Slimpod Milkweed

Description

Plant: perennial herb; stems slender, more or less erect, with secondary shoots ascending and spreading from the lower nodes, 20-60 cm tall; milky sap Leaves: opposite, sessile or the petioles 1-2 mm long, the blades linear, 2-14 cm long, 1-5 mm broad, attenuate at apex and base INFLORESCENCE: UMBELS 1 to several from the upper nodes, 2-5 cm broad, the peduncles 1-8 cm long. Flowers: small; calyx lobes ca. 3 mm long; corolla purplish, the lobes 5-7 mm long; hoods erect-ascending, ovoid, 2.4-3.6 mm long along the dorsal surface, 1.2-2 mm broad at the base, about as long as the gynostegium, the rim conspicuously 5-toothed, the horns radially flat, erect, attached nearly to the top of the hoods, exserted and appearing as a sixth tooth; anther wings 1.5-1.7 mm long; corpusculum 0.5 mm long, the pollinia 0.8-1 mm long Fruit: FOLLICLES erect on deflexed pedicels, 11-15 cm long Misc: Open mt. woodlands with oak, ponderosa pine, and Douglas-fir, mts; 1300-2550 m (4300-8300 ft); Jul-Aug REFERENCES: Sundell, Eric. 1994. Asclepiadaceae. J. Ariz. - Nev. Acad. Sci. Volume 27, 169-187.