Family: Apocynaceae
Asclepias
Citation:
E., Sp. Pl. 214 (1753).
Derivation: Greco-Latin name of a Mediterranean plant, now Cynanchum vincetoxicum (L.)Pers., or swallow-wort, a supposed antidote for poison, so called after Asklepios; in Latin, Aesculapius, the god of medicine.
Synonymy: Gomphocarpus R. Br., On Asclepiad. 26 (1810).
Common name: None
Description:
Erect shrubs; leaves opposite, decussate or in 3's, ovate-oblong, to linear-lanceolate.
Inflorescence of axillary and terminal umbels, erect in flower; corolla lobes deeply divided, reflexed in flower; corona lobes 5, from the lower point of the staminal column, fleshy, obliquely truncate at the summit, with or without a horn or tooth; anthers with terminal membranous appendages, appressed to the concave stigmatic head; pollen masses pendulous.
Fruit a follicle; seeds comose.
Distribution:
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About 200 species in the Americas especially the U.S. and Africa. Cotton-bushes.
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Biology:
No text
Key to Species:
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1. Leaves ovate; flowers purple; pedicel deflexed in fruit |
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A. rotundifolia 4. |
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1. Leaves linear-lanceolate |
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2. Flowers red; pedicels erect in fruit |
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A. curassavica 1. |
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2. Flowers white; pedicel defiexed in fruit |
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3. Corona-lobes compressed, the outer edge lower than the inner which terminates in 2 incurved teeth; follicle tapering into a narrow curved beak |
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A. fruticosa 2. |
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3. Teeth of the corona short and curved upwards; follicle obtuse at the summit, beak not curved |
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A. physocarpa 3. |
Author:
Not yet available
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