Asclepias longifolia
Asclepias nummularia
Florida milkweed, long-leaf milkweed
tuft milkweed
1–few, spreading to decumbent, unbranched, 25–70 cm, puberulent with curved trichomes, 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.
opposite or alternate, sessile or petiolate, with 1 or 2 stipular colleters on each side of petiole, also in axil;
petiole 0–2 mm, puberulent with curved trichomes;
blade linear to linear-lanceolate, 5–18 × 0.2–1 cm, chartaceous, base cuneate, margins entire, apex acute to attenuate, sometimes mucronate, venation brochidodromous, surfaces scabridulous to puberulent with curved trichomes, especially on veins, 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.
terminal and extra-axillary at upper nodes, sessile or pedunculate, 13–28(–36)-flowered;
peduncle 0–6 cm, puberulent with curved trichomes, 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.
9–16 mm, puberulent with curved trichomes.
12–20 mm, densely pilosulous to tomentulose.
erect to spreading;
calyx lobes narrowly lanceolate, 1.5–2 mm, apex acute, puberulent with curved trichomes;
corolla white to greenish cream, purple at lobe tips, lobes reflexed, oblong, 3–5 mm, apex obtuse, glabrous;
gynostegial column 0.2–0.5 mm;
fused anthers green or brown, cylindric, 1–1.5 mm, wings triangular to trapezoidal, widest at middle, slightly open at tip, apical appendages ovate;
corona segments pinkish lavender to red-violet, often with white apex, often a darker red-violet stripe or at base, sessile, laminar, strongly dorsally compressed, margins incurved, appressed to column, curved to subsaccate, 2–2.5 mm, exceeding point of anther wings, greatly exceeded by style apex, apex obtuse to truncate, glabrous, internal appendage absent or obscure, glabrous;
style apex shallowly depressed, greenish cream to green.
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, 11–12 × 7–8 mm, margin winged, faces smooth;
coma 4–5 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 upcurved pedicels, narrowly fusiform, 8–13.5 × 0.7–1.2 cm, apex attenuate, smooth, puberulent with curved trichomes.
erect on upcurved pedicels, lance-ovoid, 4–7.5 × 1.2–1.5 cm, apex long-acuminate, smooth, tomentose.
Asclepias longifolia
Asclepias nummularia
Asclepias longifolia has sometimes been treated to include A. hirtella as conspecific, as discussed under that species. As circumscribed here, the distribution of A. longifolia extends along the Atlantic Coastal Plain south of Delaware to Florida and westward to the Mississppi River. Reports of A. longifolia from west of the Mississippi River in Louisiana and in Texas are assigned here to A. hirtella. Hence, the range of A. longifolia in Louisiana is extremely limited, and the conservation status of this species warrants assessment in that state (Livingston, Saint Helena, Saint Tammany, Tangipahoa, and Washington parishes). Reports of A. longifolia from Maryland and West Virginia have not been confirmed, and the species is considered extirpated from Delaware. Otherwise, it is rare at the northern extent of its range and considered to be of conservation concern in North Carolina and Virginia (Greensville and Prince George counties).
(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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