314 APOCYNACEAE (DOGBANE FAMILY) 
BLACK INDIAN HEMP 
Apécynum cannabinum, L. 
Other English names: American Hemp, Indian Physic, Choctaw 
eos Bowman’s Root, Amy Root, Dropsy Root, Rheumatism 
weed. 
Native. Perennial. Propagates by seeds. 
Time of bloom: June to August. 
Seed-time: August to October. 
Range: Anticosti to British Columbia, southward to Florida, Texas, 
and southern California. 
Habitat: Moist soil; fields and thickets. 
Nearly related to the Spreading Dogbane, quite as obnoxious, 
but lacking its beauty. This plant is valuable medicinally, 
: and the roots, gathered in autumn, 
cleaned, and dried, bring eight to ten 
cents a pound in the drug market; 
the inner bark yields a fine and very 
strong fiber, but no commercial use 
is made of it. 
Root deep, vertical, branching. 
Stems one to five feet tall, smooth, 
erect, with ascending branches. 
Leaves two to four inches in length, 
oblong, pointed at both ends or 
sometimes rounded at base, entire, 
pale green, smooth above, occasion- 
ally somewhat hairy beneath, those 
on the main stem having distinct 
petioles, those on the branches often 
nearly sessile. Flowers terminal 
(sometimes axillary) in rather dense 
cymes, held erect; calyx with five 
lobes, nearly as long as the tube of 
Fig. 219. — Black Indian : 
Hemp (Apocynum cannabinum). the very small, five-lobed, greenish 
Xi 
white corolla. Pods in pairs, similar 
to those of the Spreading Dogbane. (Fig. 219.) 
Means of control the same as for the preceding species. 
