North Carolina Botanical Garden

Plant Index

Scientific Name:
Common Name:
Genus:
Family:

Asclepias amplexicaulis

Asclepias amplexicaulis Sm.

clasping milkweed, sand milkweed

Asclepias amplexicaulis (Clasping Milkweed)

Image ID: 8749
Image by: Ware, Richard & Teresa
Image Collection: NCBG Digital Library

PLANT INDEX

ID_PLANT: ASAM
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Asclepias amplexicaulis
Include in WOTAS: 1
Publish to Web: 1
Last Modified: 2017-11-20

GENUS INDEX

GENUS CODE: ASCLE
GENUS SCIENTIFIC: Asclepias
GENUS AUTHORITY: L.
GENUS COMMON: Milkweed
GENUS SUMMARY: A genus of about 100 species, herbs, temperate and tropical, of North and Central America.
GENUS IDENTIFICATION:
GENUS REFERENCES: Woodson (1954)=Z; Turner (2009b)=Y; Farmer & Bell (1985)=X.

FAMILY INDEX

FAMILY CODE: APOCYN
FAMILY SCIENTIFIC: Apocynaceae
FAMILY AUTHORITY: A.L. de Jussieu 1789
FAMILY COMMON: Dogbane Family
FAMILY SUMMARY: As here circumscribed including the Asclepiadaceae, a family of about 480 genera and about 4800 species, lianas, shrubs, herbs, and trees, widespread in tropical and temperate areas. There appears to be overwhelming evidence favoring the combination of the Asclepiadaceae into the Apocynaceae; see, for instance, Rosatti (1989), Sennblad & Bremer (1996), and many others.
FAMILY REFERENCE: Rosatti (1989); Liede (1997a).

NCBG DESCRIPTIVES

INTRO: Erect perennial of sandhills and other dry woodlands.
STEMS: Stems stout, usually unbranched, smooth with a white-waxy coating; leaks milky sap when bruised.
LEAVES: Leaves opposite (2-6 pairs), sessile and clasping, oblong or widely oval to elliptic, 3-5 in. long, with a pink midrib, wavy-margined, smooth and with a white-waxy coating.
INFLORESCENCE:
FLOWERS: Flowers (15-80) in a rounded, terminal umbel; smoky purple, about 1/2 in. long, consisting of 5 strongly reflexed pinkish-green corolla lobes and a central crown--composed of 5 2-parted appendages (“hood” and “horn”)--surrounding a complex structure of fused anthers and style.
FRUITS: Fruit an erect, spindle-shaped pod containing many tufted brown seeds.
COMMENTS:
HEIGHT: 2-3 ft.

DURATION: Perennial
HABIT: Herb

LEAF ARRANGEMENT: Opposite
LEAF COMPLEXITY: Simple
LEAF RETENTION:

FLORAL CHARACTERISTICS
SYMMETRY: Radial (Actinomorphic)
BLOOM TIME: May-Jul

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
			x	x	x	x	x

BLOOM COLOR: Smoky purple-pink

White	Red	Pink	Orange	Yellow	Green	Blue	Lavender	Purple	Violet	Brown	Not Applicable
		x			x			x

FRUITING PERIOD: Jun-Aug.

DISTRIBUTION
HABITAT TYPE: Dry forests, Sandhills
NATIVE RANGE:

HORTICULTURAL
Plant Sale Text: The flower clusters of the clasping, or sand milkweed are like those Styrofoam atomic model kits you might have put together for a school science project. Each pinkish purple tubular crown juts out from the reflexed green petals, all sit in a spherical orbit about a central point at the top of the stem. The large leaves are wavy with a pink midrib and clasp the stem. The fruit is a 4” long pod that will dry on the stem to release the tufted windblown seeds. This plant inhabits open woods, enjoys a sunny location with sandy, freely draining soil.

