Asclepias brachystephana
Asclepias ovalifolia
bract milkweed, short-crowned milkweed, shortcrown milkweed
asclépiade à feuilles ovées, oval-leaf milkweed
4–25, erect, unbranched or branched near base, 20–40 cm, tomentulose, not glaucous, rhizomes absent.
1, erect, unbranched, 30–70 cm, densely puberulent with curved trichomes or pilosulous to tomentose, not 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, petiolate, with 1 or 2 stipular colleters on each side of petiole;
petiole 3–10 mm, densely pilosulous to tomentose;
blade broadly ovate to oval or narrowly elliptic, 3–9 × 1.5–4.5 cm, chartaceous, base obtuse or rounded to truncate, margins entire, apex acute to obtuse, mucronate, venation brochidodromous, surfaces pilosulous abaxially, sparsely so adaxially except on veins, margins ciliate, 4–16 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 at upper nodes, sessile or pedunculate, 5–21-flowered;
peduncle 0–7 cm, densely pilosulous to tomentose, with 1 caducous bract at the base of each pedicel.
9–15 mm, tomentose.
12–22 mm, densely pilosulous to tomentose.
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 spreading;
calyx lobes lanceolate, 2–3 mm, apex acute, densely pilosulous;
corolla cream to yellowish, lobes reflexed with spreading tips, elliptic, 5–7 mm, apex acute, pilosulous abaxially at apex, glabrous adaxially;
gynostegial column 0.2–0.5 mm;
fused anthers green, cylindric, 1.5–2 mm, wings right-triangular, closed, apical appendages ovate;
corona segments cream to yellowish, subsessile, conduplicate, dorsally flattened, 3–4 mm, exceeding style apex, apex acute with proximal tooth on each side, glabrous, internal appendage falcate, exserted, sharply inflexed to ascending over style apex, glabrous;
style apex shallowly depressed, cream to pinkish.
oval to ovate, 6–7 × 4–6 mm, margin winged, faces papillate-tomentulose with dendritic scales;
coma 2–2.5 cm.
ovate, 5–6 × 3.5–4.5 mm, margin winged, faces rugulose;
coma 2.5–3 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, lance-ovoid, 5–8 × 1.2–2 cm, apex acute to apiculate, smooth, densely pilosulous to tomentose.
Asclepias brachystephana
Asclepias ovalifolia
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 ovalifolia is the northernmost-ranging species in the genus, and over much of its range co-occurs with at most one other species of Asclepias. The quality of its habitat has been degraded by woody encroachment, presumably resulting from fire suppression. It appears to be secure in the core of its range in Minnesota, North Dakota, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. Elsewhere there are conservation concerns, as in Illinois (Cook, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, and McHenry counties), Michigan (Lake and Menominee counties), Montana (Carter and Sheridan counties), Wyoming (Crook County), and Ontario. Asclepias ovalifolia was collected in 1915 in British Columbia in a valley of the Columbia Mountains (Bain. s.n. [UBC]), far disjunct from the species’ range east of the Rocky Mountains. The occurrence has been considered to be adventive and not persistent (F. Lomer, pers. comm.). It has been reported from Nebraska based on the original determination of what became the type specimen of A. hallii; it is not known to have ever occurred in that state. Hybrids with A. syriaca are known, but appear to be rare, and can be recognized by possession of intermediate floral and vegetative traits.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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