Feay’s or Florida milkweed

Asclepiodella feayi (A. Gray) Small

Herbs. Stems solitary, erect, unbranched (rarely near base), 20–75 cm, minutely puberulent in a line with curved trichomes to glabrate, not glaucous, rhi­zomes absent. Leaves opposite, sessile, with 1 or 2 stipular colleters on each side of leaf base; blade filiform, 2.5–10 × 0.1–0.15 cm, membranous, base cuneate, margins entire, apex acute, venation obscure, surfaces glabrous, laminar colleters absent. Inflorescences terminal, some­times branched, and often extra-axillary at upper nodes, sessile or pedunculate, 2–7-flowered; peduncle 0–5 cm, puberulent with curved trichomes on 1 side, with 1 caducous bract at the base of each pedicel. Pedicels 7–17 mm, minutely puberulent with curved trichomes on 1 side. Flowers erect; calyx lobes narrowly lanceolate, 1.5–2.5 mm, apex acute, glabrous; corolla white, sometimes pale lavender-tinged, inconspicuously striate, lobes spreading, lanceolate, 7–10 mm, apex acute to obtuse, glabrous; gynostegium sessile; fused anthers lavender, cylindric, 1.5–3 mm, wings narrowly right-triangular, open at base, apical appendages ovate; corona segments white, sessile with a basal collar, cupulate, 2.5–4 mm, equaling to slightly exceeding style apex, apex obtuse, glabrous, internal appendage a laterally flattened, included crest, glabrous; style apex shallowly depressed, lavender. Follicles erect on straight pedicels, fusiform, 9–12 × 0.3–0.6 cm, apex attenuate, smooth, glabrous. Seeds oval, 6–8 × 3–5 mm, margin winged, faces smooth; coma 3.5 cm.

Flowering (Feb–)Apr–Sep(–Nov); fruiting Jun–Aug. Flats, streamsides, sandy soils, pine scrub and flatwoods, pine-palmetto scrub, prairies, hammocks; 0–50 m; Fla.

Asclepias feayi is one of a trio of very slender milkweeds in the southeastern United States, along with A. cinerea and A. viridula. These species are divergent in floral morphology, but without flowers they are very difficult to distinguish (even in fruit), and they appear to be close relatives. However, A. feayi occurs primarily in peninsular central and southwestern Florida, from Lake to Collier counties, most commonly in scrub. A single disjunct population has been documented from Clay County in the northeastern part of the state (Hall 1896 [FLAS]). Asclepias cinerea and A. viridula are found in northern Florida or further north, in flatwoods. All three species are cryptic in the absence of flowers and appear to respond positively to fire and rainfall events. They are likely to be more common than is apparent because they are inconspicuous and emerge episodically. Nonetheless, numerous historical locations for A. feayi have been developed and are no longer capable of supporting populations, and its conservation status merits evaluation. An unusual putative hybrid with A. pedicellata represented by a single collection is documented from Marion County (Judd 2639 [FLAS]), suggested by the exactly intermediate floral morphology.