MILKWEED FAMILY. 277 



1. ASCLEPIAS, MILKWEED, SILKWEED. (The Greek name of 

 sEsculapias, lather of medicine.) Flowering in summer. 11 



* Flowers bright orange or red: pods smooth: leaves opposite, except- in the first. 



A. tuberosa, BUTTERFLY-WEED, PLEURISY ROOT. Dry hills: milky 

 juice hardly any ; stems and mostly scattered linear or lance-oblong leaves 

 hairy ; flowers bright orange. 



A. Curassavica. Wild far S., cult, from S. America, as a house and 

 bedding plant ; nearly smooth ; leaves lanceolate ; umbels long-peduncled ; 

 corolla scarlet-red, the hoods orange. 



A. paup6rcilla. Wet barrens from N. Jersey S. : tall, smooth, with 

 long lance-linear leaves, one or more few-flowered umbels raised on long 

 peduncle, and red corolla with bright orange hoods. 



A. rtlbra. Low barrens from N. Jersey S. : smooth, with lance-ovate 

 gradually taper-pointed leaves, a few many-flowered umbels on a long naked 

 peduncle, and purple-red flowers. 



* * Flowers pink or light rose-purple : leaves all opposite : pods smooth. 

 A. incarnata, SWAMP MILKWEED. Wet grounds, with very leafy 

 branching stems, lanceolate or lance-oblong acute leaves, often slightly heart- 

 shaped at the base ; smooth or smoothish, or in var. PULCHRA pubescent and 

 the leaves very short-petioled. 



* * * Flowers dull purplish, greenish, or white. 

 +- Stems branching, almost woody at base : leaves all opposite : pods smooth. 



A. per^nnis. Low grounds S. : nearly smooth ; leaves lanceolate or lance- 

 ovate, slender-petioled ; flowers small, white ; seeds mostly without a tuft ! 



H- *- Stem simple : leaves all opposite and closely sessile or clasping by a heart- 

 shaped base, the apex rounded or notched: plants smooth, pale or glaucous. 



A. Obtusif61ia. Sandy grounds, 2 - 3 high, the rather remote broadly 

 oblong leaves wavy; umbel mostly solitary, long-peduncled; flowers pretty 

 large, greenish-purplish. 



A. amplexicaulis. Dry barrens S. : stems reclining, 1- 2 high, very 

 leafy ; leaves ovate-heart-shaped ; umbels several, short-peduncled ; corolla ash- 

 colored, the hoods white. 



*-*-'- Stem simple or nearly so, leafy to the top : leaves all opposite, ovate, oval, 

 or oblong, pretty large, short-petioled : umbels lateral and terminal : Jlowers 

 ^' long or nearly so. 



w- Pods beset with soft prickle-shaped or warty projections. 



A. Comtlti, COMMON MILKWEED of fields and low grounds N. : downy, 

 or the large pale leaves soon smooth above ; flowers dull greenish-purplish. 



++ ++ Pods even, but usually minutely downy. 



A. phytolaccoides, POKE -MILKWEED. Moist grounds N. & W. 

 smooth or smoothish, 3 - 5 high ; leaves large, pointed or acute at both ends ; 

 umbels loose, the long pedicels ( 1' -3') equalling the peduncle ; corolla greenish, 

 but the more conspicuous hoods white. 



A. purpurascens. Rich ground N. & W. : l-3 high; leaves downy 

 beneath smooth above, the upper taper-pointed ; pedicels of the rather loose 

 umbel shorter than the peduncle ; corolla dark dull purple. 



A. variegata. Dry grounds, commoner S. & W. : 1 - 2 high, nearly 

 smooth ; leaves oval or obovate, slightly wavy ; peduncle and crowded pedicels 

 short and downy ; corolla white, the hoods purplish. 



"~ "*" "*" "~ Stems simple or rarely branched, slender: leaves most of them in whorls : 

 pods slender and smooth : flowers small, white or whitish. 



A. quadrif61ia, FOUR-LEAVED M. Rocky woods mostly N. : stems 1 

 - 2 high, nearly smooth, naked below, bearing about the middle one or two 

 whorls of 4 ovate or lance-ovate taper-pointed petioled leaves, and beneath or 

 above them usually a pair of smaller ones; pedicels slender; corolla mostly 

 tinged with pink, the hoods white, 



