944 ASCLEPIADACEAE 



seeds about 8 mm. long, marked by fine broken diverging ridges, the paler margin cori- 

 aceous and much wrinkled : coma 3 cm. long. [A. amplexicaulis Michx.] 

 In dry sandy soil, North Carolina to Florida. Spring and early summer. 



7. Asclepias Syriaca L. Stems canescently tomentose, becoming glabrate in age, 

 from a horizontal or branching rootstock, 5 dm. -1.5 m. high : leaf-blades short-petioled, 

 typically oblong, or rarely lanceolate-oblong, 1-1.5 dm. long, 4-11 cm. wide, truncate, 

 rounded or sometimes tapering at the base, commonly obtuse, sometimes mucronate at the 

 apex, green and glabrate or nearly so above, soft-pubescent or tomentulose beneath : umbels 

 usually several, lateral, many-flowered : peduncles 4-8 cm. long : corolla-lobes dull green- 

 ish purple, 8 mm. long, puberulous on the outside, and sometimes minutely so on the inner 

 surface : column very short : hoods whitish or dull greenish purple, erect, longer than the 

 anthers, ovate, obtuse or rounded, with an upcurved tooth or auricle on each side below the 

 middle : horn short, subulate, inflexed over the anthers : anther-wings notched or cornicu- 

 late at the spreading base: follicles 7-9 cm. long, ovate, ventricose, tomentose, mostly 

 erect on recurving pedicels : seeds 7 mm. long, glabrous, the wing-like margin wrinkled, 

 paler than the body : coma very abundant, 3 cm. long. [A. Cornu'i Decne.] 



In fields and waste places, New Brunswick to Saskatchewan, Georgia and Kansas. Summer. 



8. Asclepias purpurascens L. Stems glabrous or somewhat tomentulose, stout, 

 3-10 dm. high or more : leaf-blades typically ovate-oblong, 1-2 dm. long, truncate or 

 obscurely tapering to the short petiole, mostly acutish or mucronate at the apex, rather 

 thin, glabrous above, tomentulose and sometimes becoming glabrate beneath : umbels 

 short-peduncled, 2-5, cymosely terminal or sometimes 1-2 in the upper axils : corolla-lobes 

 dark or dull purple, oblong, obtuse, 8-10 mm. long : column very short : hoods shorter 

 than the corolla-lobes, twice as high as the anthers, pale reddish or purple, erect, oblong, 

 with an obscure rounded lobe near the middle of each ventral margin : horn short, in- 

 curved, exserted over the stigmas : anther-wings very short and sharply salient, entire or 

 minutely notched at the base : follicles erect on recurving pedicels, 10-12 cm. long, atten- 

 uated at the apex, tomentulose : seeds 7 mm. long, minutely granulose, marked with diverg- 

 ing broken lines, the margin very thin and brittle : coma 3-4 cm. long. 



In dry grounds, New England to Wisconsin, Tennessee and North Carolina. Summer. 



9. Asclepias tomentosa Ell. Stems tomentulose or soft-pubescent, erect, simple or 

 rarely branched, 3-9 dm. high or more : leaves numerous, often crowded, much decreased 

 in size at the summit of the stem ; blades mainly oblong-elliptic, 5-8 cm. long, acute or 

 acutish at each end, rather thick and rigid, glabrate or minutely pubescent above, tomen- 

 tulose' beneath : umbels numerous, sessile or short-peduncled, loosely many-flowered, 

 crowded in axils of the upper leaves : pedicels 2-2.5 cm. long, tomentulose : corolla-lobes 

 greenish, broadly ovate, acute, scarious-margined, 7-8 mm. long : hoods sessile or nearly 

 so, not exceeding the anthers, truncate at the summit, slightly gibbous at the base on the 

 outside, laterally compressed, the wing-like ventral margins obtuse or acutish, glabrous or 

 rarely somewhat pubescent : horn broadly subulate, adnate below the apex of the hood, 

 notched below the slender acuminate erect apex, which is exserted for about a third its 

 length : anther-wings entire or obscurely notched : follicles about 12 cm. long, erect on 

 recurving pedicels, slender, tapering to each end, tomentulose : seeds 6-7 mm. long, thin : 

 coma 3-4 cm. long. 



In dry sandy soil and high pine lands, Georgia and Florida. Spring and summer. 



10. Ascelpias aceratoides M. A. Curtis. Stems tomentulose, simple, erect, 33 cm. 

 high or more, from a long horizontal rootstock : leaves few ; blades 7-10 cm. long, ob- 

 lanceolate, obtuse and mucronulate at the apex, tapering at the base, the transverse veins 

 somewhat ascending : umbels 2-several, loosely many-flowered, sessile or nearly so in the 

 upper axils: pedicels tomentulose, 2.5 cm. long: corolla-lobes greenish, 7 mm. long, 

 broadly oblong, acute, scarious-margined : hoods erect or nearly so on the very short 

 column, slightly gibbous at the base, obliquely truncate at the summit, laterally compressed, 

 minutely tomentulose, not exceeding the anthers : horn granulose, broadly triangular, 

 straight" along the top, the apex acute, horizontally exserted a little beyond the obtuse 

 wing-like ventral angles of the hood : anther-wings entire at the broad angled base : folli- 

 cles not seen. 



In sandy pine woods, North Carolina and South Carolina. Spring. 



11. Ascelpias variegata L. Stems glabrous, or minutely pubescent above, 3-9 dm. 

 high, erect from a ligneous rootstock : leaves in 3-7 pairs, the middle pairs rarely whorl ed 

 in4's ; blades typically oval, sometimes ovate or oblong, or obovate, 6-14 cm. long, acute. 



