APOC] 



&f)e CrsaSurg at Untang. 



80 



site family (Composite), chiefly found 

 in the alpine and temperate regions of 

 the Himalayas, one only being known in 

 Siberia. Upwards of twenty species are 

 recorded. They are herbs from one inch to 

 three feet in height, varying much in ap- 

 pearance, those growing in the high alpine 

 regions being very dwarf, the taller spe- 

 cies being found at much lower eleva- 

 tions, and some of them not unlike bur- 

 docks, but the scales of their involucres 

 are not hooked, as in that genus. The hairs 

 of the pappus being in a single series, 

 give rise to the name of the genus. A. gossy- 

 pina is found in Kumaon, at an elevation of 

 from 16,000 to 18,000 feet. The plant, alto- 

 gether not higher than two or four inches, 

 has its leaves densely clothed with long 

 cottony hairs, which form an admirable 

 covering to protect it from the cold to 

 which it is exposed. A. Lappa, the root of 

 which is the Oostus of the ancients, is 

 found on the mountain slopes of the Cash- 

 mere Valley, at an altitude of 8,000 to 9,000 

 feet. It is a gregarious herb, six to seven 

 feet high, with an annual stem and peren- 

 nial root, which is thick and aromatic. The 

 leaves lyrate-pinnatifld, and about two feet 

 long. The flower-heads two to three, ses- 

 sile, and the florets of a purple colour. Dr. 

 Falconer (from whose account the follow- 

 ing is abridged) described the plant under 

 the name of Aucklandia Costus. In Cash- 

 mere the plant is called Koot, in Bengal 

 Putchuk, and the Arabic name is Koost. 

 It is gathered largely, the greater portion 

 being laden on bullocks, sent through the 

 Punjab to Bombay, and there shipped for 

 the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, and China. 

 A portion of it finds its way to Calcutta, 

 through Hindostan. The roots are dug up 

 in September and October, cut into pieces, 

 two to six inches long, and exported with- 

 out further preparation. The quantity 

 collected amounts to about 200,000 lbs. per 

 annum ; the cost of collecting and trans- 

 port to a mercantile depot in Cashmere is 

 said to be 2,s.4d. per cwt., but -when it reaches 

 Canton it is sold for 47s. 5d. per cwt. The 

 root is used by the Chinese as an aphro- 

 disiac, and for burning as incense in their 

 temples. In Cashmere the root is only em- 

 ployed for protecting bales of shawls from 

 the attacks of moths ; and the stems of the 

 plants are suspended from the necks of 

 children, to avert the evil eye. [A. A. B.] 



APOCARPOUS. Having the carpels, or 

 at least their styles, disunited. 



APOCYN GOBE-MOUCHE. Fr. Apo- 



cynum androsmmifolium. 



APOCYNACE^E. (Contortce, Vincece, Apo- 

 crines, Dogbanes.) A natural order of corol- 

 lifloral exogens.with a superior ovary, free 

 epipetalous stamens, a pulley-shaped (troch- 

 lear) stigma, and unequal-sided lobes of 

 the corolla, on which last account Linnaeus 

 called them com orted, or twisted-flowered 

 plants, the corolla having some resen 

 blance to a Catharine-wheel firework in 

 motion. Most of the species inhabit tro- 

 pical countries ; the northern forms are 



the Vinca, or Periwinkle, Nerium, or 

 Oleander, and a few more. In general the 

 species form a poisonous, acrid, milky 

 secretion, which renders them dangerous ; 

 but others are mild enough in their action 

 to be useful in medicine, and in a few cases 

 the milk is bland enough to form a palat- 

 able beverage. Some yield the gum-elastic 

 Caoutchouc (see Vahea) ; while some 

 Hancornias and Carissas produce an eat- 

 able, and, as travellers say, a pleasant 

 fruit. See Tanghinia, Tabeenjemon- 

 tana, Hancornia, &c. The commoner 

 forms in cultivation are those of Alla- 

 manda, Parsonsia, Vinca, and Tuberncemon- 

 tana. About 600 species are known, dis- 

 tributed through about 100 genera. 



APOCYNUM. A genus of Apocynacew, 

 containing four species of perennial herbs, 

 with upright branching stems, opposite, 

 mucronate-pointed leaves, a tough fibrous 

 bark, and small, pale, and terminal or 

 axillary flowers on short pedicels. The 

 calyx is five-parted, and the corolla cam- 

 panulate, five-cleft, bearing five triangular 

 scales in the throat opposite the lobes. 

 Thefive stamens, inserted on the very base 

 of the corolla, have the filaments flat and 

 shorter than the arrow-shaped anthers, 

 which converge around the ovoid ob- 

 scurely two-lobed stigma, and slightly ad- 

 here to it by their inner face. The fruit 

 consists of two long, slender and coria- 

 ceous follicles, containing numerous ovoid 

 seeds, comose, with a long tuft of silky 

 down at the apex. From the fibrous bark 

 of A. cannabinum (commonly called Indian 

 Hemp), and hy per ici folium, the Indians 

 prepare a substitute for hemp, of which 

 they make twine, bags, fishing-nets, and 

 lines, as well as linen for their own use. The 

 members of the genus afford by incision a 

 milky juice, which, when sufficiently 

 dried, exhibits the properties of India- 

 rubber. 



A. androswmifolium, the Fly Trap of 

 North America, is cultivated as an object 

 of curiosity in this country. Thefive scales 

 in the throat of the corolla of this plant se- 

 crete a sweet liquid, which attracts flies 

 and other insects to settle on them ; the 

 scales are endowed with a peculiar irrita- 

 bility, the cause of which has not been 

 accurately determined, but which causes 

 them to bend inwards towards the centre 

 of the flower, when touched, and to retain 

 the unlucky flies as prisoners. Numbers 

 of dead flies may be seen in the several 

 flowers of this plant: the movement of 

 the scales probably serves to scatter the 

 pollen on the stigma. These plants are 

 more or less poisonous and acrid, and 

 produce emetic and diaphoretic effects. 

 They are widely distributed over the tem- 

 perate parts of both hemispheres, and a 

 few are in cultivation, but possess no great 

 beauty. [M. T. M.] 



APODANTHES. One of the genera of 



B.afnesiacece, characterised by unisexual 

 flowers, a four-cleft calyx, which is pro- 

 vided with two bracts, petals inserted 



