366 ASCLEPIADACEJE. (MILKWEED FAMILY.) 
It ASCLEPIAS, L. Milkweed;. Silkweed. 
Calyx* 5-parted, persistent, the divisions small, spreading. Co¬ 
rolla deeply 5-parted; the divisions valvate in the bud, reflexed, 
deciduous. Crown of 5 hooded lobes (nectaries, L.) seated on the 
tube of stamens, each containing a horn-like incurved process. 
Stamens 5, inserted on the base of the corolla : filaments united in 
a tube ( gynostegium ) which incloses the pistil: anthers adherent 
to the stigma, with 2 vertical cells opening lengthwise, tipped 
with a membranaceous appendage, each cell containing a flattened 
pear-shaped and waxy pollen-mass; the two contiguous pollen- 
masses of adjacent anthers forming pairs which hang by their 
slender summits from the descending processes of 5 cloven glands 
that grow on the angles of the stigma (usually extricated from the 
cells by the agency of insects, and directing copious pollen-tubes 
into the point where the stigma joins the apex of the styles). 
Ovaries 2, tapering into very short styles : a large depressed 5- 
angled fleshy stigma common to the two. Follicles 2, one of them 
often abortive, soft, ovate or lanceolate. Seeds anatropous, flat, 
margined, downwardly imbricated all over the large placenta 
which separates from the suture at maturity, furnished with a 
long tuft of silky hairs {coma) at the hilum. Embryo large, with 
foliaceous cotyledons in thin albumen. —Perennial upright herbs, 
with thick and deep roots: peduncles terminal or mostly lateral 
and between the petioles, bearing simple many-flowered umbels. 
Leaves usually transversely veiny. (The Greek name of jEscu- 
lapius , to whom the genus is dedicated.) 
* Pods clothed with soft spinous projections. 
1. A. Cornuti, Decaisne. (Common Milkweed or Silk- 
weed.) Stem large and stout, somewhat branched; leaves ovate- 
elliptical, with a slight point, spreading , contracted at the base into a 
short but distinct petiole , minutely velvety-downy underneath as well as 
the peduncles and branches; divisions of the corolla ovate (greenish- 
purple), about one fourth the length of the very numerous pedicels; 
hoods of the crown ovate , obtuse , with a lobe or tooth on each side of the 
short and stout claw-like horn; pods ovate , covered with weak spines 
and woolly. (A. Syrlaca, L., but the plant is a native of this country 
only.) — Rich soil, fields, &c., common. July. — Plant 3° -4° high ; 
leaves 4* - 8^ long, pale. 
2. A« Sullivan tii, Engelm. Mss. (Smooth Milkweed.) 
Very smooth throughout , talk; leaves ovate-oblong from a heart-shaped 
