APOCYNACE^E. (DOGBANE FAMILY.) 237 



short, few-flowered ; the staminate sessile and in a sessile globular scaly glom- 

 erule. Branches minutely warty. 



1. P. KTeo-Mexicana, Gray. Shrub 6 to 10 feet high, glabrous : leaves 

 spatulate-oblong, obtuse or obtusely acuminate, short-petioled, obtusely or 

 obsoletely serrulate, an inch long • fertile flowers in sessile fascicles : drupe ob- 

 tuse, short-oblong or ovoid. — Proc. Am Acad. xii. 63. S. Colorado to New 

 Mexico and Texas. 



3. MEWODORA, Humb. & Bonpl. 



Low shrubby or nearly herbaceous plants, with conspicuous yellow flowers 

 terminating the branches, or becoming lateral. In ours the corolla is nearly 

 rotate, with a bearded throat. 



1. M. scabra, Gray. Herbaceous from a woody branching base, a span 

 to a foot high, flax-like, whole herbage or at least the lower part puberulent- 

 scabrous : leaves linear or the lower oblong, chiefly entire, 4 to 10 lines long : 

 flowers rather numerous : calyx-lobes 7 to 15, slender, linear or subulate : lobes 

 of the bright yellow corolla obovate, much longer than the tube. — Am. Jour, 

 ci. II. xiv. 43. W. Texas to S. Colorado and Arizona. 



Order 48. APOCYNACE^E. (Dogbane Family.) 



Plants with milky or acrid juice, entire (mostly opposite) leaves, reg- 

 ular 5-merous and 5-androus flowers, the lobes of the corolla convolute 

 and twisted in the bud, and the filaments distinct and inserted on the 

 corolla. In ours the anther-cells are produced into a sterile appendage 

 at base, connivent around the stigma and adherent to it by a point at 

 the base of the polliniferous portion ; the ovaries are 2 and united only 

 by the common style or stigma, in fruit becoming follicles containing 

 comose seeds. 



1. APOCTNUM, Tourn. Dogbane. Indian Hemp. 



Calyx small, deeply 5-cleft, the tube by means of a thickish disk adnate to 

 the back of the ovaries below. Corolla campanulate, 5-lobed, toward the 

 base bearing 5 small triangular-subulate appendages alternate with the sta- 

 mens. Filaments very short and broad : anthers sagittate. Follicles slender, 

 terete. Seeds numerous, with a long coma at apex. — Pale perennial herbs, 

 with very tough-fibrous bark and opposite mucronate-tipped leaves : flowers 

 small, iu terminal cymes, white or rose-color: follicles 2 to 7 inches long. 



1. A. androsaemifolium, L. One to three feet high, glabrous, or 

 rarely soft-toinentose, branched above; branches widely spreading: leaves ovate 

 or roundish, distinctly pelioled : cymes loose, spreading : corolla flesh-color, open- 

 campanulate with revolule lobes ; the tube exceeding the ovate acute calyx-lobes. — 

 Across the continent. 



2. A. eannabinum, L. Erect or ascending, glabrous or sometimes 

 soft-pubescent : branches ascending, leafy to the top •• leaves from oval to oblong 



