ASCLEPIADACEAE MILKWEED FAMILY 
FLORIDA MILKWEED 
Acerates floridana (Lam.) Hitche. 
Milkweeds of the genus Acerates are much like those of 
Asclepias except that the hoods are without horns, which is 
what the genus name, from the Greek, means. 
The Florida Milk- 
weed occurs on prair- 
ies and Pine barrens 
from Ohio to Ontario 
and Minnesota, south 
to Florida and Texas. 
In Illinois it is found 
on rather poor sandy 
soil throughout prai- 
rie portions. 
The rather slender 
stem grows 1-3 feet 
high and is rough 
with short hairs. The 
exceedingly numer- 
ous leaves are long 
and narrow, mostly 
alternate and com- 
monly with some 
hairs along the mar- 
gins and on midribs. 
The greenish white 
flowers are produced from June to September. Hoods and corolla 
are colored alike. The 2 ovaries and short styles are distinct but 
the stigmas are united to form a $-lobed structure. The fruits 
are follicles containing large numbers of seeds, each with a coma. 
The Green Milkweed, Acerates viridiflora Ell., is also found in 
dry sandy or rocky soil in Illinois. It may be distinguished from the 
Florida Milkweed by the broader leaves, which are often opposite, 
and by the fact that the greenish flower clusters are sessile or nearly 
so in the axils of the leaves. ; 
_The Woolly Milkweed, Acerates lanuginosa (Nutt.) Dene., is a 
hairy perennial 6-18 inches high, which may be found on prairies 
from northern Illinois to Minnesota and Wyoming, but is rare in this 
state. The solitary umbel is terminal, densely many flowered and 
peduncled. The flowers, on slender pedicels, bloom from June to 
August. 
247 
