116 



GENTIANACEiE. 



LlMNANTHEMUM. 



markable, and a full account of it is given by Grisebach in the Annals of Natural History, 

 for March, 1838. One of the cotyledons remains in the seed, and is connected with the radicle 

 by a short petiole ; the other is furnished with a very long petiole, from which, at its upper 

 part, other petioles and true roots arise, the proper radicle perishing early. One of the petioles 

 attains a greater length than the others, and from its upper part flowers and roots are put forth. 



Order LXXIX. APOCYNACEtE. Juss.; R, Br. The Dogbane Tribe. 



Calyx 5-cleft, persistent. Corolla regular, 5-lobed, twisted in aestivation. Stamens 

 5: filaments distinct: anthers 2 -celled, opening longitudinally, sometimes 

 slightly connected : pollen granular. Ovaries 2, distinct or rarely united ; the 

 styles or stigmas combined into one, in fruit usually forming two follicles. 

 Seeds often with a tuft of hairs at one or both ends, albuminous. — Trees, 

 shrubs, or rarely perennial herbs, with a milky juice, mostly with opposite 

 entire leaves, destitute of stipules, and the flowers cymose or paniculate. 



1. APOCYNUM. Linn. ; Endl. gen. 3422. dogs-BANE. 



[ From the Greek, apo, far from, and lyon, a dog ; it being thought poisonous to that animal.] 



Calyx 5-parted ; the lobes not glandular, acute. Corolla campanulate ; the lower part 

 furnished with five adnate triangular nectariferous scales, which are opposite the lobes. 

 Stamens inserted at the base of the corolla : filaments ligulate, pubescent inside, alternating 

 with the scales : anthers sagittate, with an acute cartilaginous summit, adhering by their 

 face to a narrow zone near the middle of the stigma. Ovaries 2, oblong : stigma nearly 

 sessile, ovoid, obtuse, obscurely 2-lobed. Follicles slender, elongated. Seeds numerous, 

 with a long coma at the summit. — Perennial herbs, with opposite entire leaves, and the 

 flowers in terminal and axillary paniculate cymes. 



1. Apocynum and ros^e mi folium, Linn. Dog's-bane. Black Indian-hemp. 



Leaves ovate, mostly obtuse at the base ; lobes of the calyx ovate-lanceolate, acute, about 

 half as long as the tube of the corolla ; limb of the corolla spreading. — Linn. sp. 1. p. 213 ; 

 Michx. fl. 1. p. 121 ; Bot. mag. t. 280 ; R. Br. in Wern. trans. 1. p. 68 ; Bigel. med. bot. 

 t. 36, and fl. Bost. p. 99 ; Ell. sk. 1. p. 314 ; Torr. fl. I. p. 275 ; Beck, bot. p. 233 ; 

 Darlingt. fl. Cest. p. 167 ; Griscom in Amer. jour. med. sc. May, 1833, with a figure. 



