Asclepias curassavica
Asclepias lanuginosa
blood flower, bloodflower milkweed, hierba de la cucaracha, tropical milkweed, wild ipecacuanha
asclépiade laineuse, side-cluster milkweed, small-green milkweed, woolly milkweed
1–several, erect, sparsely to moderately branched, 30–150 cm, minutely pilosulous in a line to glabrate, not glaucous, rhizomes absent.
1 or 2 (rarely more), erect to spreading, unbranched, 7–20 cm, densely hirtellous to pilose, not glaucous, rhizomatous.
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 or alternate, petiolate, with 1 stipular colleter on each side of petiole;
petiole 1–2 mm, hirtellous;
blade oblong or lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, 4–8 × 0.5–2.7 cm, chartaceous, base cuneate to rounded or subcordate, margins entire, apex acute to obtuse, venation eucamptodromous to reticulodromous, surfaces hirtellous, 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, usually solitary, pedunculate, 17–50-flowered (rarely more);
peduncle 1–3 cm, densely hirtellous to pilose, with 1 caducous bract at the base of each pedicel.
7–20 mm, puberulent with curved trichomes.
9–13 mm, hirtellous to pilose.
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.
erect to spreading;
calyx lobes narrowly lanceolate, 1.5–2 mm, apex acute, hirtellous;
corolla greenish cream, sometimes purple-tinged, lobes reflexed, oblong, 3–5 mm, apex acute, glabrous;
gynostegial column 0–0.2 mm;
fused anthers green, broadly cylindric, 1.5–2 mm, wings triangular, widest below middle, closed, apical appendages ovate;
corona segments cream to greenish cream, sessile, chute-shaped, margins incurved, appressed to column, 2–3.5 mm, exceeded by style apex, base saccate, apex rounded, glabrous, internal appendage absent or obscure, glabrous;
style apex shallowly depressed, green to greenish cream.
ovate, 6–7 × 4–5 mm, margin winged, faces minutely rugulose to smooth;
coma 2.5–3 cm.
ovate, 6–7 × 4–5 mm, faces minutely rugulose;
comose.
erect on straight pedicels, fusiform, 6–10 × 0.5–1.2 cm, apex acuminate to attenuate, smooth, glabrous.
erect on upcurved pedicels, fusiform, 8–10 × 0.8–1.5 cm, apex long-acuminate, smooth, hirtellous to pilose.
= 22.
= 22.
Asclepias curassavica
Asclepias lanuginosa
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.)
Asclepias lanuginosa is highly cryptic due to its small stature and early flowering. It resembles a short, hirtellous form of A. viridiflora. In addition to the differences in vestiture, A. lanuginosa can be distinguished from that species by the terminal inflorescence and the cream-colored corona segments. Due to severe habitat loss in the tallgrass prairie region, A. lanuginosa has apparently declined and is of conservation concern over much of its range, that is, in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. It is more secure in Nebraska, but an overall re-assessment of the status of this species is warranted. The only report from Montana is from the “Yellowstone expedition,” which may not have been collected in the state. R. E. Woodson Jr. (1954) considered A. lanuginosa Kunth (a later homonym) to be the correct name for a Mexican species, A. otarioides E. Fournier. He soon realized that A. lanuginosa Nuttall has priority, but prior usage and his extensive annotations produced lingering confusion over the correct name of the Mexican species. Torrey’s replacement name for this species, A. nuttalliana, is illegitimate, as it was superfluous on publication.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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