GENUS 3. MILKWEED FAMILY. 
3. Acerates floridana (Lam.) A.S. Hitchce. 
Florida Milkweed. Fig. 3411. 
Asclepias floridana Lam. Encycl. 1: 284. 1783. 
Acerates longifolia Ell, Bot. S.C. & Ga.1:317. 1817. 
Acerates floridana A. S. Hitche, Trans, St. Louis 
Acad. 5: 508 1891. 
_Rough-puberulent; stems slender, simple or 
little branched, erect or ascending, 1°-3° high. 
Leaves mostly alternate, linear or rarely linear- 
lanceolate, acute or acuminate, short-petioled, 
2’-8’ long, 13-6” wide, commonly rough-cilio- 
late on the margins and midrib; umbels several 
or solitary, peduncled, usually: many-flowered ; 
peduncles 3-15” long; pedicels slender, hirsute, 
3'-1' long; corolla greenish white, its segments 
narrowly oblong, about 2” long; column short 
but distinct; hoods oblong, obtuse, entire, shorter 
than the anthers; anther-wings narrowed to the 
base; follicles densely puberulent, 4’-5’ long. 
Moist soil, Ohio to southern Ontario and Minne- 
sota, North Carolina, Florida and Texas. June-Sept. 
i 
4. Acerates auriculata Engelm. Auri- 
cled Milkweed. Fig. 3412. 
Acerates auriculata Engelm. Bot. Mex. Bound. 
Surv. 160. 1859. 
Asclepias auriculata Holzinger, Bot. Gaz. 17: 
125. 1892. 
Stem glabrous, often glaucous, sinuous 
above, rarely branched below, usually stout, 
1°-3° high. Leaves mostly alternate, narrowly 
linear, glabrous, short-petioled, 3’-8’ long, 
3-24” wide, becoming leathery, the rough 
margins not revolute; umbels commonly sev- 
eral, densely many-flowered, peduncled; pe- 
duncles 2’-1’ long, pubescent; pedicels slender, 
pubescent; flowers greenish white tinged with 
dull purple; corolla-segments oblong, 2’’-2%” 
long; column short, but distinct; hoods yellow, 
often with a purplish keel, entire, or emargi- 
nately truncate at the apex, not exceeding the 
anthers, the involute margins spreading at the 
base into auricles; follicles 2’-3’ long, curved. 
In dry soil, Nebraska and Colorado to Texas 
and New Mexico. June-Sept. 
5. Acerates lanugindsa (Nutt.) Dec. 
Woolly Milkweed. Fig. 3413. 
Asclepias lanuginosa Nutt. Gen, 1: 168. 1818. 
Acerates lanuginosa Dec. in DC. Prodr. 8: 523. 1844. 
Hirsute all over; stems erect, slender, simple, 
6-18 high. Leaves oblong, ovate-lanceolate or 
lanceolate, obtuse at the apex, narrowed or 
rounded at the base, short-petioled,: 1’-4’ long, 
4’-15” wide; umbel solitary, terminal, densely 
many-flowered, peduncled; peduncle stout, densely 
hirsute, #’-13’ long; pedicels slender, puberulent 
or hirsute; corolla greenish, its segments oblong, 
about 23” long; column none; hoods purplish, 
oblong, obtuse, entire, with a flat fold or auricle 
on the infolded lower ventral margins, shorter 
than the anthers; anther-wings broadest below 
the middle. 
On prairies, northern Illinois to Minnesota, Ne- 
braska and Wyoming. June—Aug. 
