MILKWEED FAMILY. 277 



I. ASCIiEFIAS, MILKWEED, SILKWEED. (The Greek name of 

 /Escidapids, father of medicine. ) Flowering in summer. 2/ 



* Fluwers bright orange or red : pods smooth : leaves opposite, except in the first. 



A. tuberosa. Butterfly- Weed, Pleurisy Root. Dry hills : milky 

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

 hairy ; flowers bright orange. 



A. Curassavica. 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. paup6reula. 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. rilbra. 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 : pod.^ smooth. 



A. incamata, Swamp Milkweed. 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. pi^lchba. pubescent and 

 the leaves very short-petioled. 



• « # Flowers dull puiplish, greenish, or white. 

 •*- Stems branching, almost woodg at base : leaves all opposite : pods smooth. 

 A. per^nnis. Low grounds S. : nearly smooth ; leaves lanceolate or lance- 

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

 ■i- H- Stem simple : leaves all opposite and closdy sessile or clasping by a heart- 

 shaped base, the apex rounded or notched: plants smooth, pale or glaucous. 

 A. obtusif dlia. 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, I°-2° high, very 

 leafy ; leaves ovate-heart-shaped ; umbels several, short-peduncled ; corolla ash- 

 colored, the hoods white. 



■>- t- t- Stem simple or nearly so, leafy to the top : leaves all opposite, ovate, oval, 

 or oblo)ig, pretty large, short-petioled : unwels lateral and terminal : Jlowers 

 J' long or nearly so. 



** Pods beset with soft pricUe-sJiaped or warty projections. 

 A. Corutlti, Common 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. phytolaccoldes. 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 ( 1' - 3') equalling the peduncle ; corolla greenish, 

 but the more conspicuous hoods white. 



A. purpur^cens. 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. variegdita. Dry grounds, commoner S. & W. : l°-2° high, nearly 

 smooth ; leaves oval or obovate, slightly wavy ; peduncle and crowded pedicels 

 short and downy ; corolla white, the hoods purplish. 



^~^- ^- .>- Stems simple or rarely branched, slender : leaves most of them in whorls : 

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



A. quadrif61ia, Fouk-leaved M. Rocky woods mostly N. : stems 1° 

 - 2° high, nearly smooth, naked below, bearing 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. 



