90 ASCLEPIADACE^;. Asclepias. 



Var. decumbens, Pursh, a form with reclining stems, broader and more commonly 

 opposite leaves, and umbels from most of the upper axils, racemosely disposed. A. 

 decumbens, L. Spec. 216 ; Sweet, Br. Fl. Gard. ser. 2, t. 24, but flowers too red. Ohio to 

 Georgia, &c. (A hybrid between A. tuberosa and A. incantata was found in South Carolina 

 by Dr. Mellichainp.) 



* * Corolla bright red or purple: follicles naked, fusiform, arrect on the deflexed fruit-bearing 

 pedicel, except in the first and last species : leaves opposite, mostly broad. (A. quadrlfolla. might 

 be sought here.) 



-I Hoods bright orange, raised on a distinct column: plants glabrous. 



A. Curassavica, L. A foot or two high, becoming somewhat woody at base : leaves 

 oblong-lanceolate, thin, short-petioled, 2 to 4 inches long : peduncles not longer than the 

 leaves : lobes of the scarlet corolla ovate : hoods ovate, equalling the anthers, shorter than 

 their subulate incurved horn: follicles and fruiting pedicels erect. (Herm. Par. t. 36 ; 

 Dill. Elth. t. 30, f. 33.) Bot. Reg. t. 81. S. Florida and Louisiana: perhaps introduced 

 from Tropical America. 



A. paupercula, Michx. Stem 2 to 4 feet high, remotely leafy above or naked at the 

 peduncle-like summit, which bears solitary or few pedunculate naked umbels : leaves elon- 

 gated-lanceolate or linear and tapering to both ends, 4 to 10 inches long, nearly sessile, 

 thickish, very smooth except the roughish margins : flowers rather few (5 to 12) in the 

 umbels, large (fully half inch long when the narrowly oblong lobes of the deep red corolla 

 are reflexed) : bright orange hoods obovate or broadly oblong, not twice the length of the 

 anthers, much exceeding the incurved horn. A. lanceolata, Walt. Car. 105. Marshes 

 near the coast, New Jersey to Florida and Texas. 



4 H Hoods purple or purplish : umbel mostly many-flowered. 



-H- Flowers rather largo; the hoods about a quarter inch long and double the length of the anthers: 

 lobes of the corolla dull-colored outside, deep-colored within: leaves transversely veined, 3 to 8 

 inches long. 



A. rubra, L. Glabrous, 1 to 4 feet high, somewhat remotely leafy : leaves from ovate to 

 lanceolate, sessile or almost so, tapering from near the rounded or obscurely cordate base 

 to an acuminate apex, bright green: umbels solitary (terminal and from the uppermost 

 axils) or 2 to 4 raised on a naked common peduncle : corolla-lobes and hoods lanceolate- 

 oblong, purplish-red, or the hoods obscurely orange-tinged ; the horn of the latter long, 

 very slender, straightish : column short but manifest. Spec. 217 (founded on pi. Clayt. 

 no. 263, Gronov. Fl. Virg., with iipper leaves accidentally alternate) ; Gray, in DC. Prodr. 

 & Man. ed. 1, 368. A. poh/stachia, Walt. 1 A. cordata, Walt. ? A. laurlfolla, Michx. Fl. i. 117. 

 A. acuminata, Pursh, Fl. i. 182. A. periplocifolia, Nutt. Gen. i. 167. Moist grounds, New 

 Jersey and Penn. to Florida and Louisiana. 



A. purpurascens, L. Stem 1 to 3 feet high, leafy to top : leaves ovate-oval or oblong, 

 short-petioled, tomentulose beneath, soon glabrous above : peduncles shorter than the 

 leaves: corolla dark and deep (sometimes dull) purple within; the lobes oblong: hoods 

 pale red or purple, oblong or somewhat ovate ; the horn short-subulate from a broad base, 

 falcate-incurved: column extremely short. Spec. 214 (Dill. Elth. 32, t. 28, f. 31) ; Willd. 

 Spec. i. 1265; Decaisne in DC. viii. 464; Torr. Fl. N. Y. ii. 120, t. 85. A. nm<Kmi, L. Spec. 

 217 (pi. Dill. 1. c. 31, t. 27, f. 30) ; Michx. 1. c. ; Sweet, Brit. Fl. Gard. ser. 2, t. 82. 

 Dry ground, New England to Wisconsin and Tennessee. Habit of A. Cornuti. 



w- -M- Flowers small; the hoods a line long and equalling the anthers: veins of the leaves ascend- 

 ing : milky juice scanty. 



A. incarnata, L. Nearly glabrous or a little pubescent : stem 2 or 3 feet high, very 

 leafy to the topf sometimes branching : leaves oblong-lanceolate, short-petioled (3 to 5 

 inches long), obtuse or acutish at base : peduncles somewhat corymbose at or near the 

 summit of the stem, shorter than the leaves : corolla from deep rose-purple to flesh-color ; 

 the lobes oblong (2 lines long) : column narrow, more than half the length of the broadly 

 oblong obtuse pale hoods ; these a little exceeded by their slender uncinate-incurved horn : 

 follicles only 2 or 3 inches long, erect on erect pedicels. (Cornuti, Canad. t. 03.) Jacq. 

 Vind. t. 107; Bot. Reg. t. 250; Decaisne, 1. c. excl. syn. in part. A. amuena, Brongn. in 

 Ann. Sci. Nat. xxiv. t. 13, anal. Swamps, Canada to Saskatchewan and Louisiana. 



Var. pulchra, Pers., the form with copious and somewhat hirsute pubescence, and 

 usually broader leaves (lanceolate to oblong) often subcordate at base. A. incarnata, L. 



