钉头果 ding tou guo

Gomphocarpus fruticosus Image Credit: L. Allorge

Asclepias fruticosa Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 216. 1753.

Shrubs to 2 m tall. Stems puberulent. Leaves opposite, short petiolate; leaf blade linear or linear-lanceolate, 6-10 cm × 5-8 mm, glabrous, apex acuminate, margin revolute; lateral veins inconspicuous. Cymes 4-6 cm. Flower buds globose. Sepals lanceolate, puberulent. Corolla white; lobes broadly ovate or elliptic, reflexed, ciliate. Corona lobes dark, hood-like. Follicles inflated, 5-6 × ca. 3 cm, apex acuminate, long beaked, spines of pericarp soft, ca. 1 cm. Seeds ovate; coma ca. 3 cm. Fl. summer. 2n = 22.

Cultivated for medicine in N China, Guangxi, and Yunnan [Africa; widely introduced]

Decoction of all parts is used as a medicine for stomach trouble. The leaves are used against pulmonary tuberculosis. Floss from seeds is used for stuffing pillows.