The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

blood flower, bloodflower milkweed, hierba de la cucaracha, tropical milkweed, wild ipecacuanha

mahogany milkweed, talayote

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 (rarely 2 or 3), erect, unbranched, 25–100 cm, puberulent with curved trichomes to pilosulous, 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 2–6 mm, puberulent with curved trichomes to pilosulous;

blade ovate or lanceolate to oblong, elliptic, or oval, 5.5–11.5 × 1–5 cm, chartaceous, base cuneate or obtuse to truncate, margins entire, apex obtuse to rounded, mucronate, venation eucamptodromous, surfaces tomentose abaxially, pilosulous or tomentulose to glabrate adaxially, margins ciliate, 8–12 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 and extra-axillary, pedunculate, 12–35-flowered;

peduncle 3.5–10.5 cm, puberulent with curved trichomes to tomentulose, with 1 caducous bract at the base of each pedicel.

Pedicels

7–20 mm, puberulent with curved trichomes.

15–21 mm, densely puberulent with curved trichomes or pilosulous 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 to pendent;

calyx lobes lanceolate, 3–4 mm, apex acute, pilose;

corolla green, sometimes red-tinged abaxially, deep maroon to greenish red or green adaxially, lobes reflexed, tips usually spreading, oblong to elliptic, 8–10 mm, apex acute, pilosulous abaxially, glabrous adaxially;

gynostegial column 1–1.5 mm;

fused anthers brown, broadly cylindric, 2–2.5 mm, wings right-triangular, open at tip, apical appendages ovate, erose;

corona segments deep maroon to greenish red or yellowish green, subsessile, conduplicate, 7–9 mm, greatly exceeding style apex, apex truncate, spreading and long-tapering with a proximal tooth on each side, glabrous, internal appendage absent or a low crest, glabrous;

style apex shallowly depressed, green.

Seeds

ovate, 6–7 × 4–5 mm, margin winged, faces minutely rugulose to smooth;

coma 2.5–3 cm.

ovate, 6–7 × 4–5 mm, margin winged, faces minutely 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, 9–11.5 × 1.2–1.4 cm, apex long-attenuate, smooth, sometimes faintly striate, pilosulous to tomentulose.

2n

= 22.

Asclepias curassavica

Asclepias hypoleuca

Phenology Flowering and fruiting year-round. Flowering Jun–Sep; fruiting Aug–Sep.
Habitat Disturbed areas, fields, orchards, and gardens, canal banks, ditches, streamsides, wet prairies, marshes, swamps, coastal dunes, sandy soils. Slopes, flats, lake shores, streamsides, granite, gneiss, andesite, rocky soils, pine, pine-oak, oak, and mixed-conifer forests.
Elevation 0–100 m. [0–300 ft.] 1900–2800 m. [6200–9200 ft.]
Distribution
from FNA
CA; FL; LA; TX; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in North America; introduced also to Old World tropics]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; NM; Mexico (Chihuahua, Sonora)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
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 hypoleuca grows at higher elevations in the sky-island mountain ranges than any other milkweed. It has been documented from the Chiricahua, Huachuca, Rincon, Santa Catalina, Santa Rita, and White mountain ranges in Arizona (Cochise, Pima, and Santa Cruz counties) and the Mogollon Mountains and Black Range in New Mexico (Catron and Grant counties). Because of its limited, high-elevation distribution, and the threats of changing climate, its conservation status in the flora area merits assessment. The bicolored leaves exhibit coloration similar to co-occurring silverleaf oak (Quercus hypoleucoides).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Parent taxa Apocynaceae > Asclepias Apocynaceae > Asclepias
Sibling taxa
A. albicans, A. amplexicaulis, A. angustifolia, A. arenaria, A. asperula, A. brachystephana, A. californica, A. cinerea, A. connivens, A. cordifolia, A. cryptoceras, A. curtissii, A. cutleri, A. eastwoodiana, A. elata, A. emoryi, A. engelmanniana, A. eriocarpa, A. erosa, A. exaltata, A. fascicularis, A. feayi, A. hallii, A. hirtella, A. humistrata, A. hypoleuca, A. incarnata, A. involucrata, A. labriformis, A. lanceolata, A. lanuginosa, A. latifolia, A. lemmonii, A. linaria, A. linearis, A. longifolia, A. macrosperma, A. macrotis, A. meadii, A. michauxii, A. nummularia, A. nyctaginifolia, A. obovata, A. oenotheroides, A. ovalifolia, A. pedicellata, A. perennis, A. prostrata, A. pumila, A. purpurascens, A. quadrifolia, A. quinquedentata, A. rubra, A. rusbyi, A. ruthiae, A. sanjuanensis, A. scaposa, A. solanoana, A. speciosa, A. sperryi, A. stenophylla, A. subulata, A. subverticillata, A. sullivantii, A. syriaca, A. texana, A. tomentosa, A. tuberosa, A. uncialis, A. variegata, A. verticillata, A. vestita, A. viridiflora, A. viridis, A. viridula, A. welshii
A. albicans, A. amplexicaulis, A. angustifolia, A. arenaria, A. asperula, A. brachystephana, A. californica, A. cinerea, A. connivens, A. cordifolia, A. cryptoceras, A. curassavica, A. curtissii, A. cutleri, A. eastwoodiana, A. elata, A. emoryi, A. engelmanniana, A. eriocarpa, A. erosa, A. exaltata, A. fascicularis, A. feayi, A. hallii, A. hirtella, A. humistrata, A. incarnata, A. involucrata, A. labriformis, A. lanceolata, A. lanuginosa, A. latifolia, A. lemmonii, A. linaria, A. linearis, A. longifolia, A. macrosperma, A. macrotis, A. meadii, A. michauxii, A. nummularia, A. nyctaginifolia, A. obovata, A. oenotheroides, A. ovalifolia, A. pedicellata, A. perennis, A. prostrata, A. pumila, A. purpurascens, A. quadrifolia, A. quinquedentata, A. rubra, A. rusbyi, A. ruthiae, A. sanjuanensis, A. scaposa, A. solanoana, A. speciosa, A. sperryi, A. stenophylla, A. subulata, A. subverticillata, A. sullivantii, A. syriaca, A. texana, A. tomentosa, A. tuberosa, A. uncialis, A. variegata, A. verticillata, A. vestita, A. viridiflora, A. viridis, A. viridula, A. welshii
Synonyms Gomphocarpus hypoleucus
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 215. (1753) (A. Gray) Woodson: Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 28: 206. (1941)
Source FNA vol. 14. Treatment author: Mark Fishbein. FNA vol. 14. Treatment author: Mark Fishbein.
Web links