Marsdenia

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A genus of plants of the natural order Asclepiadeæ, the milkweed family, type of tribe Marsdenieæ. It is characterized by having the crown adnate to the stamen-tube, and composed of five flat scales which are free at the apex, and by a subrotate, campanulate, or urn-shaped corolla, with the lobes convolute to the right, or rarely subvalvate. They are twining shrubs, rarely suberect, with opposite leaves, and small or medium-sized purplish-green or whitish flowers, growing in terminal or axillary umbrella-shaped cymes. There are about 55 species, natives of the warmer regions of the globe. M. tenacissima of India yields the valuable jetee-fiber. (See jetee.) M. tinctoria, also East Indian, produces a blue dye, whence it is called indigo-plant. The milky juice of M. erecta, of southeastern Europe, raises blisters on the skin, and taken internally is a violent poisou. M. suaveolens of Australia is named fragrant bower-plant, and M. viridiflora is the native potato of New South Wales. See cundurango.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Bot.) A genus of plants of the Milkweed family, mostly woody climbers with fragrant flowers, several species of which furnish valuable fiber, and one species (Marsdenia tinctoria) affords indigo.