Part 114 (2/2)

Tribe II. GONOLOBEae. Anthers with short if any scarious tip, borne on the margin of or close under the disk of the stigma; pollinia horizontal.

6. Gonolobus. Corolla rotate. Crown a wavy-lobed fleshy ring. Stems twining.

1. ASCLEPIODRA, Gray.

Nearly as in Asclepias, but the corolla-lobes ascending or spreading, and the hoods dest.i.tute of a horn, widely spreading and somewhat incurved, slipper-shaped and laterally compressed, the cavity divided at the apex by a crest-like part.i.tion.--Umbels solitary and terminal or corymbed, loosely-flowered. Follicles oblong or ovate, often somewhat muricate with soft spinous projections. (?s???p??? and d???? or d??e?, _the gift of aesculapius_.)

1. A. viridis, Gray. Almost glabrous; stems short (1 high); leaves alternate, short-petioled, ovate-oblong to lanceolate, 1--2' wide; umbels several in a cl.u.s.ter, short-peduncled; flowers large (1' in diameter), green, with a purplish crown. (Acerates paniculata, _Decaisne_.)--Prairies, Ill. to Tex. and S. Car. June.

2. ASCLePIAS, L. MILKWEED. SILKWEED.

Calyx 5-parted, persistent; the divisions small, reflexed. Corolla deeply 5-parted, the divisions valvate in the bud, reflexed, deciduous.

_Crown_ of 5 hooded bodies seated on the tube of stamens, each containing an incurved horn. Stamens 5, inserted on the base of the corolla; filaments united in a tube which encloses the pistil, anthers adherent to the stigma, each with 2 vertical cells, tipped with a membranaceous appendage, each cell containing a flattened pear-shaped and waxy pollen-ma.s.s; the two contiguous pollen-ma.s.ses of adjacent anthers, forming pairs which hang by a slender prolongation of their summits from 5 cloven glands that grow on the angles of the stigma (extricated from the cells by insects, and directing copious pollen-tubes into the point where the stigma joins the apex of the style). Ovaries 2, tapering into very short styles; the large depressed 5-angled fleshy stigmatic disk common to the two. Follicles 2, one of them often abortive, soft, ovate or lanceolate. Seeds anatropous, flat, margined, bearing a tuft of long silky hairs (_coma_) at the hilum, downwardly imbricated all over the large placenta, which separates from the suture at maturity. Embryo large, with broad foliaceous cotyledons in thin alb.u.men.--Perennial upright herbs, with thick and deep roots; peduncles terminal or lateral and between the usually opposite petioles, bearing simple many-flowered umbels, in summer. (The Greek name of _aesculapius_, to whom the genus is dedicated.)

-- 1. _Corneous anther-wings broadest and usually angulate-truncate and salient at base; horn conspicuous._

[*] _Flowers orange-color; leaves mostly scattered; juice not milky._

1. A. tubersa, L. (b.u.t.tERFLY-WEED. PLEURISY-ROOT.) Roughish-hairy (1--2 high); stems erect or ascending, very leafy, branching at the summit, and bearing usually numerous umbels in a terminal corymb; leaves from linear to oblong-lanceolate, sessile or slightly petioled; divisions of the corolla oblong (greenish-orange); hoods narrowly oblong, bright orange, scarcely longer than the nearly erect and slender awl-shaped horns; pods h.o.a.ry, erect on deflexed pedicels.--Dry fields, common, especially southward.--Var. DEc.u.mBENS, Pursh. Stems reclining; leaves broader and more commonly opposite, and umbels from most of the upper axils.--Ohio to Ga., etc.

[*][*] _Corolla bright red or purple; follicles naked, fusiform, erect on the deflexed pedicels_ (except in n. 5); _leaves opposite, mostly broad_.

[+] _Flowers rather large; hoods about 3” long and exceeding the anthers; leaves transversely veined._

2. A. paupercula, Michx. Glabrous; stem slender (2--4 high); leaves elongated-lanceolate or linear (5--10' long), tapering to both ends, slightly petioled, _umbels 5--12-flowered_; divisions of the red corolla narrowly oblong; the _bright orange hoods_ broadly oblong, obtuse, much exceeding the incurved horn.--Wet pine-barrens on the coast, N. J. to Fla. and Tex.

3. A. rubra, L. _Glabrous; leaves ovate or lanceolate and tapering from a rounded or heart-shaped base_ to a very acute point, sessile or nearly so (2--6' long, --2' wide), bright green; umbels many-flowered; divisions of the corolla and hoods _oblong-lanceolate, purple-red; the horn long and slender, straightish_.--Wet pine-barrens, etc., N. J. and Penn. to Fla., La., and Mo.

4. A. purpurascens, L. (PURPLE M.) Stem rather slender (1--3 high); _leaves elliptical or ovate-oblong_, the upper taper-pointed, _minutely velvety-downy underneath_, smooth above, _contracted at base into a short petiole; pedicels_ shorter than the peduncle, _3--4 times the length of the dark purple lanceolate-ovate divisions of the corolla_; hoods oblong, abruptly narrowed above; _the horn broadly scythe-shaped, with a narrow and abruptly inflexed horizontal point_.--Dry ground, N. Eng. to Minn., Tenn., and southward.--Flowers 6” long.

[+][+] _Flowers small; hoods 1” long, equalling the anthers; veins ascending._

5. A. incarnata, L. (SWAMP MILKWEED.) Smooth, or nearly so, in the typical form, the stem with two downy lines above and on the branches of the peduncles (2--3 high), very leafy; leaves oblong-lanceolate, acute or pointed, obtuse or obscurely heart-shaped at base; flowers rose-purple; hoods scarcely equalling the slender needle-pointed horn.--Swamps, common.--Var. PuLCHRA, Pers.; leaves broader and shorter-petioled, more or less hairy-p.u.b.escent, as well as the stem.

Milky juice scanty.--With the smooth form.

[*][*][*] _Flowers greenish, yellowish, white, or merely purplish-tinged; leaves opposite or whorled, or the upper rarely scattered._

[+] _Follicles echinate with soft spinous processes, densely tomentose (smooth, and only minutely echinate at the apex in n. 8), large (3--5'

long), ovate and ac.u.minate, erect on deflexed pedicels; leaves large and broad, short-petioled; umbels terminal and lateral._

6. A. specisa, Torr. Finely canescent-tomentose or glabrate, _the many-flowered umbel and calyx densely tomentose_; leaves _subcordate-oval_ to oblong; corolla-lobes purplish, ovate-oblong, 4--5” long; hoods 5--6” long, with a short inflexed horn, _the truncate summit abruptly produced into a very long lanceolate-ligulate appendage_.--Along streams, Minn. to Ark., and westward.

7. A. Cornuti, Decaisne. (COMMON MILKWEED or SILKWEED.) Stem tall and stout, finely soft-p.u.b.escent; _leaves_ oval-oblong (4--8' long), pale, _minutely downy beneath, as well as the peduncles_, etc.; corolla-lobes dull purple to white, 3--4” long; _hoods_ rather longer than the anthers, _ovate, obtuse, with a tooth each side of the short stout claw-like horn_.--Rich ground, everywhere.

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