Asclepias curassavica

Asclepias curassavica

The Indian Milkweed ( Asclepias curassavica ), often Curacao Milkweed or inaccurately called only silk plant or silk flower, is a plant of the genus milkweed ( Asclepias ) of the subfamily Asclepiadoideae, which is placed in the family of Hundsgiftgewächse. This species is now in the warmer regions as an ornamental plant (or even neglected ) distributed almost worldwide.

Features

The Indian Milkweed is a mono-to few years, upright shrub, the plant height to about 1 meter reached. The branches are little or unbranched. The against permanent short -stalked and lanceolate leaves are 8-12 cm long and 1-2 cm wide. They are bare and dark green on top, bluish green on the bottom.

The terminal, doldige inflorescence consists of five to ten flowers. The hermaphroditic bloom has a diameter of about 1 to 1.5 cm. The dark orange-red petals are far repulsed. The corona is hellorangerot and short-stalked.

The single or paired, spindle-shaped follicle grow to a length of 10 cm. Wear silk plants for the typical head of hair ( "silk" ) The seeds.

Ecology

This style is for the caterpillars of the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus), which has become common in warmer regions nearly worldwide, an important food plant. Especially in the park, where this plant was planted as an ornamental plant, the monarch butterfly is quite common. The caterpillars of other moths as Danaus chrysippus, Danaus gilippus or the White tree nymph (Idea leuconoe) feed on the leaves and twigs of this kind

Occurrence

This species was originally distributed in tropical Central and South America. She comes today as an ornamental plant almost worldwide before and in many regions, for example in Spain and Morocco, already wild.

System

The Swedish botanist Carl von Linné listed the species in 1753 under the name Asclepias curassavica in his work Species plantarum.

A synonym is Asclepias nivea var curassavica (L.) Kuntze.