Asclepias curassavica |
Asclepias lemmonii |
|
|---|---|---|
|
blood flower, bloodflower milkweed, hierba de la cucaracha, tropical milkweed, wild ipecacuanha |
big-leaf milkweed, Lemmon's 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. |
1–3, erect to ascending, unbranched, very stout, 100–150 cm, densely hirsute, 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 1–5 mm, hirsute; blade oval or oblong to ovate, 7–22 × 3–14 cm, subsucculent, base truncate to subcordate, margins entire, apex obtuse to truncate or emarginate, mucronate, venation brochidodromous, secondary veins nearly orthogonal, surfaces hirsute, margins ciliate, 8–16 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, paired, and extra-axillary, pedunculate, 21–53-flowered; peduncle 6–13 cm, densely hirsute, with 1 caducous bract at the base of each pedicel. |
| Pedicels | 7–20 mm, puberulent with curved trichomes. |
13–22 mm, densely hirsute. |
| 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, 3.5–6 mm, apex acute, hirsute; corolla cream to greenish cream or ochroleucous, sometimes tinged pink, lobes reflexed with spreading tips, elliptic, 9–11 mm, apex acute, glabrous; gynostegial column 0.5–1 mm; fused anthers greenish brown, cylindric, 2.5–3 mm, wings right-triangular, closed, apical appendages oval; corona segments cream to ochroleucous, sometimes tinged pink, shiny, subsessile, conduplicate, 6–8 mm, equaling or exceeding style apex, apex truncate, spreading and tapering, glabrous, internal appendage laterally compressed, erect, barely exserted, glabrous; style apex shallowly depressed, green or pink. |
| 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 4–4.5 cm. |
| Follicles | erect on straight pedicels, fusiform, 6–10 × 0.5–1.2 cm, apex acuminate to attenuate, smooth, glabrous. |
erect on upcurved pedicels, lance-ovoid, 9.5–13.5 × 2–3 cm, apex attenuate, smooth, densely hirsute. |
| 2n | = 22. |
|
Asclepias curassavica |
Asclepias lemmonii |
|
| Phenology | Flowering and fruiting year-round. | Flowering Jun–Sep; fruiting Aug–Oct. |
| Habitat | Disturbed areas, fields, orchards, and gardens, canal banks, ditches, streamsides, wet prairies, marshes, swamps, coastal dunes, sandy soils. | Canyons, slopes, streamsides, rocky and clay soils, pine-oak, pine, and riparian forests, oak woodlands, marshes. |
| Elevation | 0–100 m. [0–300 ft.] | 1200–2200 m. [3900–7200 ft.] |
| Distribution |
CA; FL; LA; TX; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in North America; introduced also to Old World tropics]
|
AZ; Mexico (Chihuahua, Durango, Jalisco, Sonora, Zacatecas)
|
| 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.) |
A highly distinctive species, Asclepias lemmonii just barely enters the United States in southern Arizona (Cochise, Pima, and Santa Cruz counties), where it inhabits canyons in pine-oak clad sky-island ranges. Asclepias elata is a common co-inhabitant of these canyons. Asclepias lemmonii has been documented from the Baboquiviri, Chiricahua, Huachuca, and Santa Rita mountains, and it is not common in any of these. It is considered to be of conservation concern in Arizona. The large, hirsute leaves with nearly orthogonal venation and robust, hirsute stems of A. lemmonii are unmatched among American milkweeds. Plants may reach heights over 2 m in the main range of the species in the northern Sierra Madre Occidental. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
| Parent taxa | ||
| Sibling taxa | ||
| Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 215. (1753) | A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 19: 85. (1883) — (as lemmoni) |
| Source | FNA vol. 14. | FNA vol. 14. |
| Web links | ||