Asclepias curassavica
Asclepias nummularia
blood flower, bloodflower milkweed, hierba de la cucaracha, tropical milkweed, wild ipecacuanha
tuft 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, unbranched, 6–15 cm, taller on vegetative or post-reproductive plants, densely tomentose to glabrate, 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.
opposite, petiolate, with 1 stipular colleter on either side of petiole;
petiole 3–4 mm, tomentose to glabrate;
blade orbiculate to obovate or oblate, 1.5–3.2 × 1.7–4 cm, much larger on vegetative or post-reproductive stems, subsucculent, base rounded to cordate, margins entire, apex truncate or emarginate to rounded or obtuse, venation eucamptodromous, surfaces tomentose to glabrate, laminar colleters 0–10.
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, sometimes also extra-axillary, pedunculate, 5–28-flowered;
peduncle 2.7–6 cm, tomentose, with 1 bract at the base of each pedicel.
7–20 mm, puberulent with curved trichomes.
12–20 mm, densely pilosulous to tomentulose.
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;
calyx lobes ovate to lanceolate, 1.5–2.5 mm, apex acute, pilose to tomentulose;
corolla pinkish violet to tan, striate, lobes reflexed, oval, 4–5 mm, apex acute, glabrous abaxially, minutely papillate at base adaxially;
gynostegial column 0.2–0.5 mm;
fused anthers brown, cylindric, 1–1.5 mm, wings curved, closed, apical appendages ovate, erose;
corona segments white apically, red-violet basally, sessile, conduplicate, dorsally rounded, 2.5–3 mm, equaling or exceeding style apex, apex truncate, glabrous, internal appendage falcate, exserted, sharply inflexed over style apex, glabrous;
style apex shallowly depressed, cream to pink.
ovate, 6–7 × 4–5 mm, margin winged, faces minutely rugulose to smooth;
coma 2.5–3 cm.
broadly ovate, 6–7 × 4–5 mm, margin winged, corky, erose at chalazal end, faces papillose-rugulose, hirtellous;
coma 1.5–2.5 cm.
erect on straight pedicels, fusiform, 6–10 × 0.5–1.2 cm, apex acuminate to attenuate, smooth, glabrous.
erect on upcurved pedicels, lance-ovoid, 4–7.5 × 1.2–1.5 cm, apex long-acuminate, smooth, tomentose.
= 22.
Asclepias curassavica
Asclepias nummularia
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 nummularia is the only milkweed in the flora area with small stature and obovate to orbiculate leaves that are bluish under dense tomentum until late in the season. The plants often bear an uncanny resemblance to tiny cabbages. Fruit set may fail across broad regions in some years, perhaps due to drought, although the adequacy of pollination in this species has not been studied. Unlike many species of Asclepias, post-reproductive and non-reproductive plants of A. nummularia often persist until frost. Coupled with the early flowering of this species, vegetative plants are observed and collected far more often than reproductive ones. Some plants persisting into the fall months have much larger leaves and longer stems, especially in shady or moist habitats; these have often been mistaken for A. latifolia, the range of which only barely overlaps that of A. nummularia in Grant County, New Mexico. Asclepias nummularia is not common in New Mexico, where it has been found in Grant, Hidalgo, and Sierra counties, and is only locally common in Texas in the Davis Mountains (Jeff Davis County), and additionally in Brewster and Presidio counties. Populations from San Luis Potosí and south with narrower leaves have been segregated as A. nummularioides W. D. Stevens; recognition of this taxon requires further evaluation.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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