Asclepias curassavica
Asclepias cryptoceras
blood flower, bloodflower milkweed, hierba de la cucaracha, tropical milkweed, wild ipecacuanha
Davis' milkweed, Humboldt milkweed, Humboldt Mountains milkweed, jewel milkweed, pallid milkweed
1–several, erect, sparsely to moderately branched, 30–150 cm, minutely pilosulous in a line to glabrate, not glaucous, rhizomes absent.
1–16, prostrate to decumbent, unbranched, 8–25 cm, glabrous, 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 0–8 mm, glabrous, sometimes with a few long hairs at the base;
blade broadly ovate or oval to orbiculate or obovate, 3–7 × 1.8–6 cm, subsucculent, base cuneate or obtuse to cordate or truncate, margins entire, apex rounded to obtuse or acute, mucronate, venation eucamptodromous to faintly brochidodromous, surfaces glabrous, sometimes sparsely strigose on midvein abaxially, glaucous, 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, and usually extra-axillary at uppermost node, sessile, 3–10-flowered, with 1 caducous bract at the base of each pedicel.
7–20 mm, puberulent with curved trichomes.
16–35 mm, glabrous.
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.
ascending to pendent, calyx lobes linear-lanceolate, 5–8 mm, apex acute, sparsely strigose to pilosulous;
corolla pale green to yellowish green, tinged red abaxially, lobes reflexed with spreading to ascending tips, oval, 8–14 mm, apex acute, glabrous abaxially, papillose at base and minutely hirtellous at tips adaxially;
gynostegium sessile;
fused anthers dark brown, sometimes green at apex, broadly cylindric, 1.8–3 mm, wings right-triangular with rounded apex, closed, apical appendages deltoid;
corona segments red-violet to pinkish purple, sessile, conduplicate, dorsally rounded, 5–8 mm, slightly exceeded by to exceeding style apex, base subsaccate, margins connivent, apex truncate, oblique, with recurved, papillose teeth, papillose, internal appendage absent;
style apex slightly depressed, pale green.
ovate, 6–7 × 4–5 mm, margin winged, faces minutely rugulose to smooth;
coma 2.5–3 cm.
ovate, 8–9 × 6–7 mm, margin very narrowly winged, faces rugulose;
coma 2–2.5 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, 4.5–6 × 1.5–1.8 cm, apex apiculate, smooth, sometimes obscurely ribbed, glabrous, glaucous.
= 22.
Asclepias curassavica
Asclepias cryptoceras
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 flora).
Asclepias cryptoceras is one of the most striking milkweeds, with oversized flowers for its small stature. It is widely distributed in the western United States, but it is common nowhere, and occurrences are sporadic. The populations of this species fall into two morphologically discrete entities—those in Arizona, Colorado, southeastern Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming, and those in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. Plants with intermediate flowers (corona shape and size) are found in eastern California and much of Nevada. The intermediate populations were shown by K. Weitemier (2016) to be genetically similar to subsp. davisii and are treated as such here. Bumblebees (Bombus spp.) have been observed to be avid visitors to the flowers of A. cryptoceras.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Pedicels (15–)25–35 mm; corolla lobes 11–14 mm; corona segments 6–8 mm, apices (including recurved teeth) exceeding style apices. | subsp. cryptoceras |
1. Pedicels 16–25 mm; corolla lobes 8–11 mm; corona segments 5–6 mm (–7 mm in e California and Nevada), apices (including recurved teeth) exceeded by or equaling style apices. | subsp. davisii |
CA
LA Plants
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
OR
WA
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
SW CO Wildflowers
