Flora of North America species comparison

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Asclepias speciosa

asclépiade belle, showy milkweed
Habit Herbs.
Stems

1–few, erect, unbranched (rarely branched), 30–125 cm, tomentose to puberulent with curved trichomes, not glaucous, rhizomatous.
Leaves

opposite, petiolate, with 1 or 2 stipular colleters on each side of petiole, sometimes also in axil;

petiole 4–12 mm, tomentose to pilose;

blade lanceolate or ovate to oblong, 6–20 × 2–14 cm, chartaceous, base rounded to truncate or cordate, margins entire, apex acute to obtuse, sometimes mucronate, venation faintly brochidodromous, surfaces tomentose to pilose, margins ciliate, 6–32 laminar colleters.
Inflorescences

extra-axillary, pedunculate, 3–34-flowered;

peduncle 1–10 cm, densely tomentose, with 1 caducous bract at the base of each pedicel.
Pedicels

13–30 mm, densely tomentose.
Flowers

erect to pendent;

calyx lobes elliptic, 4–8 mm, apex acute, tomentose;

corolla dark pink (rarely pale), lobes reflexed with spreading tips, elliptic, 9–12 mm, apex acute, densely pilose abaxially, hirtellous at base adaxially;

gynostegial column 0.5–1 mm;

fused anthers green and brown, truncately obconic, 2.5–3 mm, wings right-triangular, open, widely so at base, apical appendages deltoid;

corona segments pale pink to nearly cream, sessile, scoop-shaped, 9–15 mm, exceeding style apex, apex truncate with proximal tooth on each side and long-attenuate, flared, glabrous, internal appendage subulate, exserted, sharply inflexed over style apex, glabrous;

style apex shallowly depressed, green to cream or pink.
Seeds

ovate, 7–9 × 4–5 mm, margin winged, faces rugulose;

coma 2.5–3 cm.
Follicles

erect on upcurved pedicels, lance-ovoid, (5–)9–12 × 2–3 cm, apex long-attenuate, muricate or smooth, densely tomentose.
2n

= 22.

Asclepias speciosa
Phenology Flowering (Apr–)May–Sep; fruiting Jul–Oct.
Habitat Slopes, flats, hills, valleys, canyons, coulees, streamsides, lake and pond edges, ditches, swales, seeps, granite, basalt, schist, pumice, serpentine, alluvium, clay, sandy, silty, rocky, and saline soils, pine and mixed-conifer forests, oak and pine woodlands, chaparral, riparian woods, shrubby and non-native grasslands, prairies, meadows, agricultural fields.
Elevation 0–2600 m. (0–8500 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; IA; ID; IL; KS; MI; MN; MO; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; OK; OR; SD; TX; UT; WA; WI; WY; AB; BC; MB; SK [Introduced in e Europe]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Asclepias speciosa is the western counterpart of A. syriaca; both are broad-leaved species with large umbels of pinkish flowers. The distinctive, large, tapering corona segments, which form the broadest corona span of any American species of Asclepias, immediately distinguish A. speciosa from A. syriaca. These species hybridize extensively from Minnesota and southern Manitoba to Kansas, blurring the distinctions in the zone of contact, which corresponds roughly to the transition from tallgrass to mixed-grass prairie (R. P. Adams et al. 1987b). Not every individual in this zone can be readily assigned to one species or the other. This is the most extensive hybrid zone in North American Asclepias. These hybrids have also been documented in Illinois, far to the east of the contact zone. Possible hybrids with A. eriocarpa and A. hallii in California are discussed under those species. Outside of its contiguous range in the West, A. speciosa is known from a few sporadic, mostly historical records from Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, and Wisconsin. Most, if not all, of these records represent adventive, ephemeral outposts from the native range.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 14.
Parent taxa Apocynaceae > Asclepias
Sibling taxa
A. albicans, A. amplexicaulis, A. angustifolia, A. arenaria, A. asperula, A. brachystephana, A. californica, A. cinerea, A. connivens, A. cordifolia, A. cryptoceras, A. curassavica, A. curtissii, A. cutleri, A. eastwoodiana, A. elata, A. emoryi, A. engelmanniana, A. eriocarpa, A. erosa, A. exaltata, A. fascicularis, A. feayi, A. hallii, A. hirtella, A. humistrata, A. hypoleuca, A. incarnata, A. involucrata, A. labriformis, A. lanceolata, A. lanuginosa, A. latifolia, A. lemmonii, A. linaria, A. linearis, A. longifolia, A. macrosperma, A. macrotis, A. meadii, A. michauxii, A. nummularia, A. nyctaginifolia, A. obovata, A. oenotheroides, A. ovalifolia, A. pedicellata, A. perennis, A. prostrata, A. pumila, A. purpurascens, A. quadrifolia, A. quinquedentata, A. rubra, A. rusbyi, A. ruthiae, A. sanjuanensis, A. scaposa, A. solanoana, A. sperryi, A. stenophylla, A. subulata, A. subverticillata, A. sullivantii, A. syriaca, A. texana, A. tomentosa, A. tuberosa, A. uncialis, A. variegata, A. verticillata, A. vestita, A. viridiflora, A. viridis, A. viridula, A. welshii
Name authority Torrey: Ann. Lyceum Nat. Hist. New York 2: 218. (1827)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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