Asclepias syriaca, L.

Tutin, T. G., Heywood, V. H., Burges, N. A., Moore, D. M., Valentine, D. H., Walters, S. M. & Webb, D. A., 1972, Flora Europaea. Volume 3. Diapensiacea to Myoporaceae, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press : 71

1. A. syriaca L. , Sp. Pl. 214 (1753)

( A. cornuti Decne ).

Glau­ cous perennial; stems 100—150 cm. Leaves 15-23x 5-9 cm, ovate-oblong, rounded at base, white-pubescent beneath. Umbels many-flowered, subglobose; peduncles 5-10 cm; pedi­ cels 3-6 cm. Corolla pink; lobes 8 x 3-4 mm, ovate-oblong, pubescent beneath. Corona 4 mm, pink. Follicles 8-11 x 2-3 cm, white-pubescent, sulcate, spiny. Formerly cultivated for fibre and as a food-plant for bees; naturalized in cultivated ground and dry grassland in various parts of Europe. [Au Bu?Co Cz Ga He Hu It Ju Po Rm Rs (W, K).] (£. North America.)

A. curassavica L., Sp. Pl. 215 (1753), a native of tropical America, is perhaps locally naturalized in damp places in S. Spain (prov. Malaga). It differs from 1 in its shorter stems (up to 50 cm), lanceolate leaves c. 10 x 2 cm, which are attenuate at base and subglabrous beneath, pedicels 1-2 cm, purple, glabrous corolla-lobes, orange corona and glabrous, smooth follicles.