Tngustrum. | XLVIII, OLEACEAI, 299 
green, lanceolate or oblong, quite entire, and shortly stalked. Flowers in 
short, compact panicles at the ends of the branches. Berries black, globular 
or somewhat ovoid. 
In hedges and thickets, over the greater part of Europe and western 
Asia, penetrating far into Scandinavia, but so much planted in hedges and 
ornamental shrubberies, that its natural limits cannot well be traced. In 
Britain, common in southern England, and has been considered as truly 
wild in chalk districts and coast cliffs as far north as Durham and York- 
shire ; in Ireland it is very rare, except where planted, and considered in- 
_ digenous in the south of the island. FV. swmmer. 
XLIX. APOCYNACEA, THE PERIWINKLE FAMILY. 
A large tropical Order, distinguished from Gentianacec 
chiefly by the ovary completely divided into 2 cells, or more 
frequently into 2 distinct carpels, whilst the style, or at least 
the stigma, is entire. 
It is limited in Britain to the single genus Vinca, but is represented in 
our planthouses by the Oleander (Nerium) from southern Europe; the 
Mandevilla, Allamandas, Dipladenias, etc., from South America; and 
others, from tropical Asia. The closely allied Asclepias family, which is 
entirely exotic, but includes the Periploca, Stapelias, Hoyas, Stephanotus, 
etc,, of our gardens and planthouses, differs chiefly in the curious manner 
in which the anthers are connected with the stigma. 
I. VINCA. PERIWINKLE. 
Herbs, with opposite, entire leaves, and blue, pink, or white flowers, 
growing singly on axillary peduncles. Calyx free, deeply divided into 5 
narrow divisions. Corolla with a cylindrical or almost campanulate tube, 
and a flat, spreading limb, with 5 broad, oblique segments, twisted in the 
bud. Stamens 5, enclosed in the tube. Ovaries 2, distinct at the base but 
connected at the top by a single style, terminating in an oblong stigma, 
contracted in the middle. Fruit consisting of 2 oblong or elongated cap- 
-sules or follicles, each of a single cell, of a greenish colour, diverging as 
they ripen, and opening by a longitudinal slit on the inner side. Seeds 
several, without the seed-down of many exotic genera of the Order. 
Leaves broadly ovate, and segments of the calyx ciliate on their 
margins. Flowerslarge  . - : . - : ° - 1. V. major. 
Leaves narrow-ovate, and calyxes quite glabrous. Flowerssmall 2. V. minor, 
The V. rosea, a tropical species with erect stems, is often cultivated in 
our hothouses. 
1. V. major, Linn. (fig. 670). Larger Periwinkle.—A perennial, with 
a creeping rootstock, long, trailing, barren shoots, and nearly erect, simple 
flowering stems, about a foot high. Leaves broadly ovate, evergreen, and 
shining, but bordered by minute hairs. Pedicels shorter than the leaves. 
Calyx-segments narrow, ciliate on the edges. Corolla large, blue ; the tube 
broad, almost bell-shaped, though slightly contracted at the mouth; the 
lobes broad, almost angular. 
In woods and shady banks, in south-central and southern Europe to the 
Caucasus, but, having been long cultivated for ornament, and spreading 
