Asclepias curassavica or Tropical Milkweed is a native milkweed from America. Monarchs will lay eggs on it – and it makes an attractive addition to the garden, very popular as a nectar source.
1. Gold (with yellow petals and centres), or
2. Scarlet (scarlet to orange petals, gold centres). Sometimes referred to as ‘bloodflower’.
Order Scarlet or Gold – $5 a packet.
Sow directly in the garden when soil is warmer. For earlier sowings use seed mix in egg cartons (or similar) and cover with a light sprinkling of topsoil. Keep moist and warm. Transplant when seedlings are 5-10cm tall.
Also known as Tropical Milkweed
Beautiful, brilliant yellow flowers
Asclepias species are the American milkweeds, and are named after Asclepius, the Greek god of healing, because of the many folk-medicinal uses of the plants.
Pollination is particularly interesting with milkweed.
The pollen is grouped into complex structures called pollinia (or pollen sacs), rather than individual grains typical for most plants.The feet or mouthparts of insects visiting the flowers slip into one of the five slits formed by the adjacent anthers in the flowers.The bases of the pollinia then mechanically attach to the insect, pulling a pair of pollen sacs free when the pollinator flies off. Pollination is effected by the reverse procedure in which one of the pollinia becomes trapped within the anther slit of another flower.
The fruit is interesting too: Seeds develop in cigar-shaped pods which have soft filaments known as either silk or floss. The filaments are attached to individual seeds. When the seed pod ripens, the seeds are blown by the wind, each carried by several filaments.
