Asclepias curassavica |
Asclepias tomentosa |
|
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blood flower, bloodflower milkweed, hierba de la cucaracha, tropical milkweed, wild ipecacuanha |
tuba milkweed, velvetleaf milkweed |
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Habit | Subshrubs or herbs. | Herbs. |
Stems | 1–several, erect, sparsely to moderately branched, 30–150 cm, minutely pilosulous in a line to glabrate, not glaucous, rhizomes absent. |
solitary (rarely 2), erect, unbranched (rarely branched), 25–150 cm, densely puberulent with curved trichomes, not glaucous, rhizomes absent. |
Leaves | 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, petiolate, with 1 stipular colleter on each side of petiole; petiole 2–9 mm, densely puberulent with curved trichomes; blade lanceolate or ovate to oval or oblong or elliptic to oblanceolate or obovate, 3.5–10 × 1–5 cm, chartaceous, base obtuse to subcordate, margins crisped, apex acute or obtuse to truncate or emarginate, sometimes mucronate, venation eucamptodromous to brochidodromous, surfaces puberulent with curved trichomes to tomentulose, margins ciliate, 4–8 laminar colleters. |
Inflorescences | 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, 5–37-flowered; peduncle 0–0.3 cm, densely puberulent with curved trichomes to tomentulose, with 1 caducous bract at the base of each pedicel. |
Pedicels | 7–20 mm, puberulent with curved trichomes. |
12–19 mm, densely pilose to tomentulose. |
Flowers | 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, 3–4 mm, apex acute, pilose; corollas green, often tinged reddish or purplish, lobes reflexed with spreading tips, oval, 7–9 mm, apex acute, glabrous; gynostegial column 0.5–1 mm; fused anthers green, obconic, 3–4 mm, wings broadly right-triangular, closed, apical appendages broadly oval; corona segments green with cream apex, often tinged pink or purple, stipitate, conduplicate, dorsally flattened, 3–4 mm, exceeded by style apex, apex truncate, glabrous, internal appendage falcate, exserted, sharply inflexed towards style apex, papillose; style apex shallowly depressed, green, fading pink or red. |
Seeds | ovate, 6–7 × 4–5 mm, margin winged, faces minutely rugulose to smooth; coma 2.5–3 cm. |
ovate, 6.5–8 × 4.5–6 mm, margin winged, remotely erose, faces minutely and sparsely papillose and rugulose; coma 3–3.5 cm. |
Follicles | erect on straight pedicels, fusiform, 6–10 × 0.5–1.2 cm, apex acuminate to attenuate, smooth, glabrous. |
erect on upcurved pedicels, fusiform to narrowly lance-ovoid, 9–18 × 1–1.5 cm, apex long-acuminate, smooth, puberulent with curved trichomes to pilosulous or tomentulose. |
2n | = 22. |
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Asclepias curassavica |
Asclepias tomentosa |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting year-round. | Flowering May–Aug(–Oct); fruiting Jun–Oct. |
Habitat | Disturbed areas, fields, orchards, and gardens, canal banks, ditches, streamsides, wet prairies, marshes, swamps, coastal dunes, sandy soils. | Sandhills, dunes, sandy and marl soils, pine, pine-palmetto, pine-oak, and oak scrubs, pine flatwoods. |
Elevation | 0–100 m. (0–300 ft.) | 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; FL; LA; TX; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in North America; introduced also to Old World tropics]
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FL; GA; NC; SC; TX
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Discussion | 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 tomentosa is restricted largely to coastal and inland sandhills. As described by B. A. Sorrie (2016), it exhibits a disjunct distribution, with gaps of unoccupied, but suitable, habitat in eastern Georgia and from the western Florida Panhandle to Louisiana. Sorrie reports a specimen from Alabama, but this cannot be found. When not in flower, A. tomentosa can be confused with A. curtissii in peninsular Florida, where they sometimes co-occur in close proximity, and with A. obovata on the Gulf Coastal Plain. It can be distinguished from A. curtissii by the usually larger and more densely vestitured leaf blades. Both species may have purple stems. Asclepias obovata can be distinguished from A. tomentosa by the hirtellous to velutinous vestiture of the herbage. Outside of Florida, populations of A. tomentosa are few, but it has not been considered to be of conservation concern; evaluation of its status in Texas and Georgia (known only from Coffee County) may be warranted. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 14. | FNA vol. 14. |
Parent taxa | Apocynaceae > Asclepias | Apocynaceae > Asclepias |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 215. (1753) | Elliott: Sketch Bot. S. Carolina 1: 320. (1817) |
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