Scientific Name: Asclepias amplexicaulis (Asclepias named for Asclepius; amplexicaulis = clasping the stem)
Common Name: Clasping milkweed, sand milkweed
Origin: NATIVE
Notes: Often found in sandy and sunny habitats; inflorescence is a single ball shaped unbel with fewer than 80 flowers; mature plants are usually upright about knee high (reported up to 36 inches high).
Additional references:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
Field Marks for Identification:
Flowers: crowns cream to pink colored, corolla green pink tinged—turned down flat against the pedicel; in most cases a single peduncle supports an open inflorescence about 12 inches above the uppermost pair of leaves. (Plants occasionally have more than one inflorescence); fruit, a smooth folicle; seeds with a silky coma.
Leaves: opposite; up to 5 pairs, broad leaves—2 to 3 times longer than wide, up to 5 inches long, the base sessile and clasping the stem.
Glossaries of botanical terms: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.
