Asclepias, the milkweed genus, contains a lovely variety of wildflowers, a fact I didn't appreciate until I came to the island. Until then my only
experience with milkweed was the tropical milkweed that's commonly sold to attract Monarch butterflies. It will tolerate different soils. I have some in the flowerbeds at home. But here on the island the milkweed specialize. There's one in the scrub, one in the sandhill and one in the flatwoods or at best the ecotone near the flatwoods.
They're like beautiful sisters that don't appear at first to be related.
The one I like the most is the delicate Florida milkweed, Asclepias feayi, with its filiform leaves and small white flowers. I like it because it is not in the wildflower books I have and I had to key it out from a copy of J.K. Small's "Manual of the Southeastern Flora" that was given to me by my late friend Chancellor Hannon.
The most widespread is the one sometimes called Butterflyweed, Asclepias tuberosa, whose flowers are orange, but turn reddish orange with age, it seems.
Then there is Curtiss' milkweed, Asclepias curtissi, which was once placed in separate genus because perhaps it looked different from the rest, though considering the genus, I can't say why. It is a scrub plant, sometimes forming as many as 11 flowers on a single plant, which can be impressive, since the book shows no more than two or three.
