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DESCRIPTION OF MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
APOCYNACEiE. (Dogbane Family.) 
Apocynum androssemifolium, L. Dogbane. Indian Hemp. Her- 
baceous plant with milky acrid juice, a foot to a yard high, 
glabrous or rarely branched above; branches widely spread- 
ing, leaves ovate or roundish, distinctly petioled. Cymes 
loose, spreading, naked and mostly surpassing the leaves; 
Calyx small, deeply 5-cleft. Corolla campanulate, 5-lobed, 
toward the base bearing 5 small triangular-subulate append- 
ages, alternate with the stamens ; stamens on the base of the 
corolla. Filaments very short, broad, anthers sagittate, 
acute. Disk fleshy at base, the free summit 5-lobed. Stigma 
ovoid, 2-lobed. Follicles slepder, terete. Seeds numerous, 
with a lorg coma at apex. FI. June-July. Borders of roads 
and deserted old fields; very common. The root. 
Apocynum cannabinum, L. Indian Hemp. Very similar to the 
former. Glabrous or more or less pubescent; stem and 
branches upright or ascending 2-3° high, terminated by erect 
and close, many-flowered cymes, which are usually shorter 
than the leaves; leaves from oval to oblong and even lance- 
olate, short petioled or sessile with rounded or obscurely cor- 
date base ; corolla greenish- white, with nearly erect tubes, 
the tube not longer than the lanceolate divisions of the calyx. 
Moist grounds, common. FI. July. From the very tough- 
fibrous liber 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 root is collected. 
ASCLEPIADACEiE. (Milkweed Family.) 
Asclepias tuberosa, L. Butterfly- Weed. Pleurisy-Root. 
Hirsute or roughish pubescent perenuial herb, with a thick- 
ish root, 1-2° high, very leafy to the top ; leaves from lance- 
olate-oblong to linear-lanceolate, sessile or slightly petioled ; 
umbels several and mostly cymose at the summit of the 
stem ; short peduucled, bearing orange-colored flowers. The 
flowers are distinguished by the peculiar aggregation and 
cohesion of the pollen into grauulose or waxy masses (pol- 
