Asclepias curassavica
Asclepias viridula
blood flower, bloodflower milkweed, hierba de la cucaracha, tropical milkweed, wild ipecacuanha
green milkweed, southern milkweed
1–several, erect, sparsely to moderately branched, 30–150 cm, minutely pilosulous in a line to glabrate, not glaucous, rhizomes absent.
1 (rarely 2), erect, unbranched, 25–75 cm, minutely puberulent in a line with curved trichomes 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, sessile, with 1 or 2 stipular colleters on each side of leaf base;
blade linear to filiform, 4.5–9 × 0.15–0.25 cm, membranous, base cuneate, margins revolute, apex acute, mucronate, venation obscure, surfaces glabrous, margins sparsely ciliate to glabrate, laminar colleters absent.
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.
extra-axillary at upper nodes, pedunculate, 4–15-flowered;
peduncle 0.8–2 cm, minutely puberulent in a line with curved trichomes, with 1 caducous bract at the base of each pedicel.
7–20 mm, puberulent with curved trichomes.
7–13 mm, minutely puberulent in a line 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, 1.5–2.5 mm, apex acute, glabrous;
corolla green, tinged brown, lobes reflexed with spreading tips, elliptic, 3–5 mm, apex acute to obtuse, sometimes emarginate, glabrous;
gynostegial column 0.8–1 mm;
fused anthers green and brown, cylindric, 1.5–2 mm, wings right-triangular, closed, apical appendages ovate;
corona segments cream, tinged brown or green, stipitate, conduplicate and dorsally rounded, 3–4 mm, slightly exceeding style apex, apex acute, spreading, with a proximal tooth on each side, glabrous, internal appendage falcate, exserted, arching towards style apex, glabrous;
style apex shallowly depressed, green.
ovate, 6–7 × 4–5 mm, margin winged, faces minutely rugulose to smooth;
coma 2.5–3 cm.
ovate, 8–9 × 5–6 mm, margin winged, faces minutely and sparsely rugulose;
coma 2.5–3 cm.
erect on straight pedicels, fusiform, 6–10 × 0.5–1.2 cm, apex acuminate to attenuate, smooth, glabrous.
erect on straight pedicels, fusiform, 9–12.5 × 0.6–0.9 cm, apex long-acuminate, smooth, glabrous.
= 22.
Asclepias curassavica
Asclepias viridula
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.)
Similarities among Asclepias cinerea, A. feayi, and A. viridula are discussed under those species; all three are slender, cryptic when not in flower, and appear to emerge and flower in response to precipitation and fire events. Asclepias viridula is perhaps the most cryptic of the three, by virtue of its green corollas, and it is the most limited in range. It is typically found in wetter sites than co-occurring A. cinerea. Asclepias viridula is found disjunctly in northeastern Florida and the Florida Panhandle. Its range barely crosses into Alabama, where it is known from a single site in Houston County. Reports from Georgia are probably based on misidentifications—no specimens are known, and further searches for A. viridula in Georgia are warranted. It is considered to be of conservation concern throughout its range. Although not listed as a threatened or endangered species under the ESA in the United States, the number of populations is low and merits further study of population persistence and viability.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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