Haddam Meadows Asclepii

[jhimmel at comcast.net]

To piggyback Anthony's excellent response:
http://www.indri.org/cgi-bin/ksearch_cbs.cgi?b=1&k=1&t=1&u=1&d=1&all=1&sort=
Matches&display=10&terms=asclepias

Just click on the links for the photos.

>From the CT Botanical Society website - a very good resource.

John

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John Himmelman
Killingworth, CT
jhimmel at comcast.net
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Visit my websites at:
  www.johnhimmelman.com
  www.connecticutmoths.com
  www.ctamphibians.com


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-ctleps-l at lists.yale.edu
[mailto:owner-ctleps-l at lists.yale.edu]On Behalf Of Anthony Zemba
Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2007 11:39 AM
To: ButterflyPR at comcast.net; CT LEPS
Subject: Re: Haddam Meadows Asclepii


Hi Diane:
Without spending too much time on the subject I can tell you that I believe
there to be 10 species of Milkweed known from Connecticut growing without
cultivation based on the list provided by Dowhan (1979). Three species
appear on Connecticut's list of Endangered, Threatened, and Special Concern
species. THey are: A. purpurascens (purple m.) - state special concern, A.
variegata (White m.) - state special concern; and A. viridiflora (Green m.)
state endangered. A. variegata is believed to be extirpated from the state.
A viridiflora is extremely hard to find, being a species of "woods,
prairies, and barrens, especially in sandy soil" (Gleason and Cronquist,
1991) it was no doubt decimated due to development of our sand barrens
across the state, and possible from the suppression of fire in the remaining
remnants.  The listed species cannot be collected or possessed without a
CTDEP permit. Excluding A. variegata and A. viridiflora, and assuming you
can recognize the ones you l!
 isted below, that leaves 6 known to grow in CT w/o cultivation: A.
purpurescens (mentioned above), A. amplexicaulis, A. exaltata, A.
quadrifolia, and A. verticillata. Leaf characteristics are as follows:

A. purpurescens - "...leaves elliptic to ovate-oblong, 10-15 cm, hairy
beneath, broadly cuneate to a petiole 8-25 mm..."
A. amplexicaulis - "...leaves oval or broadly oblong, 7-15 cm, obtuse or
rounded at the summit, broadly rounded or commonly cordate at the sessile or
subsessile base..." [which generally means the leaves appear to be clasping
the stem]
A. exaltata - "...leaves thin, broadly elliptic, 1-2 dm, acuminate at both
ends, glabrous or puberulent beneath; petioles 1-2 cm..."
A. quadrifolia - "...leaves thin, lanceolate or lance-ovate, the larger 6-12
cm, acuminate, cuneate to a conspicuous petiole; peduncles 1-4 cm..." this
species also often has three leaf bearing nodes, the upper and lower each
typically bear a pair of small leaves, while the middle bears a whorl of
four larger ones.
A. verticillata - "...leaves very numerous in whorls of 3-6, narrowly
linear, 2-5 cm x 1-2 mm, revolute... (Gleason and Cronquist, 1991).

so basically using the process of elimination (e.g, if the leaves aren't
clasping the stem, you can rule out amplexicaulis, if you don't see the
nodal differences in quadrifolia, it probably ins't four-leaved milkweed,
etc.) you should be able to narrow it down to a couple of species quiclky
and then by examining other characteristics such as the stem and seed pods,
you may be able to ID your Asclepias without flowers. Good luck.
-Anthony

Cited:
Dowhan, Joseph J.  1979. Preliminary Checklist of the Vascular Flora of
Connecticut (Growing without cultivation). State Geologic and Natural
History Survey of Connecticut.

Gleason, Henry A., and Arthur Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of
Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. Second Edition. New York
Botanical Garden, Bronx, New York. 910 pp.

Anthony J. Zemba
Senior Ecologist
Planning and Environmental Compliance
Maguire Group Inc.
One Court Street
New Britain, CT 06051
p: (860) 224-9141 ext. 236
f: (860) 224-9147
Azemba at MaguireGroup.com



>>> <ButterflyPR at comcast.net> 9/19/2007 9:41 PM >>>
Stopped by Haddam Meadows this afternoon to get milkweed for my remaining
caterpillars.  Yes, I still have early instar Monarch caterpillars!  I was
keeping milkweed in the refrigerator for what I thought were my last
caterpillars, when I discovered eggs...and they hatched after being
refrigerated for several days!

Which leads me to a milkweed question.  I recognize common milkweed
(a.syriaca), butterflyweed (a. tuberosa), and swamp milkweed (a.incarnata),
but I'm not sure about some of the milkweed I've been getting lately.  The
leaves are definitely thinner and pointier than the common milkweed, but the
overall plant seems thinner than most of the swamp milkweed I've seen.  I
haven't seen any of it flowering or making pods, so I can't ID it that way.
Any thoughts?

Anyway, I did find one Monarch egg, but I decided to leave it there!  I saw
four adult Monarchs, and finally tagged one of them when I remembered I had
the tags in the van!  Also saw a couple of little low-flying orange-brown
skippers with definite black on the upper side of their wings.  Assuming
they were Least.  And one worn Silver-Spotted Skipper, and two Pearl
Crescents.  And a few Cabbage Whites.  All of these were gathered in a
little triangle of flowers at the end of the loop, towards the dam.  I did
see one other brown butterfly, but it disappeared into the far field to
quickly to identify--it was definitely lighter colored than a Red Admiral
and seemed to be flying like a Brown...

Diane