Asclepias obovata |
Asclepias cryptoceras |
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pineland milkweed |
Davis' milkweed, Humboldt milkweed, Humboldt Mountains milkweed, jewel milkweed, pallid milkweed |
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Habit | Herbs. | Herbs. | ||||
Stems | 1 (rarely more), erect to spreading, unbranched, 40–70(–200) cm, densely hirtellous to velutinous, not glaucous, rhizomes absent. |
1–16, prostrate to decumbent, unbranched, 8–25 cm, glabrous, glaucous, rhizomes absent. |
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Leaves | opposite, petiolate, with 1 or 2 stipular colleters on each side of petiole; petiole 1–4 mm, densely hirtellous to velutinous; blade oblong or elliptic to obovate or ovate, 4–9 × 1–3.5 cm, subcoriaceous, base rounded or truncate to cordate, margins sometimes crisped, apex acute to truncate, sometimes emarginate, often mucronate, venation brochidodromous, surfaces densely hirtellous to velutinous abaxially, hirtellous adaxially, margins ciliate, 8–12 laminar colleters. |
opposite, sessile or petiolate, stipular colleters absent; petiole 0–8 mm, glabrous, sometimes with a few long hairs at the base; blade broadly ovate or oval to orbiculate or obovate, 3–7 × 1.8–6 cm, subsucculent, base cuneate or obtuse to cordate or truncate, margins entire, apex rounded to obtuse or acute, mucronate, venation eucamptodromous to faintly brochidodromous, surfaces glabrous, sometimes sparsely strigose on midvein abaxially, glaucous, margins ciliate, laminar colleters absent. |
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Inflorescences | extra-axillary, sometimes also appearing terminal, sessile or pedunculate, 7–31-flowered; peduncle 0–0.5 cm, densely hirtellous to velutinous, with 1 caducous bract at the base of each pedicel. |
terminal, and usually extra-axillary at uppermost node, sessile, 3–10-flowered, with 1 caducous bract at the base of each pedicel. |
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Pedicels | 10–12 mm, densely hirtellous to velutinous. |
16–35 mm, glabrous. |
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Flowers | erect to pendent; calyx lobes elliptic, 5–6 mm, apex acute, densely hirtellous; corolla green, sometimes tinged reddish or bronze, lobes reflexed, sometimes with spreading tips, elliptic, 7–9 mm, apex acute, glabrous abaxially, minutely papillose at base adaxially; gynostegial column 1–1.5 mm; fused anthers green, obconic, 2.5–4 mm, wings right-triangular, open at base, apical appendages broadly ovate; corona segments bronze to yellow, often tinged red, sometimes apically cream or pale, stipitate, tubular, somewhat flattened laterally, flared at base, 5–8 mm, greatly exceeding style apex, apex rounded, flared, glabrous, internal appendage falcate, exserted, sharply incurved over style apex, glabrous; style apex shallowly depressed, green. |
ascending to pendent, calyx lobes linear-lanceolate, 5–8 mm, apex acute, sparsely strigose to pilosulous; corolla pale green to yellowish green, tinged red abaxially, lobes reflexed with spreading to ascending tips, oval, 8–14 mm, apex acute, glabrous abaxially, papillose at base and minutely hirtellous at tips adaxially; gynostegium sessile; fused anthers dark brown, sometimes green at apex, broadly cylindric, 1.8–3 mm, wings right-triangular with rounded apex, closed, apical appendages deltoid; corona segments red-violet to pinkish purple, sessile, conduplicate, dorsally rounded, 5–8 mm, slightly exceeded by to exceeding style apex, base subsaccate, margins connivent, apex truncate, oblique, with recurved, papillose teeth, papillose, internal appendage absent; style apex slightly depressed, pale green. |
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Seeds | broadly ovate, 8–9 × 6–7 mm, margin winged, faces smooth; coma 2–5 cm. |
ovate, 8–9 × 6–7 mm, margin very narrowly winged, faces rugulose; coma 2–2.5 cm. |
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Follicles | erect on upcurved pedicels, narrowly to broadly fusiform, 7.5–12.5 × 1.5–2.5 cm, apex acuminate, smooth, densely hirtellous to velutinous. |
sometimes paired, erect on upcurved pedicels, ovoid, 4.5–6 × 1.5–1.8 cm, apex apiculate, smooth, sometimes obscurely ribbed, glabrous, glaucous. |
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Asclepias obovata |
Asclepias cryptoceras |
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Phenology | Flowering May–Sep; fruiting Jul–Oct. | |||||
Habitat | Hills, slopes, flats, ridges, sandhills, ditches, seeps, bogs, sandstone, sandy, rocky, silty, and clay soils, pine flatwoods, pine savannas, pine, pine-oak, and bottomland hardwood forests, prairies, often following fires. | |||||
Elevation | 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.) | |||||
Distribution |
AL; AR; FL; GA; LA; MS; OK; SC; TX
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w United States
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Discussion | Asclepias obovata is a common milkweed of seasonally wet, sandy soils in pine woodlands of the Gulf Coastal Plain and (rarely) the southern Atlantic Coastal Plain. It is rare and considered to be of conservation concern in Arkansas. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Subspecies 2 (2 in flora). Asclepias cryptoceras is one of the most striking milkweeds, with oversized flowers for its small stature. It is widely distributed in the western United States, but it is common nowhere, and occurrences are sporadic. The populations of this species fall into two morphologically discrete entities—those in Arizona, Colorado, southeastern Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming, and those in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. Plants with intermediate flowers (corona shape and size) are found in eastern California and much of Nevada. The intermediate populations were shown by K. Weitemier (2016) to be genetically similar to subsp. davisii and are treated as such here. Bumblebees (Bombus spp.) have been observed to be avid visitors to the flowers of A. cryptoceras. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 14. | FNA vol. 14. | ||||
Parent taxa | Apocynaceae > Asclepias | Apocynaceae > Asclepias | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Name authority | Elliott: Sketch Bot. S. Carolina 1: 321. (1817) | S. Watson: Botany (Fortieth Parallel), 283, plate 28, figs. 1–4. (1871) | ||||
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