296 



ASCLEPIADACEAE. 



Corona-hoods with an incurved horn. 

 Corona-hoods hornless. 



1. Asclepias. 



2. Gomphocarpus. 



1. ASCLEPIAS L. 



Perennial herbs with entire leaves, and middle-sized or small flowers in 

 umbels. Calyx 5-parted or 5-divided, usually small, the segments or sepals 

 acute, often glandular within. Corolla deeply 5-parted, the segments mostly 

 valvate, reflexed in anthesis. Corona-column generally present. Corona of 5 

 concave hoods, each bearing within a slender or subulate incurved horn. Fila- 

 ments connate into a tube; anthers tipped with an inflexed membrane, winged, 

 the wings broadened below the middle; pollen-masses solitary in each sac, 

 pendulous on their caudicles. Stigma nearly flat, 5-angled or 5-lobed. Pol- 

 licles usually thick, acuminate. Seeds comose in all but one species. [Dedi- 

 cated to ^sculapius,] About 95 species, mostly natives of the New World. 

 Type species: Asclepias syridca L. 



1. Asclepias curassavica L. Wild 

 Ipecac. Blood-flowepw Butterfly Weed. 

 (Fig. 314.) Stems somewhat woody at the 

 base, glabrous or minutely pubescent above, 

 l°-3° high; leaves opposite, 2.'-6' long, 

 oblong to oblong-lanceolate, commonly acu- 

 minate; umbels terminal and lateral, 5-10- 

 flowered; pedicels 5"-10" long; corolla- 

 lobes deep red-purple, about 3" long, ovate- 

 oblong; column distinct; hoods orange, 

 erect, 2" high, ovate, obtuse, laterally com- 

 pressed, shorter than the flat attenuate 

 curved horn; follicles erect on erect fruit- 

 ing pedicels, li'-4' long, slender-fusiform, 

 acuminate, glabrous or minutely pubescent 

 and slightly glaucous; seeds 3" long, rather 

 thin; coma l"-li" long. 



Common in waste and cultivated grounds. 

 Naturalized. Native of tropical America. Nat- 

 uralized in the southern United States. Flow- 

 ers in summer and autumn. 



Asclepias nivea L,, White Milkweed, West Indian, which is similar to 

 A. curassavica but has white corollas and usually broader leaves, came up in 

 some soil from the West Indies at Mount Langton, as recorded by Lefroy, who 

 states that it established itself at that time, but it has not been observed 

 subsequently, and H. B. Small indicates that it did not persist. 



Asclepias Linaria Cav., Eanstead Milkweed, Mexican, a white-flowered, 

 narrow-leaved species, was in cultivation in gardens, prior to 1883, according to 

 Eeade. 



2. GOMPHOCARPUS R. Br. 



Shrubs or large herbs, with opposite leaves, the flowers similar in struc- 

 ture to those of Asclepias, but the hoods of the corona without horns, unap- 

 pendaged. Follicles inflated. [Greek, club-fruit.] About 75 species, mostly 

 African. Type species: Asclepias arborescens L. 



