Asclepias fascicularis
| Asclepias fascicularis | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Asclepias fascicularis |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Asclepias fascicularis | ||||||||||||
| Decne. |
Asclepias fascicularis , rarely Narrow Milkweed is a plant from the genus of milkweed ( Asclepias ) in the subfamily of asclepiadoideae (Asclepiadoideae).
description
Appearance and foliage leaf
Asclepias fascicularis grows as a perennial herbaceous plant and reaches heights of 40 to 100 centimeters. It forms numerous stems from woody rhizomes. The prostrate to upright, relatively thin stems are usually tomentose or hairless.
Three to five relatively small leaves are arranged in a whorl on the stem. The short petiole is only about 1 to 3 mm long. With a length of 3 to 12 cm and a width of 0.1 to 2.5 cm, the membranous leaf blade is narrowly elongated-lanceolate with a tapering or blunt blade base and a pointed or blunt end.
Generative characteristics
The flowering period extends from May to October. The little to many-flowered, gold-like inflorescences are paired or densely packed at the uppermost nodes. The thin inflorescence stem has a length of 2 to 4 centimeters. The bare or slightly downy flower stalks are also quite thin and 0.7 to 1.5 cm long.
The relatively small flowers are hermaphroditic, radial symmetry and five-fold. The five sepals are triangular, 1 to 1.5 mm long and fluffy to glabrous. The five strongly bent back petals are gray-pink or, more rarely, whitish and the corolla lobes are 3 to 4 mm long. The gynostegium has a short stalk, gray-pink or white in color. The stem is 1mm high and also about 1mm thick. The corolla lobes are hood-shaped, oval and about 1 to 1.5 mm long. The interstaminal coronary lobes sit basally and are needle-shaped and half longer than the staminal corolla lobes. They gradually arch over the stylus head. The stylus head is cylindrical and about 1.5 mm high and 1.5 mm thick.
The follicles standing upright on an upright stem are thin and spindle-shaped with a length of 5 to 12 cm and a diameter of 0.7 to 1 cm. The outside is smooth and bare. With a length of 6 to 7 mm, the oval seeds have a 2 cm long head of white hair.
Occurrence and ecology
Asclepias fascicularis occurs in the US states of California , Idaho , Nevada , Oregon , Utah , Washington and Baja California (Mexico).
Asclepias fascicularis grows in plains, in the hill country and in valleys on dry, but also moist soils. Often it can also be found along roads and in cultivated land, or abandoned cultivated land.
Asclepias fascicularis is one of the main food plants of the caterpillars of the monarch butterfly ( Danaus plexippus )
swell
literature
- Robert E. Woodson, Jr .: The North American Species of Asclepias L. , In: Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden , Volume 41 (1), pp. 1-211, St. Louis, Mo., 1954 URL (description by A. fascicularis on p. 64/5)
- Joseph Decaisne: Asclepias fascicularis , In: Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis , Vol. 8, p. 569. Online at Biodiversitylibrary.org
- Brianna D. Borders: Asclepias fascicularis Decne. CSU Stanislaus, Valley Flora Propagation Center Species Profile PDF
- James C. Hickman (Ed.): The Jepson Manual. Higher Plants of California . University of California Press, Berkeley, Calif 1993, ISBN 0-520-08255-9 . Carol A. Hoffman: Asclepiadaceae in Jepson Manual Treatment - Online. (Section description)
