#652 Asclepias curassavica Common Names: scarlet milkweed, bloodflower, silkweed, Indian root Family: Asclepiadaceae (milkweed Family) Get link to this Profile or click for Datasheet Wallpaper Gallery (2 images)

Butterflies from all over the neighborhood flock to the the brilliantly colored flowers of the scarlet milkweed. Download a large version (800x600) of this image.

Location
Scarlet milkweed is native to South America but has become a naturalized weed in tropical and subtropical pastures, fields and disturbed areas throughout the world, including central and southern Florida.

Culture
Scarlet milkweed is easy to grow, thriving in dry, moist, and even wet soils. The leaves are sometimes attacked by aphids which produce an excrement (called honeydew!) which is in turn colonized by a grayish black fungus called sooty mold. None of this is life-threatening to the milkweed, and eventually some other predators (such as ladybugs) will come along and polish off the aphids. If you do want to intervene in nature's drama, the aphids are easily washed off with a stream of water or suffocated with horticultural oil or a mild solution of dishwashing detergent.
Light: Full sun to partial shade.
Moisture: Regular garden watering is adequate. Scarlet milkweed does fine without supplemental watering in the eastern US.
Hardiness: USDA Zones 8B - 11. Scarlet milkweed remains evergreen in zones 9B-11, but if it does freeze to the ground, it usually comes back in spring. In cooler climates it can be grown as an annual.
Propagation: Scarlet milkweed can be started from cuttings, and it grows quickly from seed.

This is a variety of scarlet milkweed with yellow flowers - maybe it sounds less dumb calling it by its other common name yellow bloodflower (or maybe not). Download a large version (800x600) of this image.

Features
Most flowers have a ring of sepals, collectively called a calyx, and above that a ring of petals, collectively called a corolla. The milkweeds have an additional ring of appendages that sits above the corolla like a crown; it is called a corona. Daffodils (Narcissus spp.) have a corona, too. In scarlet milkweed, the corolla is usually crimson and the corona is orange.

WARNING
All milkweeds are poisonous if ingested, and the milky sap is a skin irritant. The butterflies whose caterpillars feed on milkweeds contain the same poisonous glycosides and are poisonous as well.

Steve Christman 3/16/00; updated 1/21/04

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