Acerates. ASCLEPIADACE.E. 99 



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, not equalled by the hoods: column below the hoods evi- 

 dent: leaves mainly alternate-scattered, very 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 : polUnia elongated- 

 oblong, not tapering upward. — Engelm. in Bot. Mcx. Bound. 160. — Prairies and rocky 

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

 very likely to be confounded with Asdcpias {NotJiacerates) stenophylla. 

 "Jl. longifolia, 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 purjjle 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: pollinia (as generally in the genus) with tapering apex. — ;>k. i. 317; 

 Decaisne in DC. Prodr. viii. 522. Asckpias hnrjifoUa, Michx. Fl. i. 116, mainly. A. FJori- 

 dana. Lam. Diet. i. 28i. .4. incarnata, T\'alt. Car. 106, not L. Polyotus longifolius, Xutt. in 

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

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

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



* * Mass of anthers and stigma longer than broad, alniost 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. — Asclepias viridiflora, Raf. in Med. Rep. xi. 360, & Desv. Jour. Bot. i. 227 ; Pursh, 

 Fl. i. 181 ; Torr. Fl. 284 (excl. var. ohovata) ; Hook. Fl. ii. 53, 1. 143. Polyotus heterophyllus, 

 Kutt. 1. c. — Dry sterile soil, Xew England and Canada to Saskatchewan, and south to 

 Florida and Texas. Runs into 



- ■ - V ar. lanceolata, with lanceolate leaves 2+ to 4 inches long. — Asclepias lanceolata, 

 Ives in Amer. Jour. S^ii. iv. 2.52, with plate. A. rirldlflora, var. lanceolata, Torr. 1. c. ; Hook. 

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



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

 W^innipeg Valley to Xew ilexico. 

 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 Asclepias) : fruit not seen. — Gray, Man. ed. 3, & ed. 5. 

 A. monocepluda, Lapham in Gray, Man. ed. 2, addend. Asrh'piaslanu{iinosa,'Sutt. Gen. i. ICiS. 

 A. Xiittalllana, Torr. in Ann. Lye. X. Y. ii. 218. Polyotus lanuginosus, X'utt. in Trans. Am. 

 Phil. Soc. I.e. — Prairies, Wisconsin and X. Illinois, Lapham, Vasey, ic, to the Missouri at 

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



