GENUS 3. DOGBANE FAMILY. 21 
3. APOCYNUM L. Sp. Pl. 213. 1753. 
Perennial branching herbs, with opposite entire leaves, and small white or pink flowers 
in terminal and sometimes axillary corymbed cymes. Calyx 5-parted, the segments acute. 
Corolla urceolate to campanulate, the tube bearing within 5 small appendages alternate with 
the stamens, the limb 5-lobed. Stamens inserted on the base of the corolla; anthers sagit- 
tate, connivent around the stigma and slightly adherent to it. Disk 5-lobed. Ovary of 2 
carpels; ovules numerous in each carpel; stigma ovoid, obtuse, obscurely 2-lobed. Follicles 
slender, elongated, terete. Seeds numerous, small, tipped with a long coma. [Greek, dogbane.] 
About 11 species, of the north temperate zone, most abundant in North America. Type species: 
Apocynum androsaemifolium L 
Corolla campanulate, not angled, 4”-41%4” long, pink, its lobes widely spreading or recurved. 
1. A. androsaemifolium. 
Corolla urceolate to short-tubular, or narrowly campanulate, angled, 114”-31%4” long, greenish, 
white, or faintly pink, its lobes a little spreading, or erect. 
Corolla narrowly campanulate, 214”—3 1%” long, lobes nearly equalthetube. 2, A. medium, 
Corolla urceolate to short-tubular, 114”—-3” long, lobes much shorter than the tube. 
Calyx-lobes ovate, much shorter than the corolla tube. 3. A. Milleri. 
Calyx-lobes lanceolate, about as long as the corolla-tube. 
Leaves and cymes glabrous, or sparingly pubescent. 
Leaves all narrowed at the base and distinctly petioled; flowers greenish; plant rather 
bright green. 4. A. cannabinum 
At least the lower leaves sessile, and mostly rounded or subcordate at the base; plant 
pale glaucous green; flowers white. 5. A. sibiricum, 
Leaves, cymes, and often the whole plant densely pubescent. 6. A. pubescens. 
1. Apocynum androsaemifolium L. 
Spreading Dogbane. Fig. 3376. 
Apocynum androsaemifolium L. Sp. Pl. 213. 1753. 
Syst. Ed. 10, 946. 1759. 
A, divergens Greene, Leaflets 1: 56. 1904. 
Rootstock horizontal; stem 1°-4° high; branches 
broadly spreading, mostly glabrous. Leaves ovate 
or oval, acute or obtuse and mucronate at the 
apex, rounded or narrowed at the base, glabrous 
above, pale and usually more or less pubescent 
beneath, 2’-4’ long, 1’-23’ wide; petioles 2’-4” 
long; cymes loose; pedicels 2”-3” long, subulate- 
bracted at the base; flowers about 4” broad; calyx- 
segments shorter than the tube of the pinkish 
corolla; corolla-lobes revolute; follicles about 4’ 
long, narrowed at the apex. 
In fields and thickets, Anticosti to British Colum- 
bia, south to Georgia, Missouri, Nebraska and Ari- 
zona. Ascends to 3500 ft.in Virginia. Honey-bloom. 
Bitter-root or -dogbane. Rheumatism-wood. Wild 
ipecac, Wandering milk-weed. Western wall-flower. 
Fly-trap. June-July. Linnaeus inadvertently failed 
to affix a binominal specific name in the first edition 
of his “Species Plantarum,” but corrected this six 
years later. 
2. Apocynum médium Greene. Intermediate Dogbane. 
Fig. 3377. 
Apocynum medium Greene, Pittonia 3: 29. 1897. 
Apocynum speciosum G. S. Miller, Proc, Biol. Soc. Wash. 13: 83. 
1899. 
Rootstock horizontal; stem stout, 4° high or less, the branches 
ascending, glabrous. Leaves oblong to oval or elliptic, mucronulate, 
ascending, 23’-4’ long, somewhat pubescent beneath; petioles 
2-4” long; cymes terminal, compact; pedicels 14’-23” long; 
flowers erect; calyx-segments ovate, about half as long as the 
s-angled corolla-tube; corolla white or pinkish, 23’’-34”" long, 
urceolate-campanulate, its lobes acutish, somewhat spreading, 
nearly as long as the tube; follicles 3’-4’ long. 
Fields and hillsides, Quebec to the District of Columbia, west to 
Iowa, June-Aug. 
