DOGBANE FAMILY. 275 



2. NEBITIM, 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 witii white varieties, either 

 single or double. 



N. Ole&nder, the Oeeander of common house-culture, from the Levant : 

 leaves lanceolate ; appendage surmounting the anthers scarcely protruding ; 

 flowers large, scentless. ' ' 



N. odbrum, Sweet O. : less cult., from India, more tender ; leaves linear- 

 lanceolate ; appendage of the anthers protruding ; flowers fragrant. 



3. ECHITES. (Name from Greek word for a viper.) Plants from the 

 warm parts of America, one not rare as a conservatory climher, viz. 



!E. suav&olens, or MandevIllea suaveolens. Chili Jessamine, a 

 slender woody-stenimed tall . twiner, with thin oblong or ovate heart-shaped 

 pointed leaves, and slender peduncles bearing a few racemed very fragrant flow- 

 ers, the white corolla with ample 5-lobed border, 2' broad. 



4. PORSTEEONIA. (Named for an English botanist, T. F. Porster.) 

 F. dififdrmis, in low grounds from Virginia S. & W., is a barely woody 



twiner, the flowering branches herbaceous and. downy; leaves thin, oval-lan- 

 ceolate, pointed, or sometimes linear, narrowed into a petiole; flowers J' long, 

 in cymes, greenish-yellow, all summer. 



5. VINCA, PERIWINKLE. (Latin name, from a word meaning to bind, 

 from the thread-like stems.) y. 



§ 1. True Pekiwinkles, cult, from Europe, hardy or nearly so, smooth, trail- 

 ing over the ground or .creeping, .oidy the shoti flowering stems ascending, 

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

 early summer. 



v. minor, Common Periwinkle, in all country-gardens, spreading freely 

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

 leaves barely 1^' long, and almost truncate wedge-shaped lobes to the corolla : 

 fl. early spring. 



V. mijor. Large P., not quite hardy N., a variety with variegated leaves 

 is most cultivated, larger than the first species and leaves rounder, the lobes of 

 corolla obovate. • ' 



V. herbd:Cea : not evergreen ; stems reclining and rooting ; leaves lance- 

 oblong, lobes of the more purple-blue corolla oblong-obovate : fl. late spring. 



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

 ■• V, r6sea, house and bedding plant from West Indies, with oblong-petioled 

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

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



e. APOCTNUM, DOGBANE (to which the name in Greek refers), 

 INDIAN HEMP, from the use made of the bark. El. summer. % 



A. androssemifdlium, Spreading D. Along thickets,; mostly N. ; 

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

 bell-shaped with spreading lobes. 



A. caiiudibiniim, 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. 



7. AMSOITIA. (Named for a Mr. Charles Amson.) Low grounds chiefly 



S. ;_ very leafy, 2° - 3° high, smooth or soniewhat hairy, with rather small 



flowers, in late spring.. ' '• 



A. Tabemsemontina. Leaves varying from ovate or lance-ovate to 

 lanceolate, acute at each end, pale beneath. 



A. cili&ta. Leaves linear or linear-lanceolate, the margins and mostly the 

 stems beset with some scattered bristles. 



