350 AscLKriADAcr.^. (milkweed family.) 



(Echites difForrais, Walt.) — Damp grounds, S. E. Virginia and southward 

 April. 



3. APOCVJXUM, Toui-n. Dogbane. Indian Hemp. 



Calyx 5-parted, the lobes acute. Corolla bell-shaped, 5-cleft, bearing 5 trian- 

 gular appendages in the throat opposite the lobes. Stamens 5, inserted on the 

 very base of the corolla : filaments flat, shorter than the arrow-shaped anthers, 

 which converge around the ovoid obsqurely 2-lobed stigma, and are slightly ad- 

 herent to it by their inner face. Style none : stigma large, ovoid, slightly 2- 

 lobed. Fruit of 2 long and slender follicles. Seeds comoso witli a long tuft of 

 silky down at the apex. — Perennial herbs, with upright branching stems, oppo- 

 site mucronate-pointed leaves, a tough fibrous bark, and small and pale cymose 

 flowers on short pedicels. (An ancient name of the Dogbane, composed of 

 ano, from, and Kiimi/, a dog, to which the plant wa« thought to be poisonous.) 



1. A. nndrosffiinifolinin, L. (Speeading Dogbane.) Smooth, 

 branched above ; branches divergently forking ; leaves ovate, distinctly petioled ; 

 cymes loose, spreading, mostly longer than the leaves ; corolla (pale rose-color, J' 

 broad) open-hell-shaped, with revolute lobes, the tube much longer than the ovate pointed 

 divisions of-thc calyx. — "Varies, also, with the leaves downy underneath. — Bor- 

 ders of thickets; common, especially northward. June, July. — Pods .3' -4' 

 long, pendent. 



2. A. canndbinum, L. (Indian Hemp.) Stem and branches up- 

 right m- ascending, terminated by erect and close many-flowered cymes, which are 

 usually shorter than the leaves ; corolla (greenish-white) with nearly erect lobes, 

 the tube not longer than the lanceolate divisions of the calyx. — Var. glaberri- 

 MUM, DC. Entirely smooth; leaves oblong or oblong-lanceolate, on short but 

 manifest petioles, obtuse or rounded, or the upper acute at both ends. — Var. 

 PUBESCENS, DC. Leaves oblong, oval, or ovate, downy underneath or some- 

 times on both sides, as well as the cymes. (A. pubescens, R. Br.) — Var. iiv- 

 pekicif6lium. Leaves more or less heart-shaped at the base and on very shcrt 

 petioles, commonly smooth throughout. (A. liypericifolium. Ait.) — River- 

 banks, &c. ; common. July, Aug. — Plant 2° -3° high, much more upright 

 than the last ; the flowers scarcely half the size. These different varieties evi- 

 dently run into one another. 



VfNCA mInor, the common Periwinkle, and Nekium OleAnber, the 

 Oleander, are common cultivated plants of this family. 



Order 85. ASCLEPIADACE.a:. (Milkweed Family.) 



Plants toith milky juice, and opposite or whorled (rarely scattered) entire 

 leaves ; the follicular pods, seeds, anthers connected with the stigma, sensible 

 properties, ^c.,just as in the last family ; from which they differ in the com- 

 monly valvate corolla, and in the singular connection of the anthers with the 

 stigma, the cohesion of the pollen into wax-like or granular masses, &c., aa 

 explained under the first and typical genus. 



