90 ASCLEPIADACE^. Asdepias. 



Var. decumbens, Pursh, a form with reclining stems, broader and more commonly 

 opposite leaves, and umbels from most of the upper axils, racemosely disposed. — A. 

 decumbens, L. Spec. 216 ; Sweet, Br. Fl. Gard. ser. 2, t. 24, but flowers too red. — Ohio to 

 Georgia, &c. (A liybrid between A. tuberosa and A. incarnata was found in South Carolina 

 by Dr. Mellichamp.) 



* # Corolla bright red or purple : follicles naked, fusifonn, arrect on the deflexed fruit-bearing 

 pedicel, except in the first and last species : leaves opposite, mostly broad. {A. quadnfoha might 

 be sought here.) 



-1— Hoods bright orange, raised on a distinct column : plants glabrous. 

 A. Curassavica, L. A foot or two high, becoming somewhat woody at base : leaves 

 oblong-lanceolate, thin, short-petioled, 2 to 4 inches long : peduncles not longer than the 

 leaves : lobes of the scarlet corolla ovate : hoods ovate, equalling the anthers, shorter than 

 their subulate incurved horn: follicles and fruiting pedicels erect. — (Herm. Par. t. 36 ; 

 Dill. Elth. t. 30, f. 33.) Bot. Reg. t. 81. — S. Florida and Louisiana: perhaps introduced 

 from Tropical America. 

 A. paupercula, Michx. Stem 2 to 4 feet high, remotely leafy above or naked at the 

 peduncle-like summit, which bears solitary or few pedunculate naked umbels : leaves elon- 

 gated-lanceolate or linear and tapering to both ends, 4 to 10 inches long, nearly sessile, 

 thickish, very smooth except the roughish margins : flowers rather few (5 to 12) in the 

 umbels, large (fully half inch long when the narrowly oblong lobes of the deep red corolla 

 are reflexed) : bright orange hoods obovate or broadly oblong, not twice the length of the 

 anthers, much exceeding the incurved horn. — ^. lanceolata, Walt. Car. 105. — Marshes 

 near the coast. New Jersey to Florida and Texas. 



H— ^_ Hoods purple or purplish : umbel mostly many-flowered. 

 ++ Flowers rather large; the hoods about a quarter inch long and double the length of the anthers: 

 lobes of the corolla dull-colored outside, deep-colored within : leaves transversely vemed, 3 to 8 

 inches long. 

 A. riibra, L. Glabrous, 1 to 4 feet high, somewhat remotely leafy : leaves from ovate to 

 lanceolate, sessile or almost so, tapering from near the rounded or obscurely cordate base 

 to an acuminate apex, bright green : umbels solitary (terminal and from the uppermost 

 axils) or 2 to 4 raised on a naked common peduncle: corolla-lobes and hoods lanceolate- 

 oblong, purplish-red, or the hoods obscurely orange-tinged ; the horn of the latter long, 

 very slender, straightish : column short but manifest. — Spec. 217 (founded on pi. Clayt. 

 no. 263 Gronov. Fl. Virg., with upper leaves accidentally alternate) ; Gray, in DC Prodr. 

 & Man.' ed. 1, 368. A. polystachia, Walt. ? A. cordata, Walt. ? A. laurifoUa, Michx. Fl. i. 117. 

 A. acuminata, Pursh, Fl. i. 182. A. periplocifolia, Nutt. Gen. i. 167. -Moist grounds. New 

 Jersey and Penn. to Florida and Louisiana. 

 A. purpurascens, L. Stem 1 to 3 feet high, leafy to top : leaves ovate-oval or oblong, 

 short-petioled, tomentulose beneath, soon glabrous above: peduncles shorter than the 

 leaves ; corolla dark and deep (sometimes dull) purple within ; the lobes oblong : hoods 

 pale red or purple, oblong or somewhat ovate ; the horn short-subulate from a broad base, 

 falcate-recurved : column extremely short. — Spec. 214 (Dill. Elth. 32, t. 28, f. 31) ; WiUd. 

 Spec. i. 1265 ; Decaisne in DC viii. 464 ; Torr. Fl. N. Y. ii. 120, t. 85. A. aniana, L. Spec. 

 217 (pi. Dill. 1. c. 31, t. 27, f . 30) ; Michx. I. c. ; Sweet, Brit. Fl. Gard. ser. 2, t. 82. — 

 Dry ground, New England to Wisconsin and Tennessee. Habit of A. Cormdi. 

 ++ ++ Flowers small ; the hoods a line long and equalling the anthers : veins of the leaves ascend- 

 ing : milky juice scanty. 

 A. incarnata, L. Nearly glabrous or a little pubescent: stem 2 or 3 feet high, very 

 leafy to the top, sometimes branching : leaves oblong-lanceolate, short-petioled (3 to 5 

 inches long), obtuse or acutish at base : peduncles somewhat corymbose at or near the 

 summit of the stem, shorter than the leaves : corolla from deep rose-purple to flesh-color ; 

 the lobes oblong (2 lines long) : column narrow, more than half the length of the broadly 

 oblong obtuse pale hoods ; these a little exceeded by their slender uncinate-incurved horn: 

 follicles only 2 or 3 inches long, erect on erect pedicels. — (Cornuti, Canad. t. 93.) Jacq. 

 Vind. t. 107 ; Bot. Reg. t. 250 ; Decaisne, I. c. excl. syn. in part. A. amama, Brongn. in 

 Ann. Sci. Nat. xxiv. t. 13, anal. — Swamps, Canada to Saskatchewan and Louisiana. 



Var. pulchra, Pers., the form with copious and somewhat hirsute pubescence, and 

 usually broader leaves (lanceolate lo oblong) often subcordate at base. — 4. incarnata, L. 



