- Asclepias physocarpa
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Asclepias physocarpa 
Scientific classification Kingdom: Plantae (unranked): Angiosperms (unranked): Eudicots (unranked): Asterids Order: Gentianales Family: Apocynaceae Subfamily: Asclepiadoideae Genus: Asclepias Species: A. physocarpa Binomial name Asclepias physocarpa
(E.Mey.) SchlechterSynonyms Gomphocarpus physocarpus E.Mey.
Asclepias physocarpa (also known as Gomphocarpus physocarpus, commonly balloonplant, balloon cotton-bush or swan plant) is a species of milkweed. The plant is native to southeast Africa, but it has been widely naturalized. It is often used as an ornamental plant. The name "balloonplant" is an allusion to the swelling bladder-like pods which are full of seeds.
Contents
Description
Asclepias physocarpa is an undershrub perennial herb, that can grow to over six feet. The plant blooms in warm months. It grows on roadside banks, 2800 to 5000 feet. The plant prefers moderate moisture, as well as sandy and well-drained soil and full sun.
The flowers are small, with white hoods and about 1 cm across. The capsule is a pale green, and in shape an inflated sphere. It is covered with rough hairs. It reaches three inches in diameter. The leaves are light green, linear to lanceolate and 3 to 4 inches long, 1.2 cm broad. The seeds have silky tufts.[1][2]
Butterflies
Monarch butterfly caterpillars feeding
The plant is a food source for the caterpillars of Danaus butterflies, and is a specific Monarch butterfly food and habitat plant. It is also popular in traditional medicine to cure various ailments.[3]
All of the milkweeds are named for a milky sap in the plant's stem and leaves. After the Monarch caterpillar has metamorphosed into a butterfly, the alkaloids from the sap they ingested from the plant are retained in the butterfly, making it unpalatable to predators.[4]
Notes
- ^ Llamas, Kirsten Albrecht (2003). Tropical Flowering Plants: A Guide to Identification and Cultivation. Timber Press. p. 73. ISBN 0-88192-585-3.
- ^ Iremonger, Susan (2002). A Guide to the Plants of the Blue Mountains of Jamaica. The University of West Indies Press. p. 47. ISBN 976-640-031-8.
- ^ van Wyk, Ben-Erik; Wink, Michael (2004). Medicinal Plants of the World: an illustrated scientific guide to important plants and their uses. Timber Press. p. 58. ISBN 0-88192-602-7.
- ^ Graf, Michael (1999). Plants of the Tahoe Basin: Flowering Plants, Trees, and Ferns : a Photographic Guide. University of California Press. pp. 98. ISBN 9780520215832.
External links
Categories:- Asclepias
- Butterfly food plants
- Flora of Africa
- Garden plants of Africa
- Flora naturalised in Australia
- Invasive plant species in Australia
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