Asclepias cordifolia
Asclepias purpurascens
heart-leaf milkweed, purple milkweed
asclépiade pourpreé, purple milkweed
1–20, ascending to spreading, unbranched, 25–100 cm, glabrous, glaucous, rhizomes absent.
1, erect, unbranched, 50–120 cm, puberulent in lines with curved trichomes, not glaucous, rhizomatous.
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 (rarely whorled at 1 midstem node), petiolate, with 1 or 2 stipular colleters on each side of petiole, also in axil;
petiole 4–18 mm, puberulent with curved trichomes;
blade ovate or oval to lanceolate or elliptic, 6–20 × 2–10 cm, chartaceous, base cuneate, margins entire, apex obtuse to acute, apiculate, or mucronate, venation eucamptodromous to faintly brochidodromous, surfaces pilosulous, sparsely so adaxially, margins ciliate, 12–20 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.
terminal, branched, also usually extra-axillary, sessile or pedunculate, 17–72-flowered;
peduncle 0–7 cm, puberulent with curved trichomes to pilosulous, with 1 caducous bract at the base of each pedicel.
16–37 mm, sparsely pilose.
12–28 mm, puberulent with curved trichomes.
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 spreading;
calyx lobes lanceolate, 3–5 mm, apex acute, puberulent with curved trichomes;
corolla reddish purple, lobes reflexed with spreading tips, elliptic, 7–10 mm, apex acute, glabrous abaxially, papillose at base adaxially;
gynostegial column 1–1.5 mm;
fused anthers brown, cylindric, 2–2.5 mm, wings broadly right-triangular, closed to slightly open at tip, apical appendages ovate;
corona segments reddish purple, stipitate, conduplicate with a lateral flange on each side, 5–6 mm, greatly exceeding style apex, apex acute, glabrous, internal appendage falcate, exserted, sharply inflexed over style apex, glabrous;
style apex shallowly depressed, red-violet to green.
ovate, 8–9 × 5–7 mm, margin not winged, faces reticulate-rugulose;
coma 3–3.5 cm.
ovate, 7–8 × 4–5 mm, margin winged, faces rugulose;
coma 3–4 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, lance-ovoid, 10–16 × 1.5–2.5 cm, apex long-acuminate, smooth, puberulent with curved trichomes.
= 22.
Asclepias cordifolia
Asclepias purpurascens
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 purpurascens is most common in rocky uplands of the Ozark Mountains and the piedmont of the northern Appalachian Mountains. Its reddish purple flowers are extremely showy and the species merits cultivation. The flowers have a strong cinnamon scent. Similarities to A. variegata and A. exaltata are discussed under those species. Although widespread in eastern North America, A. purpurascens is now rare over most of its range and has experienced a significant loss of populations and habitat everywhere but the Ozarks. It is considered to be of conservation concern in Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia (Floyd and Murray counties), Louisiana (Caldwell and Lincoln parishes), Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi (Grenada and Washington counties), Nebraska (Nemaha and Richardson counties), New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Ontario (Chatham-Kent, Essex, and Lambton counties). Moreover, it is presumed extirpated from the District of Columbia, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. It has been reported, but not verified, from Maine and Vermont and, if historically present, is now extirpated there as well. Hybrids with A. amplexicaulis, A. exaltata, and A. syriaca have been documented from the New England and mid-Atlantic regions where A. purpurascens is now rare or extirpated. Putative hybrids exhibit intermediate floral and vegetative characteristics.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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