Acerates. ASCLEPIADACE.E. 99 



crest to the hoods, and by the wings of the anthers not angulate nor dilated (but 

 rather tapering) at base. — Ell. Sk. i. 31G (1817); Engelm. mss. ; Gray, Proc. 

 Am. Acad. 1. c. Poli/ofus, Nutt. in Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc. 1. c. Gomphocarpiis 

 in part, Benth. & Hook. Gen. ii. 754. 



* Mass of anthers and stigma globular, not equalled by the hoods : column below the hoods evi- 

 dent : leaves mainlv alternate-scattered, very numerous. 



A. auriculata, Engelm. Glabrous up to the inflorescence: stem 2 or 3 feet high, 

 slender: leaves linear-filiform (4 to 6 inches long, a third to a line and a half wide), their 

 scabrous margins not revolute : umbels several, lateral : jiedicels short : column below the 

 hoods very short: hoods oval or quadrate, emarginately or sometimes 3-crenately truncate, 

 the involute margins at base appendaged with a pair of remarkably large and broad 

 auricles : anther-wings narrow and of equal breadth from top to bottom : poUinia elongated- 

 oblong, not tapering upward. — Engelm. in Bot. Mex. Bound. 109. — Prairies and rocky 

 ground, from S. Texas and New Mexico to Colorado. Unless the characters are noted, 

 very likely to be confounded with Asclepias [Nolhacerates) stenophi/lla. 



A. longifolia, Ell. Minutely hirsutely scabrous-pubescent, or smoothish : stems 1 to 3 

 feet high, erect or ascending : leaves from linear to elongated-lanceolate (3 to 8 inches long, 

 1 to 6 lines wide) : umbels few or numerous, terminal and lateral : pedicels slender : column 

 rather conspicuous below the hoods : these jiurple or purplish, oval, obtuse, entire, unap- 

 pendaged, adnate by the ventral margins to the whole upper half of the column, therefore 

 pitcher-like, rising barely to the middle of the anthers : anther-wings semi-rhombic, more 

 attenuate to base: polliuia (as generally in the genus) with tapering apex. — Sk. i. 317; 

 Decaisne in DC. Prodr. viii. 522. Asclepias lonr/i/olia, Michx. Fl. i. 116, mainly. ^1. Flori- 

 dnna, Lam. Diet. i. 284. A. incnrnata, Walt. Car. lOG, not L. Poli/otus lonfjifoUus, Nutt. in 

 Trans. Am. Phil. kSoc. v. 522. — Moist prairies and pine-barrens, Florida to Texas, and 

 north to Ohio and Wisconsin. Varies greatly in height, length of peduncles, foliage, &c. : 

 a Florida form has few or single slender-peduncled umbels, and smaller flowers. 



* * Mass of anthers and stigma longer than broad, almost equalled by the hoods, the short inser- 

 tion of which covers the very short column: leaves not rarely opposite, mostly broader. 



A. viridiflora, Ell. Tomentose-pubemlent, becoming glabrate, or the foliage somewhat 

 scabrous : stem a foot or two high : leaves oval or oblong and obtuse or retuse (one or two 

 inches long), or sometimes narrower and longer and also acute, commonly mucronate, occa- 

 sionally undulate : umbels 2 to 5 or sometimes solitary, mostly lateral and subsessile, dense : 

 pedicels little over double the length of the reflexed narrowly oblong lobes of the greenish 

 corolla : hoods somewhat fleshy, lanceolate-oblong, with small auricles at base much in- 

 volute and concealed, otherwise entire, alternated by as many short and roundish or gland- 

 like small internal teeth : anther-wings semi-rhomboid above, with a much longer tapering 

 base. — Asclepias viridiflora, llaf. in Med. Rep. xi. 309, & Desv. Jour. Bot. i. 227 ; Pursh, 

 Fl. i. 181; Torr. Fl. 284 (excl. var. o6orata) ; Hook. Fl. ii. 53, t. 143. Polyotus heterophijlhs, 

 Natt. 1. c. — Dry sterile soil. New England and Canada to Saskatchewan, and south to 

 Florida and Texas. Runs into 



Var. lance olata, with lanceolate leaves 2^ to 4 inches long. — Asclepias lanccolata, 

 Ives in Amer. Jour. Sci. iv. 252, with plate. A. viridiflora, var. lanceolata, Torr. I. c. ; Hook. 

 1. c, dextral figure. With the broader-leaved form. 



Var. linearis, with elongated linear leaves and low stems : umbels often solitar3\ — 

 Winnipeg Valley to New Mexico. 



A. lanuginosa, Decaisne. Hirsute rather than woolly : stems a span or two high, 

 terminated by a single pedunculate umbel : leaves frequently alternate or scattered, from 

 oblong-ovate to lanceolate (1 to 3 inches long), with roundish base: pedicels 3 or 4 times 

 the length of the oblong lobes of the greenish corolla : hoods purplish, broadly oblong, 

 obtuse and entire, involute auricles at base obscure if any ; the alternating internal teeth 

 or lobes small and emarginate : anther-wings broadest and obtusely angulate below the 

 middle (approaching those of Asclepias): fruit not seen. — Gray, Man. ed. 3, & ed. 5. 

 A. monocep/ial.a, Lapham in Gray, Man. ed. 2, addend. Asclepias lanur/inosa, 'Nntt. Gen. i. 168. 

 A, NuttaU.iana, Torr. in Ann. Lye. N. Y. ii. 218. Poli/otns lanufjinosus, Nutt. in Trans. Am. 

 Phil. Soc. 1. c. — Prairies, Wisconsin and N. Illinois, Lapham, Vaseij, &c., to the Missouri at 

 White River, Nuttall, and the Yellowstone, Mr. Allen. 



