Acerates. ASCLEPIADACE^. Ogf 



crest to the hoods, and by the wings of the anthers not angulate nor dilated (but 

 rather tapering) at base. — Ell. Sk. i. 316 (1817) ; Engelm. mss. ; Gray, Proc. 

 Am. Acad. 1. c. Polyotus, Nutt. in Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc. 1. c. Gomphocarpus 

 in part, Benth. & Hook. Gen. ii. 754. 



* Mass of anthers and stigma globular, noj equalled by the hoods : column below the hoods evi- 

 dent: leaves mainly alternate-scattered, verj' numerous. 



A. auriculata, Engelm. Glabrous up to the inflorescence: stem 2 or 3 feet high, 

 slender: leaves linear-filiform (4 to 6 inches long, a third to a line and a half wide), their 

 scabrous margins not revolute : umbels several, lateral : pedicels short : column below the 

 hoods very short : hoods oval or quadrate, emarginately or sometimes 3-crenately truncate, 

 the involute margins at base appendaged with a pair of remarkably large and broad 

 auricles : anther-wings narrow and of equal breadth from top to bottom : poUinia elongated- 

 oblong, not tapering upward. — Engelm. in Bot. Mex. Bound. 163. — Prairies and rocky- 

 ground, from S. Texas and New Mexico to Colorado. Unless the characters are noted, 

 very likely to be confounded with Asdepias (Noihacerates) stenophjlla. 



A. longif olia, Ell. Minutely hirsutely scabrous-pubescent, or smoothish : stems 1 to 3 

 feet high, erect or ascending : leaves from linear to elongated-lanceolate (3 to 8 inches long, 

 1 to 6 lines wide) : umbels few or numerous, terminal and lateral : pedicels slender : column 

 rather conspicuous below the hoods : these purple or purplish, oval, obtuse, entire, unap- 

 pendaged, adnate by the ventral margins to the whole upper half of the column, therefore 

 pitcher-like, rising barely to the middle of the anthers : anther-wings semi-rhombic, more 

 attenuate to base: poUinia (as generally in the genus) with tapering apex. — Sk. i. 317; 

 Decaisne in DC. Prodr. viii. 522. Asdepias lonqifoUa, Michx. Fl. i. 116, mainly. A. Flori- 

 dana. Lam. Diet. i. 284. A. incnmata, Walt. Car. 106, not L. Polyotus longifolius, Nutt. in 

 Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. v. 522. — Moist prairies and pine-barrens, Florida to Texas, and 

 north to Ohio and Wisconsin. Varies greatly in height, length of peduncles, foliage, &c. : 

 a Florida form has few or single slender-peduncled umbels, and smaller flowers. 



# * Mass of anthers and stigma longer than broad, almost equalled by the hoods, the short inser- 

 tion of which covers the very short column: leaves not rarely opposite', mostly broader. 



A. viridiflora, Ell. Tomentose-puberulent, becoming glabrate, or the foliage somewhat 

 scabrous : stem a foot or two high : leaves oval or oblong and obtuse or retuse (one or two 

 inches long), or sometimes narrower and longer and also acute, commonly mucronate, occa- 

 sionally undulate : umbels 2 to 5 or sometimes solitary, mostly lateral and subsessile, dense : 

 pedicels little over double the length of the reflexed narrowly oblong lobes of the greenish 

 corolla : hoods somewhat fleshy, lanceolate-oblong, with small auricles at base much in- 

 volute and concealed, otherwise entire, alternated by as many short and roundish or gland- 

 like small internal teeth : anther-wings semi-rhomboid above, with a much longer'tapering 

 base. — Asdepias viridijlora, Raf . in Med. Rep. xi. 360, & Desv. Jour. Bot. i. 227 ; Pursh, 

 Fl. i. 181; Torr. Fl. 284 (excl. var. oiomta); Hook. Fl. ii. 53, t. 143. Polyotus heterophyllus, 

 Nutt. I. c. — Dry sterile soil. New England and Canada to Saskatchewan, and south to 

 Florida and Texas. Runs into 



Var. lanceolata, with lanceolate leaves 2\ to 4 inches long. — Asdepias lanceolata, 

 Ives in Amer. Jour. Sci. iv. 252, with plate. A. viridijlora, var. lanceolata, Torr. I. c. ; Hook. 

 1. c, dextral figure. With the broader-leaved form. 



Var. linearis, with elongated linear leaves and low stems : umbels often solitary. — 

 Winnipeg Valley to New Mexico. 



A. lanuginosa, Decaisne. Hirsute rather than woolly : stems a span or two high, 

 terminated by a single pedunculate umbel : leaves frequently alternate or scattered, from 

 oblong-ovate to lanceolate (1 to 3 inches long), with roundish base: pedicels 3 or 4 times 

 the length of the oblong lobes of the greenish corolla : hoods purplish, broadly oblong, 

 obtuse and entire, involute auricles at base obscure if any ; the alternating internal teeth 

 or lobes small and emarginate : anther-wings broadest and obtusely angulate below the 

 middle (approaching those of Asdepias): fruit not seen. — Gray, Man. ed. 3, & ed. 5. 

 A. monocephala, Lapham in Gray, Man. ed. 2, addend. Asdepias lanufjinosa,l!iutt. Gen. i. 168. 

 A. Nuttalliana, Torr. in Ann. Lye. N. Y. ii. 218. Polyotus lanugiiiosus, Nutt. in Trans. Am. 

 Phil. Soc. I. c. — Prairies, Wisconsin and N. Illinois, Lapham, Vasey, &c., to the Missouri at 

 White River, Nuttall, and the Yellowstone, Mr. Allen. 



