The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Vincetoxicum

VINCETOXICUM, a genus of American vines, belonging to the milk-weed family. They have usually cordate leaves and rather large, white or purple-tinted, five-merous flowers with a cup-shaped crown, in axillary umbel-like fascicles. The United States species are found chiefly in the South. V. shortii has the odor of the strawberry shrub. Cynanthus acumniatum, with star-shaped, creamy flowers, called mosquito-catcher, because it secretes a viscid substance on which insects become fixed, was formerly placed in this genus. Vincetoxicum is the officinal name of the swallow-wort.