90 ASCLEPIADACE.^. Asdepias. 



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

 opposite leaves, and umbels from most of the upper axils, racemosely disposed. — ^1. 

 decumbens, L. Spec. 210 ; Sweet, Br. Fl. Gard. ser. 2, t. 24, but flowers too red. — Oliio to 

 Georgia, &c. (A liybrid between A. tuberosa and A. incarnata was found in South Carolina 

 by Dr. MeUichamp.) 



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

 pedicel, except in the first and last species : leaves opposite, mostly broad. {A. quadri/olia miglit 

 be sought here.) 



-f— 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, sliort-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. 3G ; 

 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 higli, 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 tlie 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. 



-t— ^— Hoods purple or purplish : umbel mostly many-flowered. 



•I-!- Flowers rather large; 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 i-emotely 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, puri)lish-red, or the hoods obscurely orange-tinged ; the horn of the latter long, 

 very slender, straightisli : column short but manifest. — Spec. 217 (founded on pi. Clay t. 

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

 & Man. ed. 1, 368. A. po!>/Hlachia, Walt. ? A. conlata, Walt. ? A. laurifoUa, 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, tomcntulose beneath, soon glabrous above : peduncles shorter than the 

 leaves: corolla dai'k 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. Eltli. 32, t. 28, f. 31) ; Willd. 

 Spec. i. 1265; Decaisne in DC. viii. 464; Torr. Fl. N. Y. ii. 120, t. 85. A. anuena, 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. Coniuii. 



++ ++ 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 top, 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 lengtli of the broadly 

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

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

 Vind. t. 107; Bot. Reg. t. 250; Decaisne, 1. o. excl. syn. in part. A. ammut, 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 lo oblong) often subcordate at base. — A. incarnata, L. 



