Asclepias curassavica
Asclepias nyctaginifolia
blood flower, bloodflower milkweed, hierba de la cucaracha, tropical milkweed, wild ipecacuanha
Mohave milkweed, Mojave milkweed
1–several, erect, sparsely to moderately branched, 30–150 cm, minutely pilosulous in a line to glabrate, not glaucous, rhizomes absent.
1–10, spreading or decumbent to erect, unbranched or rarely branched near base, 15–40 cm, puberulent with curved trichomes or hirtellous, 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.
persistent or gradually caducous from base, opposite, petiolate, with 1 or 2 stipular colleters on each side of petiole plus 0–4 in axil;
petiole 6–25 mm, puberulent with curved trichomes to hirtellous;
blade ovate to lanceolate, 4.5–15 × 1.5–7.5 cm, chartaceous, base cuneate or obtuse to truncate or subcordate, margins sometimes crisped, apex obtuse to acute, venation eucamptodromous to faintly brochidodromous, surfaces hirtellous, rarely conduplicate, 0–12 laminar colleters.
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.
extra-axillary, sessile or pedunculate, 5–28-flowered;
peduncle 0–1 cm, hirtellous, with 1 caducous bract at the base of each pedicel.
7–20 mm, puberulent with curved trichomes.
17–30 mm, hirtellous.
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;
calyx lobes lanceolate, 3–5 mm, apex acute, hirtellous;
corolla green, sometimes tinged reddish or purplish abaxially, lobes reflexed, elliptic to lanceolate, 9–13 mm, apex acute, minutely hirtellous throughout or glabrous at tips abaxially, glabrous adaxially;
gynostegial column 0.3–0.5 mm;
fused anthers brown, obconic, 1.7–2 mm, wings triangular, widest at middle, closed, apical appendages ovate;
corona segments cream to green with cream apex, fading yellow, sessile, tubular, slightly sinuous, relatively stout, 8–11 mm, greatly exceeding style apex, apex slightly flared, truncate, minutely papillose to glabrate, internal appendage lingulate, sharply incurved, barely exserted, greatly exceeded by segment margin and exposing cavity, minutely papillose.
ovate, 6–7 × 4–5 mm, margin winged, faces minutely rugulose to smooth;
coma 2.5–3 cm.
ovate to oval, 6–8 × 4.5–6.5 mm, margin winged, faces smooth;
coma 2–4 cm.
erect on straight pedicels, fusiform, 6–10 × 0.5–1.2 cm, apex acuminate to attenuate, smooth, glabrous.
erect on upcurved pedicels, lance-ovoid, 6.5–10 × 1.5–3 cm, apex acuminate, smooth, sometimes faintly striate, puberulent with curved trichomes or hirtellous.
= 22.
Asclepias curassavica
Asclepias nyctaginifolia
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 nyctaginifolia is a western counterpart of the more widespread A. oenotheroides and differs primarily in larger leaves and more robust corona segments. Differences are discussed under the latter species. The most widely used common name, Mohave milkweed, is somewhat misleading as the species is mainly distributed along the northern and eastern margins of the Sonoran Desert and barely enters the Mohave Desert. The species is common throughout the southwestern half of Arizona and is rare in California (San Bernardino County), Nevada (Clark County), and New Mexico (Catron, Grant, and Hidalgo counties).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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