Bloodflower, Swallow-wort, Butterfly Weed, Mexican Milkweed, Scarlet Milkweed (A

Bloodflower, Swallow-wort, Butterfly Weed, Mexican Milkweed, Scarlet Milkweed
Asclepias curassavica

Butterfly weed from a different angle, neat!

Are you sure this is tuberosa?

Yes, as far as I can tell. I have three wildflower books and two of them show orange flowers and the other book shows flowers just like mine, orange with yellow centers. I also checked the Lady Bird Johnson wildflower database and I was in for a big surprise, they show asclepias tuberosa in at least 4 different colors.
There was red, orange, orange and yellow, and even all yellow.
So your question taught me a few things, the main being that there must be many varieties of tuberosa. We took the picture from the top looking down, so that also makes it look different.
By the way, if you do not have this variety, I will be glad to send you some seeds.
Sincerely, Josephine.

If you have extras that would be nice. Mine is the plain orange. It looks like it's glowing but the orange and red is very pretty. What are you looking for in exchange?

Only the pleasure of knowing that I have contributed to your plant collection.
I will send it next week, but I need your address. Will you please e mail it? Thank you.
Josephine.

This message was edited May 18, 2008 8:19 PM

Frostweed looks more like the tropical type Asclepias curassavica


http://davesgarden.com/pdb/go/604/index.html

Josephine, I can't tell and the PDB is somewhat ambigous on this one. The leaves are different. Mine is theAsclepias curassavica, Mexican Milkweed. They both attract, & host flutterbys. This is a picture of mine.

The leaves both look very similiar in the pictures but tuberosa's leaves are tough while curassavica are tender.

Hello Everyone, this question came up sometime ago, and i did some research then, and found out that asclepias tuberosa comes in many forms and colors. Mine surely looks a lot like yours, but as Captmicha said, the leaves are different. If this is a clue, mine is still blooming. I hope this helps.
Josephine.

Mine is blooming too.

I know I've brought this up before but now looking at your plant upclose (from your second picture) and in detail like this, I can safely say that it is Asclepias curassavica. The leaves look tender and don't have the rough texture that tuberosa has. Also tuberosa's leaves are never shiny but curassavica's often are near the top of the plant.

Also, currivassica has sparse flowers in a cluster whereas tuberosa has denser flowers to a cluster as depicted in all the other pictures posted here. Also, tuberosa has squat flowers, not as long as the tropical milkweed.

I agree with CaptMicha. I grow both Asclepias tuberosa and A. curassavica and this is A. curassavica.