Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Asterids: Lamiids: Gentianales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA (11/30/12):
Asclepias purpurascens
FAMILY
Apocynaceae
NEW! Click to go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Read more about Purple Milkweed at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Asclepias purpurascens
FAMILY
Asclepiadaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 157-01-013:
Asclepias purpurascens
FAMILY
Asclepiadaceae
COMMON NAME:
Purple Milkweed
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
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USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_aspu2_001_lvd
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / USDA Wetland flora: Field office illustrated guide pnd_aspu2_005_lvd
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_a_purpurascens
May
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_a_purpurascens_16
May
Upper leaf surface dark green, w red midvein & conspicuous pale vein pattern, per Field Guide to the Rare Plants of Georgia.
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_a_purpurascens_b
May
Petals down-curved, hoods erect, horns sharply pointed & shorter than hoods, per Field Guide to the Rare Plants of Georgia.
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_a_purpurascens_20
June
)
Terry Holdsclaw tdh_a_purpurascens_1
June Orange County NC
North Carolina Botanical Garden
)
Terry Holdsclaw tdh_a_purpurascens_2
June Orange County NC
North Carolina Botanical Garden
WEAKLEY'S FLORA (11/30/12):
Asclepias purpurascens
FAMILY
Apocynaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Asclepias purpurascens
FAMILY
Asclepiadaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 157-01-013:
Asclepias purpurascens
FAMILY
Asclepiadaceae
1879
Forb
Perennial
Native to North Carolina & Georgia
Habitat: Openings in moist bottomlands and swamp forests, prairies and meadows (rich, wet to mesic), woodlands, perhaps mostly on soils derived from mafic or calcareous rocks, per Weakley's Flora
NEW! Click here to see a map from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US showing range and abundance.
Click here to see a map showing all occurrences known to SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria. (Zoom in to see more detail.)
DOES THE PLANT HAVE "MILKY SAP"?
Has milky sap (latex)
LEAVES:
Simple
Opposite
Leaves have petioles.
FLOWER:
Summer
Deep rose
Bisexual
Radially symmetrical
5-merous
5-lobed corolla, lobes reflexed
Superior ovary
Flowers in 1-3 umbels, terminal & from upper leaf axils
FRUIT:
Follicle
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Newcomb's Wildflower Guide p262
- Field Guide to the Rare Plants of Georgia p051
- Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast p363
- Wildflowers of the Eastern United States p069
- Wildflowers in the Field and Forest p110
- Wildflowers of Tennessee p192
- Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians p228
- Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains p128