Asclepias curassavica
Asclepias cutleri
blood flower, bloodflower milkweed, hierba de la cucaracha, tropical milkweed, wild ipecacuanha
Cutler's milkweed
1–several, erect, sparsely to moderately branched, 30–150 cm, minutely pilosulous in a line to glabrate, not glaucous, rhizomes absent.
1–5, erect to ascending, unbranched, 7–20 cm, strigose to pilose, not 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.
alternate, sessile, stipular colleters absent;
blade linear to filiform, 2.5–8 × 0.1–0.2 cm, membranous, base cuneate, margins entire, apex acute, mucronate, venation obscure, surfaces strigose to glabrate, margins sparsely ciliate to glabrate, 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.
extra-axillary at upper nodes, appearing terminal, sessile or pedunculate, 2–5-flowered (appearing greater because umbels are in close proximity);
peduncle 0–0.1 cm, densely strigose, bracts few.
7–20 mm, puberulent with curved trichomes.
6–15 mm, strigose 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 lance-ovate, 1.5–2 mm, apex acute, strigose to pilose;
corolla red-violet, lobes reflexed or sometimes spreading, oval, 2.5–4 mm, apex acute, pilose abaxially, glabrous adaxially;
gynostegial column 0.5 mm;
fused anthers brown, cylindric, 1.5–2 mm, wings right-triangular, apical appendages ovate;
corona segments white, sessile, cupulate, 1.5 mm, exceeded by style apex, base saccate, apex truncate with a proximal tooth on each side, glabrous, internal appendage lingulate, barely exserted from cavity, glabrous;
style apex shallowly depressed, pink to reddish.
ovate, 6–7 × 4–5 mm, margin winged, faces minutely rugulose to smooth;
coma 2.5–3 cm.
oval, 9–11 × 4–6 mm, margin corky, winged, erose, faces ruglose-papillate, minutely hirtellous;
coma 1.5 cm.
erect on straight pedicels, fusiform, 6–10 × 0.5–1.2 cm, apex acuminate to attenuate, smooth, glabrous.
pendulous on spreading to declined pedicels, lance-ovoid, 3–6 × 0.5–0.8 cm, apex attenuate, smooth, faintly striate, strigose.
= 22.
Asclepias curassavica
Asclepias cutleri
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 cutleri is an edaphic endemic, limited to deep red, pink, and orange sand deposits developed on geologic units of sedimentary origin of the Colorado Plateau. Its range is restricted to Apache, Coconino, and Navajo counties in Arizona and Grand and San Juan counties in Utah. The majority of occurrences are on the Navajo reservation. A report from San Juan County, New Mexico, needs confirmation. Although rarely collected, it is highly cryptic due to its small stature and slender habit, and it is probably more common than it appears in its preferred habitat. The herbage has a bluish hue when fresh that turns green on drying, similar to A. brachystephana and A. cryptoceras. It is often erroneously described to be an annual because the very deep roots are almost never extricated, and the slender subterranean stem appears to be the root. Paired fruits from a single flower appear to be unusually common compared to other species of Asclepias. The flowers are remarkably similar to those of A. brachystephana and the so-called dwarf milkweeds, A. eastwoodiana, A. ruthiae, A. uncialis, and the sympatric A. sanjuanensis, but these species are only distantly related to A. cutleri (M. Fishbein et al. 2011).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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