Asclepias curassavica
Asclepias pedicellata
blood flower, bloodflower milkweed, hierba de la cucaracha, tropical milkweed, wild ipecacuanha
savanna milkweed, savannah milkweed
1–several, erect, sparsely to moderately branched, 30–150 cm, minutely pilosulous in a line to glabrate, not glaucous, rhizomes absent.
1, erect, unbranched, 10–45 cm, puberulent with curved trichomes, 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, sessile, with 1 stipular colleter on each side of leaf base;
blade linear to narrowly elliptic or narrowly lanceolate, 1.5–6 × 0.1–0.8 cm, chartaceous, base cuneate, margins entire, apex acute, mucronate, venation obscure to eucamptodromous, surfaces puberulent with curved trichomes or scabridulous to glabrate, margins ciliate, 2 laminar colleters.
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 at upper nodes, pedunculate, 2–7-flowered;
peduncle 0.15–1 cm, densely puberulent with curved trichomes, with 1 caducous bract at the base of each pedicel.
7–20 mm, puberulent with curved trichomes.
5–13 mm, minutely puberulent with curved trichomes.
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 elliptic, 2–3 mm, apex acute, sparsely puberulent with curved trichomes to glabrate;
corolla yellowish green to green, lobes erect, mostly concealing corona, narrowly elliptic, 7–10 mm, apex acute, glabrous;
gynostegial column 4–6 mm;
fused anthers green, broadly conic, 1–1.5 mm, wings right-triangular with decurrent base, closed, apical appendages ovate;
corona segments yellowish green to green, sometimes dark green at apex, sessile, conduplicate, 1.5–2.5 mm, greatly exceeded by style apex, apex incurved, rounded, glabrous, internal appendage absent;
style apex flat, green.
ovate, 6–7 × 4–5 mm, margin winged, faces minutely rugulose to smooth;
coma 2.5–3 cm.
ovate, 5–6 × 3–4 mm, margin winged, faces sparsely and minutely rugulose;
coma 2–2.5 cm.
erect on straight pedicels, fusiform, 6–10 × 0.5–1.2 cm, apex acuminate to attenuate, smooth, glabrous.
erect on straight pedicels, fusiform, 8–14 × 0.3–0.5 cm, apex long-attenuate, smooth, densely puberulent with curved trichomes.
= 22.
Asclepias curassavica
Asclepias pedicellata
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 pedicellata is found in drier habitats than some co-distributed milkweeds, such as A. connivens and A. viridula. It sometimes occurs in the same sites as A. cinerea, A. curtissii, and A. feayi. The erect petals and elongate gynostegial column are unique among Asclepias species in the flora area. The green flowers with hidden coronas and low stature of the plants can make them frustratingly cryptic in their grass-dominated habitats. Asclepias pedicellata is common only in Florida and North Carolina and is considered rare and of conservation concern in the intervening region in Georgia and South Carolina.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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