1. A. Tabernæmontàna, Walt. Loosely pubescent or hairy when young, soon glabrous; leaves from ovate-lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, taper-pointed; calyx-lobes short, awl-shaped; tube of the bluish corolla little longer than the lobes, the upper part either hairy when young or glabrous.—Low grounds, N. C. to S. Ind. and Mo., south to Fla. and Tex. May, June.
2. TRACHELOSPÉRMUM, Lemaïre.
Calyx 5-parted, with 3–5 glands at its base inside. Corolla funnel-form, not appendaged; limb 5-lobed. Stamens 5, included; filaments slender; anthers arrow-shaped, with an inflexed tip. Pods (follicles) 2, slender, many-seeded. Seeds oblong, with a tuft of down.—Twining plants, more or less woody, with opposite leaves and small flowers in cymes. (Name from τράξηλος, a neck, and σπέρμα, seed, upon the supposition that the seed was beaked.)
1. T. diffórme, Gray. Nearly herbaceous and glabrous; leaves oval-lanceolate, pointed, thin; calyx-lobes taper-pointed; corolla pale yellow. (Forsteronia difformis, A. DC.)—Damp grounds, Va. to Fla. and Tex. April.
3. APÓCYNUM, Tourn. Dogbane. Indian Hemp.
Calyx 5-parted, the lobes acute. Corolla bell-shaped, 5-cleft, bearing 5 triangular appendages below the throat opposite the lobes. Stamens 5, on the very base of the corolla; filaments flat, shorter than the arrow shaped anthers, which converge around the stigma, and are slightly adherent to it. Style none; stigma large, ovoid, slightly 2-lobed. Fruit of 2 long (2–7´) and slender follicles. Seeds comose, with a tuft of long silky down at the apex.—Perennial herbs, with upright branching stems, opposite mucronate-pointed leaves, a tough fibrous bark, and small and pale cymose flowers on short pedicels. (Ancient name of the Dogbane, composed of ἀπό, from, and κύων, a dog.)
1. A. androsæmifòlium, L. (Spreading Dogbane.) Smooth, or rarely soft-tomentose, branched above; branches divergently forking; leaves ovate, distinctly petioled; cymes loose, spreading, mostly longer than the leaves; corolla (pale rose-color, 4´´ broad) open-bell-shaped, with revolute lobes, the tube much longer than the ovate pointed divisions of the calyx.—Borders of thickets; common. June, July.
2. A. cannábinum, L. (Indian Hemp.) Glabrous or more or less soft-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 lanceolate, short-petioled or sessile, with rounded or obscurely cordate base; corolla (greenish-white) with nearly erect lobes, the tube not longer than the lanceolate divisions of the calyx.—Moist grounds and banks of streams; common. Very variable. July, Aug.
Order 67. ASCLEPIADÀCEÆ. (Milkweed Family.)
Plants with milky juice, and opposite or whorled (rarely scattered) entire leaves; the follicular pods, seeds, anthers (connected with the stigma), sensible properties, etc., just as in the last family, from which they differ in the commonly valvate corolla, and in the singular connection of the anthers with the stigma, the cohesion of the pollen into wax-like or granular masses (pollinia), etc., as explained under the typical genus Asclepias.