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SPIDER ANTELOPEHORN
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| File Size: 115 KB |
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Asclepias asperula (Dcne. ) Woods. subsp. capricornu (Woods. ) Woods.
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| Mitchell County, Kansas |
| Perennial |
| Height: 4-12 inches |
| Family: Asclepiadaceae - Milkweed Family |
| Flowering Period: April, May, June |
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| Also Called: | | Antelope horns. | | Stems: | | Decumbent to ascending, few to many, 6 to 24 inches long, radiating from crown, simple to sparingly branched, glabrous or minutely pubescent. | | Leaves: | | Mostly alternate, simple, short-stalked, firm, ascending to spreading, lanceolate, 1.5 to 8 inches long, .5 to 1.25 inch wide, nearly glabrous or sparsely pubescent; margins entire; tips pointed. | | Inflorescences: | | Umbels, solitary, sessile or short-stalked, subtended by 1-3 leaves, 9-34-flowered, terminal. | | Flowers: | | 5-parted, 1/4 to 1/2 inch tall, on stout stalks 3/5 to 1 inch long; calyx lobes lanceolate to ovate, green to purple-tinged, minutely hairy; corolla lobes elliptic-lanceolate, pale yellowish green, glabrous, curved upward; hoods club-shaped, purplish; tips incurved, usually greenish cream; horns absent. | | Fruits: | | Pods, spindle-shaped, 1.5 to 5 inches long, 1/2 to 1 inch wide, minutely hairy, erect on downward-curved stalks; seeds egg-shaped, tufted with light tan hairs at tips. | | Habitat: | | Dry rocky or sandy prairie uplands. | | Distribution: | | Principally central 1/3 of Kansas. | | Uses: | | The Navajo used this plant to treat bites from rabid animals. | | Comments: | | The fruits resemble the horns of antelope as they elongate and begin to curve. Spider antelopehorn will ooze a milky fluid when injured. | | | | Resembles Spider milkweed Asclepias viridis. |
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| Spider antelopehorn |  | | 168 KB | | Mitchell County, Kansas |
| | Spider antelopehorn inflorescence |  | | 90 KB | | Osborne County, Kansas |
| | Spider antelopehorn |  | | 175 KB | | Osborne County, Kansas |
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