Asclepias brachystephana
Asclepias latifolia
bract milkweed, short-crowned milkweed, shortcrown milkweed
broad-leaf milkweed, corn-kernel milkweed
4–25, erect, unbranched or branched near base, 20–40 cm, tomentulose, not glaucous, rhizomes absent.
1–10, erect, unbranched, 25–100 cm, puberulent with curved trichomes or thinly tomentose to glabrate, sometimes glaucous, rhizomatous.
opposite to subopposite, petiolate, with 1 or 2 stipular colleters on each side of petiole;
petiole 2–8 mm, tomentulose;
blade linear-lanceolate, 5–15 × 0.3–1.3 cm, chartaceous, base cuneate to rounded, margins often obscurely crisped, apex acute, mucronate, venation brochidodromous, surfaces tomentulose to glabrate, midvein puberulent with curved trichomes, margins minutely ciliate, laminar colleters absent.
opposite, sessile or petiolate, with 1–4 stipular colleters on each side of petiole, sometimes also in axil;
petiole 0–4 mm, thinly tomentose to glabrate;
blade oval or oblong to ovate or orbiculate, 5.5–14 × 3–14 cm, subsucculent to coriaceous, base cordate, sometimes clasping, margins entire, apex truncate to rounded, sometimes emarginate, mucronate, venation brochidodromous, surfaces thinly tomentose to glabrate, sometimes glaucous, margins minutely ciliate to glabrous, 24–80 laminar colleters.
extra-axillary, pedunculate, 4–15-flowered;
peduncle 0.2–1.5 cm, tomentose, with 1 caducous bract at the base of each pedicel.
extra-axillary, sessile or pedunculate, 20–59-flowered;
peduncle 0–2.5 cm, puberulent with curved trichomes to pilosulous, with 1 caducous bract at the base of each pedicel.
9–15 mm, tomentose.
15–35 mm, densely tomentose to glabrate.
erect;
calyx lobes ovate-lanceolate, 2–3 mm, apex acute, tomentulose;
corolla red-violet, sometimes green with red tinge, lobes reflexed, ovate, 4–6 mm, apex acute, minutely pilosulous;
gynostegium subsessile;
fused anthers brown, cylindric, 2–2.5 mm, wings right-triangular, closed, apical appendages ovate;
corona segments red-violet to pink basally, white apically, sessile, tubular, 1.5–2 mm, greatly exceeded by style apex, apex truncate, oblique, with a proximal tooth on each side, glabrous, internal appendage lingulate, slightly exserted, sharply inflexed towards gynostegium, glabrous;
style apex shallowly depressed, red-violet.
erect to pendent;
calyx lobes lanceolate, 4–5 mm, apex acute, tomentose to glabrate;
corolla green, lobes reflexed, elliptic to oval, 7–9 mm, apex acute, glabrous abaxially, papillose at base adaxially;
gynostegial column 1–1.5 mm;
fused anthers green, cylindric, 3–3.5 mm, wings right-triangular, closed, apical appendages ovate;
corona segments cream, sometimes dorsally yellow, aging yellow, stipitate, conduplicate, dorsally rounded, 3–5.5 mm, equaling to slightly exceeding style apex, apex truncate, oblique, papillose, internal appendage falcate, exserted, sharply inflexed over style apex, papillose;
style apex shallowly depressed, green.
oval to ovate, 6–7 × 4–6 mm, margin winged, faces papillate-tomentulose with dendritic scales;
coma 2–2.5 cm.
ovate, 7–8 × 5–6 mm, winged, faces minutely rugulose to smooth;
coma 3–4 cm.
erect on upcurved pedicels, lance-ovoid, 5–7 × 1.2–1.8 cm, apex acuminate, shallowly ribbed, conspicuously striate, tomentulose.
erect on upcurved pedicels, ovoid, 6.5–9.5 × 2–3 cm, apex obtuse to apiculate, smooth, minutely pilosulous to thinly tomentulose.
= 22.
Asclepias brachystephana
Asclepias latifolia
Asclepias brachystephana is a blue-gray, bushy herb with ascending foliage, few-flowered umbels of small, red and white flowers, and conspicuously striped follicles. It is unlike any other milkweed. Nonetheless, herbarium specimens are commonly confused with those of A. asperula because the herbage of A. brachystephana turns green on drying, and the leaves of A. asperula subsp. asperula are often of similar size and shape. However, leaf arrangement in A. asperula is alternate rather than opposite. The flowers of A. brachystephana are remarkably similar to, and convergent with, those of A. cutleri, A. eastwoodiana, A. ruthiae, A. sanjuanensis, and A. uncialis (M. Fishbein et al. 2011). In Arizona, A. brachystephana is restricted to the portion of the southeastern corner of the state with Chihuahuan floristic affinities, in Cochise, Graham, Pima, and Santa Cruz counties.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Asclepias latifolia is a distinctive species of the western Great Plains and Colorado Plateau, rising above short grasses and appearing as squat, leafy pagodas. It is most likely to be confused with A. arenaria (which is restricted to sandy substrates) due to the overlapping leaf shapes and floral colors of these species. Asclepias latifolia favors clayey, often rocky soils, but can be found also on sandy soils, especially on the Colorado Plateau, outside the range of A. arenaria. These species can be distinguished by habit (erect in A. latifolia versus erect to decumbent in A. arenaria), vestiture (more uniformly and persistently hairy in A. arenaria), petioles (absent or nearly so in A. latifolia versus present in A. arenaria), and the flower and seed characters included in the key. Asclepias speciosa in the absence of reproductive structures is also commonly confused with A. latifolia, but the leaves of A. speciosa are distinctly petiolate, persistently hairy, and typically taper to the apex. There is an apparent gap in the distribution of A. latifolia on the eastern Colorado Plateau, in northwestern New Mexico and southwestern Colorado, but the disjunct portions of the range are not accompanied by phenotypic divergence. Asclepias latifolia is limited in Nebraska to southwestern counties (Deuel, Dundy, Franklin, and Hayes), but it is apparently not uncommon there. Likewise, it is common in its limited range in Utah (Garfield, Grand, Kane, San Juan, and Wayne counties).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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