Baloneira

Asclepias physocarpa (E.Mey.) Schlechter

Coronis, daughter of Phlegyas, King of the Lapiths, Ixion's brother, lived on the shores of the Thessalian Lake Beobeis, in which she used to wash her feet. Apollo became her lover, and left a crow with snow-white feathers to guard her while he went to Delphi on business. But Coronis had long nursed a secret passion for Ischys, the Arcadian son of Elatus, and now admitted him to her couch, though already with child by Apollo. Even before the excited crow had set out for Delphi, to report the scandal and be praised for its vigilance, Apollo had divined Coronis's infidelity, and therefore cursed the crow for not having pecked out Ischys's eyes when he approached Coronis. The crow has turned black by this curse, and all its descendants have been black ever since.

[The son] was a boy, whom Apollo named Asclepius, and carried to the cave of Cheiron the Centaur, where he learned the arts of medicine. (...) Asclepius became so skilled in surgery and the use of drugs that he is revered as the founder of medicine. (...) He had the temerity to ressurect a dead man, and thus rob Hades of a subject; Hades naturally lodged a complaint on Olympus, Zeus killed Asclepius with a thunderbolt, and Apollo in revenge killed the Cyclopes.

Robert Graves, The Greek myths (The Folio Society, 1996)

Os arbustos da espécie Asclepias physocarpa, nativa do sudeste de África, têm textura herbácea, folhagem caduca e seiva leitosa. Toleram o frio e podem atingir os 2 m de altura, mas requerem solo fértil e bem irrigado. As flores, que se agrupam em cimeiras de longa haste, têm um formato bizarro: cinco sépalas pequeninas e verdes; cinco pétalas reflexas (dobradas para trás), penugentas numa das faces; estames e carpelos escondidos numa estrutura com capuchinhos e trompetes unidos numa coluna com entalhes onde as larvas de borboleta, esfomeadas ou atraídas pelo néctar, enterram as patinhas - e, sem cerimónia, a planta deposita nelas umas mochilas cheias de pólen, assegurando deste modo que os polinizadores levam carga bastante para distribuir por várias flores. Os frutos, que nascem aos pares, são esferas verde-limão com superficie pilosa (balões que já vêm com alfinetes...) contendo fiadas de sementes castanhas apetrechadas com vistosos pára-quedas feitos de fibras sedosas.

O nome do género indica que abriga plantas que têm tradicionalmente uso medicinal. A paineirinha é, contudo, quase toda tóxica; o que agrada às borboletas, que alimentam parcimoniosamente as larvas com o néctar, tornando-as não comestíveis e salvando-as da gulodice dos pássaros.