Asclepias curassavica |
Asclepias viridis |
|
---|---|---|
blood flower, bloodflower milkweed, hierba de la cucaracha, tropical milkweed, wild ipecacuanha |
green antelopehorn, green antelopehorn or green or spider milkweed, green milkweed |
|
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. |
1–25, decumbent to erect, unbranched or rarely branched, 15–70 cm, inconspicuously puberulent with curved trichomes to glabrate, 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. |
alternate to subopposite, petiolate, with 1–4 stipular colleters on each side of petiole plus 2–4 in axil; petiole 2–6 mm, puberulent with curved trichomes to glabrate; blade oblong or ovate to oval, elliptic, or lanceolate, 3–13 × 1–6 cm, chartaceous, base rounded to subcordate, margins entire, apex obtuse to rounded, often emarginate, sometimes mucronate, venation eucamptodromous to faintly brochidodromous, surfaces puberulent with curved trichomes to glabrate, more densely so on veins, margins ciliate, 6–12 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. |
terminal, pedunculate, 4–23-flowered; peduncle usually branched, 0.5–6 cm, pilosulous to puberulent with curved trichomes, with 1 caducous bract at the base of each pedicel. |
Pedicels | 7–20 mm, puberulent with curved trichomes. |
(8–)14–23 mm, puberulent with curved trichomes to pilosulous. |
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 to spreading; calyx lobes linear-lanceolate, 4–5 mm, apex acute, pilosulous to puberulent with curved trichomes; corolla pale green, campanulate, lobes ascending and exceeding corona segments, oval, (9–)12–15 mm, apex acute to obtuse, glabrous; gynostegium sessile; fused anthers brown and green, turbinate, 2.5–3 mm, wings shallowly trapezoidal, closed, apical appendages ovate, erose; corona segments pale to dark purple, upper margin usually white, sessile, clavate-tubular, 3–5 mm, greatly exceeded by style apex, deflexed at base, margins connivent, apex ascending to incurved, rounded, upper margin and cavity hirtellous, internal appendage a low internal crest, hirtellous; style apex shallowly depressed, green. |
Seeds | ovate, 6–7 × 4–5 mm, margin winged, faces minutely rugulose to smooth; coma 2.5–3 cm. |
broadly ovate, 5.5–7.5 × 4–6 mm, margin winged, obscurely erose at chalazal end, faces rugulose, minutely hirtellous; coma 2.5–4 cm. |
Follicles | erect on straight pedicels, fusiform, 6–10 × 0.5–1.2 cm, apex acuminate to attenuate, smooth, glabrous. |
erect on upcurved pedicels, lance-ovoid to ovoid, 6–13 × (0.5–)1.2–3 cm, apex acuminate, shallowly rugose-ribbed, inconspicuously muricate apically on ribs, striate, pilosulous. |
2n | = 22. |
|
Asclepias curassavica |
Asclepias viridis |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting year-round. | Flowering Jan–Nov; fruiting (Apr–)May–Nov. |
Habitat | Disturbed areas, fields, orchards, and gardens, canal banks, ditches, streamsides, wet prairies, marshes, swamps, coastal dunes, sandy soils. | Slopes, flats, glades, ravines, fields, pastures, hammocks, ditches, shale, limestone, granite, sandstone, silty, sandy, rocky, clay, and calcareous soils, prairies, mesquite-juniper grasslands, oak-hickory, pine-oak, and riparian woodlands, oak forests, forest edges and openings. |
Elevation | 0–100 m. (0–300 ft.) | 0–600 m. (0–2000 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; FL; LA; TX; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in North America; introduced also to Old World tropics]
|
AL; AR; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MO; MS; NE; OH; OK; TN; TX
|
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 viridis is similar only to its sister species, A. asperula. The broader leaves with broader apices and corona segments that are less than half the length of the corolla lobes readily distinguish A. viridis from A. asperula. These species are also largely segregated edaphically: A. viridis on deeper, valley soils and A. asperula on rocky, upland soils. Hybrids between A. viridis and A. asperula subsp. capricornu have been documented at several locations in northern Texas and southern Oklahoma. Both species flower early in that region (April–May) and may re-flower sporadically through the summer in response to disturbance from fire or mowing, with a second peak of flowering in the fall when weather conditions are favorable. Asclepias viridis displays an unusual distribution. Outside of the tall- and mixed-grass prairies of the southern Great Plains, where it is most abundant, it occupies glade habitats across the eastern United States, extending to chalk prairies in the southeastern states and pine rocklands in southern Florida. It is rare at the margins of its range and is considered to be of conservation concern in Indiana (Clark and Harrison counties) and West Virginia (Jackson and Wirt counties). Recently, it has been documented to occur in Iowa, close to the Missouri state line in Ringgold County. (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 | ||
Synonyms | Acerates paniculata, Anantherix paniculata, A. viridis, Asclepiodora viridis, Podostigma viride | |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 215. (1753) | Walter: Fl. Carol., 107. (1788) |
Web links |