Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Asterids: Lamiids: Gentianales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA (11/30/12):
Asclepias purpurascens
FAMILY
Apocynaceae
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.
)
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
Documented growing wild in GA NC -
Uncommon (rare in GA & NC)
Look for it in openings in moist bottomlands & swamp forests, perhaps mostly on soils derived from mafic soils, per Weakley's Flora
Click here to see a more detailed map from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Herbarium,
or click here to see a map from SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
...Moist
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