Asclepias curassavica
Asclepias purpurascens
blood flower, bloodflower milkweed, hierba de la cucaracha, tropical milkweed, wild ipecacuanha
asclépiade pourpreé, purple 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, 50–120 cm, puberulent in lines with curved trichomes, not glaucous, rhizomatous.
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 (rarely whorled at 1 midstem node), petiolate, with 1 or 2 stipular colleters on each side of petiole, also in axil;
petiole 4–18 mm, puberulent with curved trichomes;
blade ovate or oval to lanceolate or elliptic, 6–20 × 2–10 cm, chartaceous, base cuneate, margins entire, apex obtuse to acute, apiculate, or mucronate, venation eucamptodromous to faintly brochidodromous, surfaces pilosulous, sparsely so adaxially, margins ciliate, 12–20 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, branched, also usually extra-axillary, sessile or pedunculate, 17–72-flowered;
peduncle 0–7 cm, puberulent with curved trichomes to pilosulous, with 1 caducous bract at the base of each pedicel.
7–20 mm, puberulent with curved trichomes.
12–28 mm, 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 to spreading;
calyx lobes lanceolate, 3–5 mm, apex acute, puberulent with curved trichomes;
corolla reddish purple, lobes reflexed with spreading tips, elliptic, 7–10 mm, apex acute, glabrous abaxially, papillose at base adaxially;
gynostegial column 1–1.5 mm;
fused anthers brown, cylindric, 2–2.5 mm, wings broadly right-triangular, closed to slightly open at tip, apical appendages ovate;
corona segments reddish purple, stipitate, conduplicate with a lateral flange on each side, 5–6 mm, greatly exceeding style apex, apex acute, glabrous, internal appendage falcate, exserted, sharply inflexed over style apex, glabrous;
style apex shallowly depressed, red-violet to green.
ovate, 6–7 × 4–5 mm, margin winged, faces minutely rugulose to smooth;
coma 2.5–3 cm.
ovate, 7–8 × 4–5 mm, margin winged, faces rugulose;
coma 3–4 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, 10–16 × 1.5–2.5 cm, apex long-acuminate, smooth, puberulent with curved trichomes.
= 22.
Asclepias curassavica
Asclepias purpurascens
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 purpurascens is most common in rocky uplands of the Ozark Mountains and the piedmont of the northern Appalachian Mountains. Its reddish purple flowers are extremely showy and the species merits cultivation. The flowers have a strong cinnamon scent. Similarities to A. variegata and A. exaltata are discussed under those species. Although widespread in eastern North America, A. purpurascens is now rare over most of its range and has experienced a significant loss of populations and habitat everywhere but the Ozarks. It is considered to be of conservation concern in Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia (Floyd and Murray counties), Louisiana (Caldwell and Lincoln parishes), Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi (Grenada and Washington counties), Nebraska (Nemaha and Richardson counties), New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Ontario (Chatham-Kent, Essex, and Lambton counties). Moreover, it is presumed extirpated from the District of Columbia, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. It has been reported, but not verified, from Maine and Vermont and, if historically present, is now extirpated there as well. Hybrids with A. amplexicaulis, A. exaltata, and A. syriaca have been documented from the New England and mid-Atlantic regions where A. purpurascens is now rare or extirpated. Putative hybrids exhibit intermediate floral and vegetative characteristics.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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