MILKWEED FAMILT. 277 



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

 JEsculapias, father of medicine.) Flowering in summer, y. 



» Flcnixrs bright mange or red : pods smooth : leaves opposite, except in the first. 



A. tuberbsa, Butteeflt-Weed, Pledeist Root. Dry hills : milky 

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

 hairy ; flowers bright orange. 



A. Ourassavica. 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. paup^rcula. 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. 



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

 A. incarn^ta, Swamp Milkweeb. 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. ptJlchea pubescent and 

 the leaves very short-petioled. 



« » * Flowers dull pwplish, greenish, or white. 

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

 A. per6llllis. Low grounds S. : nearly smooth; leaves lanceolate or lance- 

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

 ■1- ■*- 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. amplexicatllis. 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 : unAels lateral and terminal : flowers 

 ^' long or nearly so. 



•*-* Pods beset with soft prickle-shaped or warty projections. 

 A. Comilti, CoMiioif 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. phytolaeeoides. 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 (l'-3') equalling the peduncle ; corolla greenish, 

 but the more conspicuous hoods white. 



A. pxirpur^eens. 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. varieg^ta. Dry grounds, commoner S. & W. ^ 1° - 2° high, nearly 

 smooth ; leaves oval or obovate, slightly wavy ; peduncle and crowd&i pedicels 

 short and downy ; corolla white, the hoods purplish. 



^- ■*-■*- -ir- Stems simple or rarely Irranched, slender: haves most of them in whirls : 

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



A. (juadrifdlia, FonE-tEAVED M. Rocky woods mostly N. : stems 1° 

 - 2° high, nearly smooth, naked below, beai-ing 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. 



