Longhood Milkweed

Description

Plant: suffrutescent perennial; 15-35 cm tall; stems numerous, ascending, slender, copiously branched, finely short pubescent in lines above the leaves; milky sap Leaves: opposite, sessile, the blades narrowly linear, 2-9 cm long, 0.5-1.5 mm broad, glabrous, the margins revolute INFLORESCENCE: UMBELS lateral at 1 to few of the upper nodes, ca. 2 cm broad, the peduncles 0.1-0.7 cm long Flowers: small; calyx lobes ca. 2 mm long; corolla green to purple-tipped outside, greenish inside, the lobes 4-5 mm long; hoods purple below, yellowish white on the sides, undulate and ciliate along the upper margin, broadly rounded at the base, erect-ascending and oblong in the lower portion, recurved-spreading near the middle to an attenuate apex, 4-5 mm long along the dorsal surface, the margins ca. 2 mm high and about as long as the gynostegium, the horns radially flat, attached near the base of the hoods, erect, exserted ca. 1 mm; anther wings 1-1.1 mm long; corpusculum 0.3 mm long, the pollinia 0.6-0.7 mm long Fruit: FOLLICLES erect on deflexed pedicels, 4-8 cm long Misc: Grasslands and open woodlands, mts; 1400-2050 m (4600-6800 ft); Jun-Aug REFERENCES: Sundell, Eric. 1994. Asclepiadaceae. J. Ariz. - Nev. Acad. Sci. Volume 27, 169-187.