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APOCYNACEAE 
1. CENTAURIUM Hill. Canchalagua 
Low erect leafy annuals. Flowers red or pink, in cymes. Calyx 
deeply parted. Corolla salverform. (Latin centum, a hundred, and 
aurium, gold piece, certain species valued medicinally.) 
1. C. venustum Rob. Stems 1 to 2 dm. high, almost simple; corolla 
vermillion or rose-color, the throat white, marked with 5 red spots or 
crescents; stigmas spatulate-fanshaped.—S. Cal., Sierra Nevada. An 
infusion of the herbage is used in rural medicine as a cure for malaria. 
2. C. trichanthum Rob. Similar to no. 1 but rather densely branched, 
with numerous flowers; stigmas short, not spatulate.—Dry open alkaline 
ground. 
APOCYNACEAE. DOGBANE FAMILY 
Herbs or shrubs with milky acrid juice. Leaves opposite or whorled, 
simple, entire. Flowers regular, 5-merous. Corolla twisted in the bud. 
Anthers conniving around the stigma. Pistils 2, superior, separate, but 
the stigmas united. Seeds with a silky or downy tuft.—Species 1000, 
principally tropical. The milky juice has poisonous properties. 
1. APOCYNUM L. Indian Hemp 
Flowers small. Corolla bell-shaped with 5 appendages inside. Sta¬ 
mens 5, inserted deep in the corolla. Filaments very short. Style none. 
(Greek apo, from, and kuon, dog, ancient name of the Dogbane.) 
1. A. androsaemifolium L. var. pumilum Gray. Mountain Hemp. 
Low herb, branches spreading; leaves oval or ovate, mucronate, greenish 
above; cymes loose; flowers white or pink; corolla-lobes revolute.—Half¬ 
open brushy or wooded slopes. 
2. A. cannabinum L. Common Indian FIemp. Tall herb, the branches 
erect or nearly so; leaves ovate to lance-oblong; cymes dense; flowers 
greenish-white; corolla-lobes nearly erect.—Banks of streams. The 
fibre was used by the Indians for cords. 
2. NERIUM L. 
Evergreen shrub. Leaves narrow, leathery. Flowers rose-like, showy, 
in terminal cymes. Throat of corolla-tube crowned by 5 teeth. Anthers 
2-tailed at the base and tapering at the apex into a long thread-like 
appendage. (Ancient name for Oleander, perhaps from Greek neros, 
moist, on account of its wild habitats.) 
1. N. oleander L. Oleander. Leaves in 2s or 3s, lanceolate; seg¬ 
ments of crown 3 or 4-toothed.—Cult, from the Levant. 
ASCLEPIADACEAE. MILKWEED FAMILY 
Perennial herbs with milky juice. Leaves opposite or whorled. Flowers 
cymose, regular. Styles distinct below but united above. Stamens 5, 
united into a tube which is blended above with the stylar column, the 
united filaments (filament-column) and united anthers (anther-column), 
here called the stamen-column, bearing hoods. Seeds with a silky tuft 
of hairs.—Species about 1800, all continents. 
1. ASCLEPIAS L. Milkweed 
Commonly erect. Calyx and corolla 5-parted, the divisions reflexed. 
