Dogbane
Indian Hemp
Apocynum ×floribundum
[androsaemifolium × cannabinum]
Photographed by Mike Plagens along Sycamore Creek in the Pine Mountain Wilderness, Yavapai Co., Arizona, USA. 07 June 2009. This specimen with the larger, pinker flowers represents a likely hybrid between A. cannabinum and A. androsaemifolium.
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LEAVES: Ten to twenty opposite leaves on many soft, flexible, lateral
stems. The leaf margins are smooth. Milky, toxic sap emerges at once from
breaks in stems or leaves.
FLOWERS: Small, bell-shaped flowers are white or pinkish and are borne
in umbellate clusters.
PERENNIAL: The above ground, often reddish stems are entirely
herbaceous. The plant regrows each year with the advent of spring. Most plants
are less than one meter tall.
RANGE: In Arizona's sycamore woods this plant tends to occur only in
rather moist soil under shade. Otherwise it is distributed into higher
elevations such as mesic spots in ponderosa woods and across much of North
America.
FRUIT: Each flower develops a pair of pendant seed pods and like most
members of this plant family the seeds have long hairs that aid in dispersal.
UNARMED. Without thorns, but sap can be an irritant.
Apocynaceae -- Dogbane Family
More Information:
- Jepson Manual
- Missouri Plants
- USDA Plant Profile
- ITIS Taxonomic Report
- Google Images
- Google Scholar Literature Search