434 



ILLUSTRATIONS OP TIIK NATURAL ORDERS. 



calyx. On the other hand, they run close to Scrophulariaceoe and 

 Apocynacefe. — Spigelia Marilandica (the Carolina Pink-root, a 

 well known vermifuge, of somewhat acrid-narcotic properties), and 

 Gelsemium (the so-called Yellow Jessamine of the Southern States) 

 are the most conspicuous representatives of the group in this coun- 

 try. The active jiroperties of the family are most conspicuous in 

 species of Strychnos. The fatal drug, Niix-vomica, from which 

 strychnine is extracted, consists of the seeds of an East Indian 

 Strychnos. Tieute, another frightful poison, is prepared from a 

 Java species, and the Ouari poison of South America, from a third 

 species. Meanwhile a Brazilian species, S. Pseudoquina, has a liarm- 

 less fruit, and its bark ( Copalche hark) is reputed to be an excellent 

 febrifuge, fully equal to Cinchona. 



842. Ord, Valerianaceffi ( Valerian Family). Herbs with opposite 

 leaves, and no stipules. Flowers often in cymes, panicles, or heads. 

 Limb of the adnate calyx two- to four-toothed, obsolete, or else 



forming a kind of pappus. Corolla tubular or funnel-form, some- 

 times with a spur at the base, four- or flve-lobed. Stamens distinct, 

 inserted on the corolla, usually fewer than its lobes. Ovary one- 

 no. 881. Branch of Fedia Fagopyrum. 882. A magnified flower. 883. A fruit. 884. An 

 enlarged cross-section of the same, and the cotyledons of the seed in the single fertile cell : the 

 two empty cells are confluent into one. 885 Flower of a Valerian, with one of the pappus- 

 like hri.stles of the calyx unrolled. 88G. Section through the ovary and emhryo ; the bristles 

 of the calyx broken away. 



