Asclepias cordifolia
Asclepias obovata
heart-leaf milkweed, purple milkweed
pineland milkweed
1–20, ascending to spreading, unbranched, 25–100 cm, glabrous, glaucous, rhizomes absent.
1 (rarely more), erect to spreading, unbranched, 40–70(–200) cm, densely hirtellous to velutinous, not glaucous, rhizomes absent.
opposite, sessile, stipular colleters absent;
blade ovate to lanceolate, 3.5–11 × 1.8–8 cm, chartaceous, base cordate, clasping, margins entire, apex acute, mucronate, venation brochidodromous to eucamptodromous, surfaces glabrous, glaucous, margins minutely ciliate, laminar colleters absent.
opposite, petiolate, with 1 or 2 stipular colleters on each side of petiole;
petiole 1–4 mm, densely hirtellous to velutinous;
blade oblong or elliptic to obovate or ovate, 4–9 × 1–3.5 cm, subcoriaceous, base rounded or truncate to cordate, margins sometimes crisped, apex acute to truncate, sometimes emarginate, often mucronate, venation brochidodromous, surfaces densely hirtellous to velutinous abaxially, hirtellous adaxially, margins ciliate, 8–12 laminar colleters.
terminal, branched, sometimes also extra-axillary at upper nodes, pedunculate, 5–20-flowered;
peduncle 0.3–6.5 cm, apically sparsely pilose to glabrate, with few bracts.
extra-axillary, sometimes also appearing terminal, sessile or pedunculate, 7–31-flowered;
peduncle 0–0.5 cm, densely hirtellous to velutinous, with 1 caducous bract at the base of each pedicel.
16–37 mm, sparsely pilose.
10–12 mm, densely hirtellous to velutinous.
erect to pendent;
calyx lobes elliptic to lanceolate, 3–5 mm, apex acute, pilose;
corolla red-violet, lobes reflexed with spreading tips, oval, 6–7 mm, apex acute, glabrous;
gynostegial column 1–1.5 mm;
fused anthers brown, cylindric, 1.5–2 mm, wings right-triangular, open at tip, apical appendages deltoid;
corona segments white, tinged pink to red-violet at base, sessile, tubular, 2–3 mm, exceeded by style apex, base saccate, apex truncate, oblique, glabrous, internal appendage absent;
style apex shallowly depressed, pink to red-violet.
erect to pendent;
calyx lobes elliptic, 5–6 mm, apex acute, densely hirtellous;
corolla green, sometimes tinged reddish or bronze, lobes reflexed, sometimes with spreading tips, elliptic, 7–9 mm, apex acute, glabrous abaxially, minutely papillose at base adaxially;
gynostegial column 1–1.5 mm;
fused anthers green, obconic, 2.5–4 mm, wings right-triangular, open at base, apical appendages broadly ovate;
corona segments bronze to yellow, often tinged red, sometimes apically cream or pale, stipitate, tubular, somewhat flattened laterally, flared at base, 5–8 mm, greatly exceeding style apex, apex rounded, flared, glabrous, internal appendage falcate, exserted, sharply incurved over style apex, glabrous;
style apex shallowly depressed, green.
ovate, 8–9 × 5–7 mm, margin not winged, faces reticulate-rugulose;
coma 3–3.5 cm.
broadly ovate, 8–9 × 6–7 mm, margin winged, faces smooth;
coma 2–5 cm.
erect on upcurved pedicels, lance-ovoid, 7.5–10.5 × 1.5–1.8 cm, apex long-acuminate, smooth, glabrous, glaucous.
erect on upcurved pedicels, narrowly to broadly fusiform, 7.5–12.5 × 1.5–2.5 cm, apex acuminate, smooth, densely hirtellous to velutinous.
= 22.
Asclepias cordifolia
Asclepias obovata
Fresh leaves and stems of Asclepias cordifolia are often slightly or strongly colored bluish, grayish, or purplish. This is one of the few American species of Asclepias with cavitate corona segments that lack adaxial appendages. Such species were segregated along with diverse African species in Gomphocarpus R. Brown, a polyphyletic segregate (M. Fishbein et al. 2011; D. Chuba et al. 2017). Asclepias cordifolia is a distinctive species unlike any other within its range. It is phylogenetically and geographically isolated, although not highly derived morphologically. In Nevada, A. cordifolia is restricted to the Sierra Nevada, in Carson City, Douglas, and Washoe counties. Its range extends to northern California and southwestern Oregon.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Asclepias obovata is a common milkweed of seasonally wet, sandy soils in pine woodlands of the Gulf Coastal Plain and (rarely) the southern Atlantic Coastal Plain. It is rare and considered to be of conservation concern in Arkansas.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
CA
OR
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
LA Plants
