GENTIANALE8. 503 



Species of Nemophila, PTiacelia, Whitlama, etc., are cultivated in 

 flower gardens. 



Order Polemoniacese. — Mostly lierbs of North America and North- 

 ern Asia, numbering about 151) species. 



Species of Phlox, Oilia, PoUmonium, Cobcea, etc., are cultivated in 

 flower gardens. 



583.— Cohort XV. Gentianales. Plants with opposite 

 leaves, regular flowers, superior ovary, and the stamens usu- 

 ally as many as the corolla lobes and alternate with them. 



Order Gentianaceee. — The Gentian Family. Annual or perennial 

 herbs, with a watery juice ; ovary generally one-celled, with many 

 ovules. The species, of which there are about 500, are found mostly 

 in temperate and cold climates. They possess a bitter principle, which 

 has been employed in medicine. We have many very pretty wild 

 ppecies. 



Order liOgauiacese. — Woody plants almost entirely of the tropics, 

 with two-celled ovaries. About 350 species are known ; they contain 

 a bitter principle which is often exceedingly poisonous. 



Strychnos nux-vomica is a small tree of India, bearing an orange-like 

 fruit containing numerous large flattish seeds (3 cm. in diameter). 

 These seeds constitute the poisonous drug, Nux Vomica ; they con- 

 tain two alkaloids to which their activity is due, viz, Stryclmia 

 (C21 Has Nj Oj) and Brucia (C23 Hsu N2 O4 -H 4 H2 0), The ordinary 

 form of the first as found in the shops is a Sulphate of Strychnia. 



<S. toxifera, a tree of the northern parts of South America, yields 

 from its bark and young wood the famous poison known as Curare, 

 Urari, Ourari, Woorara, etc. 



S. Tieute, a Javanese climber, furnishes the virulent Upas Tieute 

 or Tjettek with which the natives poison their arrows. 



Order Asclepiadacese. — The Milkweed Family. Woody or herba- 

 ceous plants, with a milky juice; ovaries two, distinct, but with a 

 single common stigma ; pollen agglutinated into masses (pollinia). 

 This large order of about 1300 species is chiefly tropical, being abun- 

 dantly represented in America, Africa, and Asia. The milky juice con- 

 tains Caoutchouc, and usually acrid and poisonous principles. But few 

 of the species are of sufficient economic importance to demand notice. 

 Many have a local reputation as domestic medicines. (Figs. 428-33.) 



Some are favorites in the flower garden or conservatory, «.§■., the Wax 

 Plant of India (Hoya carnosa), species of Geropegia, Stephanoiis, Pen- 

 ploca, etc. The South African Stapelias resemble Cacti, being fleshy 

 and leafless 



The peculiar structure of the flowers in this order has recently been 

 shown to be for the purpose of securing the services of insects in the 

 process of pollination. 



