MILKWEED FAMILY. 277 



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

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



» Flowers bright orange or red: pods smooth : leaves opposite, except in the first. 



A. tuberdsa, Butterfly- Weed, Pleorist Boot. Dry hills : milky 

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

 hairy ; flowers bright orange. 



A. Curassavlca. 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 loilg 

 peduncle, and rod 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. 



# « Flowers pink or light rose-purple : leaves all opposite : pods smooth. 



A. incaru&ta, Swamp Milkweed. Wet grounds, with very leafy 

 branching stems, lanceolate or lance-oblong acnte leaves, often slightly heart- 

 shaped at the base ; smooth or smoothish, ok in var. piJlchra pubescent and 

 the leaves very short-petioled. 



* * * Flowers duU purplish, greenish, or white. 

 ■*- Ste7ns branching, almost woody 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 ! 

 1- -I- Stem simple : leaves all opposite and closely sessile or clasping by a heart- 

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



A. obtusifdlia. Sandy gi-ounds, 2° - 3° high, the rather remote broadly 

 oblong leaves wavy ; umbel mostly solitary, long-peduncled ; flowers pretty 

 large, greenish-purplish. 



A. amples:icatllis. Dry ^>arren3 S. : stems reclining, l°-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, abate, oval, 

 or oblong, pretty large, short-petioled: umbels lateral and terminal : flowers 

 ^' long or nearly so. 



** Pods beset with soft pricMe-shaped or warty projections. 



A. Corntlti, 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^scens. Rich ground N. & W. : 1° - 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. variegS.ta. Dry grounds, commoner S. & W, : 1° - 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 : flowers small, white or whitish. 



A- fiuadrif61ia, Four-leaved, M. Rocky w;0Qds mostly N. : stems 1° 

 - 2° hi^, 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 oijes ; pedicels slender ; corolla mostly 

 tinged with pink, the hoods white. 



