect, with opposite, entire, mucronate lvs. Cymes terminal and 

 axillary. Pedicels not longer than the pale flowers. 



1 A. androssemifolium L. Doa's-BANE. Smooth; lvs. ovate; cymes lateral 

 and terminal ; limb of cor. spreading, the tube longer than the calyx. — A smooth, 

 elegant plant, 3f high, in hedges and borders of fields. Stem reddened by tha 

 sun, erect, branching above. Leaves dark green above, paler beneath, opposite, 

 rounded at base and acute at apex, 2 — 3' long and f as wide, on petioles \' long. 

 Cymes paniculate, at the top of the branches and in the axils of tlie upper leaves. 

 Pedicels J' long. Cal. much shorter than the corolla. Cor. as long as the pedi- 

 cels, beU-shaped, white, striped with red, witli 5, acute, spreading segments. 

 Follicles 3 to 4' long. Jn., Jl. — Medicinal. 

 /3. INCANDM. Lvs. hoary-pubescent beneath. 

 A. cannabinum L. Smooth ; lvs. oUong, varying from oval to lanoe-oblong, mu- 

 cronate, short petiolate ; cal. lohes lanceolate, alout equaiing the corolla tube ; cor. 

 lobes erect. — In shady soils. Can. to Ga. and Ark. Plant widely branched, 2 to 4{ 

 high. Lvs. smaller and thicker than in No. 1, 2 to 4' long, 6 to 16" wide, usu- 

 ally rounded at base and acute at apex, often obtuse or acute at both ends, the 

 petioles 1 to 3" long. Fls. in dense, upright cymes, and not as large as in No. 1. 

 Cor. white, with erect segments, hardly 2" long. Follicles 3' long. Jn. — Aug. 

 §. PCBESCENS. Lvs. beneath and cymes pubescent. (A. pubescens E. Br.) 

 /. HTPEKIOIFOLIUM. Lvs. narrowly oblong, subsessile, smooth ; ova. inclining 

 to ovate-oblong; cymes generally longer than the leaves. (A. hyperici- 

 folia Ait.) 



