Asclepias curassavica
Asclepias californica
blood flower, bloodflower milkweed, hierba de la cucaracha, tropical milkweed, wild ipecacuanha
California milkweed, round-hood milkweed
1–several, erect, sparsely to moderately branched, 30–150 cm, minutely pilosulous in a line to glabrate, not glaucous, rhizomes absent.
1–20+, decumbent to erect, rarely branched, 15–90 cm, densely tomentose, not glaucous, rhizomes absent.
persistent or gradually caducous from the base, opposite, petiolate, with 1 or 2 stipular colleters on each side of petiole on a ciliate interpetiolar ridge;
petiole 4–25 mm, puberulent with curved trichomes in a line to glabrate;
blade elliptic or oval to linear, 4–18 × 0.3–4.5 cm, membranous, base cuneate, margins entire, apex acute to acuminate to attenuate, venation eucamptodromous to faintly brochidodromous, surfaces sparsely puberulent with curved trichomes on veins abaxially, sparsely puberulent with curved trichomes on veins to glabrate adaxially, margins ciliate, laminar colleters absent.
opposite, sessile or petiolate, stipular colleters absent;
petiole 0–17 mm, densely tomentose;
blade ovate to lanceolate or oval, 5–18 × 2.5–10.5 cm, chartaceous, base cordate to truncate, margins often minutely erose, apex acuminate, venation eucamptodromous to faintly brochidodromous, surfaces densely tomentose to glabrate, margins ciliate, laminar colleters absent.
extra-axillary, pedunculate, 5–22-flowered;
peduncle 0.5–8 cm, puberulent with curved trichomes in a line, with 1 caducous bract at the base of each pedicel.
terminal, sometimes branched, and extra-axillary at upper nodes, sessile or pedunculate, 5–21-flowered;
peduncle 0–2.5 cm, densely tomentose, with 1 caducous bract at the base of each pedicel.
7–20 mm, puberulent with curved trichomes.
15–40 mm, densely tomentose.
erect;
calyx lobes linear-lanceolate, 3–4 mm, apex acute, puberulent with curved trichomes;
corolla red, sometimes yellow in throat (to wholly orange or yellow in cultivars), lobes reflexed with spreading tips, elliptic to oval, 6–9 mm, apex acute, glabrous abaxially, minutely papillose at base adaxially;
gynostegial column 2–2.5 mm;
fused anthers yellowish green to tan, cylindric, 1.5–2 mm, wings narrowly right-triangular, closed, apical appendages deltoid;
corona segments yellow to orange, stipitate, tubular, dorsally somewhat flattened, 3.5–4 mm, exceeding style apex, apex obtuse to acute, glabrous, internal appendage falcate, exserted, arching over style apex, glabrous;
style apex shallowly depressed, yellow.
spreading to pendent;
calyx lobes linear to narrowly lanceolate, 4–6 mm, apex acute, densely tomentose;
corolla green or tan (sometimes tinged pink) to pinkish purple, red-violet at base, lobes reflexed with spreading tips, oval, 8–11 mm, apex acute, densely tomentose abaxially, pilose at base adaxially;
gynostegial column 2–3.5 mm;
fused anthers dark brown, columnar, 2–2.5 mm, wings right-triangular, closed, apical appendages deltoid;
corona segments red-violet, sometimes pale at apex, sessile, conduplicate, dorsally rounded, 3–6 mm, exceeded by style apex, base slightly to strongly saccate, margins connivent, apex rounded to truncate, slightly to strongly oblique, papillose, internal appendage absent;
style apex planar, green.
ovate, 6–7 × 4–5 mm, margin winged, faces minutely rugulose to smooth;
coma 2.5–3 cm.
broadly oval to orbiculate, 9–12 × 8–11 mm, margin very narrowly winged, faces rugulose;
coma 1.5–2.5 cm.
erect on straight pedicels, fusiform, 6–10 × 0.5–1.2 cm, apex acuminate to attenuate, smooth, glabrous.
sometimes paired, erect on upcurved pedicels, ovoid, 5–12.5 × 2–3 cm, apex apiculate to acuminate, longitudinally ridged, densely tomentose.
= 22.
Asclepias curassavica
Asclepias californica
Asclepias curassavica is the only non-native Asclepias species naturalized in the flora area. It is very commonly cultivated, originally for its strikingly colored flowers and their attraction of Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera. Recently, they have been valued also as a host plant for monarch butterflies. Cultivars with pure orange or pure yellow flowers are readily available. The species develops rapidly from seed and can be grown as an annual (in the horticultural sense) anywhere in the region. Though often described as an annual, like all species of Asclepias, it has a perennial habit. It may persist through mild winters at least as far north as Oklahoma but has only become established in frost-free areas of the southern United States.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).
Asclepias californica is one of the showiest milkweed species in the flora, with red-violet flowers set off by the dense, white, wooly vestiture of the rest of the plant. It is available from California nurseries but can be difficult to maintain in cultivation. An old report of the species from Baja California Sur cannot be confirmed and likely stems from a misidentification or erroneous location. Although the coronas are notoriously variable within the recognized subspecies, the key characters reliably distinguish northern and southern population systems. However, intermediates can be found in the contact zone, in Kern County.
Gomphocarpus tomentosus (Torrey) A. Gray (not Burchell 1822) is an illegitimate name found in some older regional floras that pertains here.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Corona segments 4–6 mm, apex usually rounded, opening extending from apex to base more than halfway, often more than three-quarters. | subsp. californica |
1. Corona segments 3–4 mm, apex truncate or rounded, opening extending from apex to base less than, rarely up to, halfway. | subsp. greenei |
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