Bloom Table Text:

NCBG Location:

Cultural Notes:

SOIL MOISTURE: Dry, Average
LIGHT EXPOSURE: Sun, Part Shade, Shade
MINIMUM HARDINESS ZONE: 3
MAXIMUM HARDINESS ZONE: 9
GERMINATION CODE:
WILDLIFE VALUE: Bee Friendly, Butterfly Friendly
DEER RESISTANCE:

GRIM COLLECTIONS

Coll_id	Project	Collection date	Collector	Action
337	HORT	2010-07-11	Poythress	View
2018	NPMD	2020-07-23	Kunz	View
2019	NPMD	2020-07-22	Summer	View
2153	NPMD	2019-07-29	Touloupas	View
2199	NPMD	2019-09-04	Touloupas	View
2395	NPMD	2019-07-10	Touloupas	View

GRIM ACCESSIONS

acc_id	acc_num	acc_dt	coll_id	Action
333	2011-0200	2011-09-20	337	View
5451	1995-0574			View

GRIM PLANTINGS

plt_num	acc_id	loc_num	pers_num	inst_dt	Action
797	333	28	Poythress	2011-09-20	View
798	333	24	Poythress	2011-09-20	View
799	333	17	Poythress	2011-09-20	View
800	333	111	Steen	2011-09-21	View
7965	5451	204	NCBG staff	1993-01-01	View

USDA PLANTS DATABASE

USDA Symbol: ASAM
USDA Common Name: Clasping Milkweed
Native Status: L48 (N)
Distribution: USA (AL, AR, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, NE, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, VT, WI, WV)
Duration: Perennial
Growth Habit: Forb/herb

WEAKLEY FLORA

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Asclepias amplexicaulis
COMMON NAME: Clasping Milkweed, Sand Milkweed
SYNONYMY: [= C, F, G, Il, K, Pa, RAB, S, Va, W, WH3, Z]
PHENOLOGY: May-Jul; Jun-Aug.
HABITAT: Sandhills, other dry woodlands of various types.
COMMENTS: NH and NY west to MN, IA, and KS, south to c. peninsular. FL, west to e. TX. The flowers have a fragrance of cloves and roses.
RANGE MAP: Asclepias amplexicaulis.png

Key to Map Symbols

ABOUT FAMILY (Weakley Flora)
Apocynaceae A.L. de Jussieu 1789 (Dogbane Family)
SUMMARY: As here circumscribed including the Asclepiadaceae, a family of about 480 genera and about 4800 species, lianas, shrubs, herbs, and trees, widespread in tropical and temperate areas. There appears to be overwhelming evidence favoring the combination of the Asclepiadaceae into the Apocynaceae; see, for instance, Rosatti (1989), Sennblad & Bremer (1996), and many others.
REFERENCE: Rosatti (1989); Liede (1997a).

ABOUT GENUS (Weakley Flora)
Asclepias L. (Milkweed)
SUMMARY: A genus of about 100 species, herbs, temperate and tropical, of North and Central America.
REFERENCE: Woodson (1954)=Z; Turner (2009b)=Y; Farmer & Bell (1985)=X.

HERBARIUM RESOURCES

SERNEC: Find Asclepias amplexicaulis in Southeast Regional Network of Experts and Collections (if available)
UNC SERNEC: Find Asclepias amplexicaulis in University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Herbarium - Southeast Regional Network of Experts and Collections (if available)

WEB RESOURCES

USDA: Find Asclepias amplexicaulis in USDA Plants
NPIN: Find Asclepias amplexicaulis in NPIN Database
FNA: Find Asclepias amplexicaulis in the Flora of North America (if available)
Google: Search Google for Asclepias amplexicaulis

IMAGE USE RECORDS

ID IMAGE: 8749 - Primary Image FloraQuest Plant Detail Page (Landscape Preferred)
ID IMAGE1: 19297 - Primary Image WOTAS
ID IMAGE2: 19299 - Secondary Image WOTAS
ID IMAGE3: 8749 - Primary Image Plant Sale Sign (Landscape Only)
ID IMAGE4: 0 - Primary Image New Plant Sale Label (Portrait Only)