4. LIGÙSTRUM, Tourn. Privet.
Calyx short-tubular, 4-toothed, deciduous. Stamens 2, on the tube of the corolla, included. Berry 2-celled, 1–2 seeded.—Shrubs, with entire leaves and small white flowers in terminal panicles. (The classical name.)
L. vulgàre, L. (Privet, or Prim.) Leaves very smooth; berries black.—Used for low hedges, and naturalized eastward; from Europe.
Order 66. APOCYNÀCEÆ. (Dogbane Family.)
Plants almost all with milky acrid juice, entire (chiefly opposite) leaves without stipules, regular 5-merous and 5-androus flowers; the 5 lobes of the corolla convolute and twisted in the bud; the filaments distinct, inserted on the corolla, and the pollen granular; calyx free from the two ovaries, which (in our genera) are distinct (forming follicles), though their styles or stigmas are united into one.—Seeds amphitropous or anatropous, with a large straight embryo in sparing albumen, often bearing a tuft of down (comose).—Chiefly a tropical family (of acrid-poisonous plants), represented in gardens by the Oleander and Periwinkle.
1. Amsonia. Seeds naked. Corolla-tube bearded inside. Anthers longer than the filaments. Leaves alternate.
2. Trachelospermum. Seeds comose. Corolla funnel-form, not appendaged. Filaments slender. Calyx glandular inside. Leaves opposite.
3. Apocynum. Seeds comose. Corolla bell-shaped, appendaged within. Filaments short, broad and flat. Calyx not glandular. Leaves opposite.
1. AMSÒNIA, Walt.
Calyx 5-parted, small. Corolla with a narrow funnel-form tube bearded inside, especially at the throat; the limb divided into 5 long linear lobes. Stamens 5, inserted on the tube, included; anthers obtuse at both ends, longer than the filaments. Ovaries 2; style 1; stigma rounded, surrounded with a cup-like membrane. Pod (follicles) 2, long and slender, many-seeded. Seeds cylindrical, abrupt at both ends, packed in one row, naked.—Perennial herbs, with alternate leaves, and pale blue flowers in terminal panicled cymes. (Said to be named for a Mr. Charles Amson.)