540  The  Apocynaceez  in  Materia  Medica.  {A^oVJemberbi™' 
THE  APOCYNACE^  IN  MATERIA  MEDICA.  - 
By  George  M.  Beringer. 
{Continued  from  page  449). 
Botanical  Geography. — Tropical  Africa  is  the  principal  centre. 
Oriental  and  meridional  Asia  contains  likewise  many  species,  but  on 
the  contrary,  neither  to  America  nor  Oceanica  can  be  referred  a 
single  specimen.  The  area  of  dispersion  for  each  species  is  quite 
limited.  It  is  thus,  for  example,  that  the  S.  hispidus  (if  we  admit 
the  S.  Kombe  as  a  variety)  and  the  S.  sarmentosus  are  the  two  single 
species  that  occupy  in  Africa  a  vast  region.  It  is  well,  nevertheless, 
to  make  some  reserves  on  this  subject,  as  new  explorations  will 
largely  extend  the  area  actually  restricted  to  certain  species.  In 
Africa,  Strophanthus  extends  from  160  North  to  33 0  South,  and 
from  the  one  side  to  the  other.  But  the  Eastern  side  being  less 
explored  than  elsewhere,  does  not  offer  but  a  few  types,  which 
are  certainly  like,  if  not  possibly  only  forms  of,  the  Western  species 
(Kombe,  Petersianus,  etc.).  We  find  these  Strophanthus  from  Zan- 
zibar as  far  as  the  Zambesi.  Upon  the  side  opposite,  the  number  of  the 
species  and  their  extension  are  very  large.  Existing  at  the  Senegal, 
on  the  north,  we  find  them  nearly  as  far  as  the  extreme  south.  But  the 
true  region  of  the  African  Strophanthus  extends  from  Cameroun  to 
Angola,  from  50  North  to  io°  South.  We  find  these  in  a  zone  of 
the  coast  of  which  the  limit  towards  the  interior  of  the  country  is 
hard  to  trace,  yet,  nevertheless,  this  limit  exists.  It  is  in  Africa 
that  we  find  the  species  of  interest  to  medicine. 
In  Asia  and  in  Malaysia  (some  of  the  Malay  Islands  contain 
Strophanthus),  the  limits  indicated  are  22°  N.  (possibly  260,  if  the 
S.  Wallichii  exists  in  the  Khasya  Mountains),  and  90  S.  and  700  to 
1240  longitude.  Here  again  of  seven  species  two  only  extend  in 
one  area. 
Botany. — The  Strophanthus  are  probably  all  sarmentose,  inhabit- 
ing the  low  grounds,  generally  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  large  trees, 
upon  which  their  branches  cling  after  making  frequently  upon  the 
ground  an  arch  appearing  like  the  rolled,  twisted  body  of  a  gigantic 
serpent.  The  branches  extend  from  bough  to  bough,  leaving,  hang- 
ing down,  wide  apart,  their  fruits,  whose  diverging  carpels  resemble 
great  horns,  giving  to  the  whole  a  strange  appearance. 
The  roots  which  we  know  (six  or  seven  species)  are  fleshy  and 
