MILKWEED FAMILY 



commercial purposes, for from it, the milkiest of the milk- 

 weeds, by the addition of vinegar, a kind of rubber can be 

 made. The young stalks, if pared, can be used as a sub- 

 stitute for asparagus, the leaves for spinach. From the 

 root is derived a drug, valuable in the treatment of pleurisy. 



ASCLEPIADACE^) MILKWEED FAMILY 



Asclepias tuberosa, L. 



Orange-red Butterfly Weed, Canada-root, 



Butterfly Flower, Colic-root, 



June-September Yellow or Orange Flux-root, 



Milkweed, Pleurisy-root, 



Orange-root, Tuber-root, 



Orange Apocynum White-root, 



Swallow-wort, Indian-posy 

 Orange Swallow- 

 wort, 



Asclepias: for derivation see amplexicaulis, 



Tuberosa: Latin in allusion to the thickened tuber-like root. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: dry ground. 



THE PLANT: erect or nearly so, one foot to two feet high, 

 unbranched; the stem stout, very leafy, with short, stiff 

 hairs; the milky sap scanty. 



THE LEAVES: usually all alternate; linear, lanceolate, or 

 oblong; two inches to six inches long; with short, stiff 

 hairs on both surfaces; acute or sometimes obtuse at the 

 apex; narrowed, rounded or heart-shape at the base; ses- 

 sile or short-petioled. 



THE FLOWERS: numerous, on umbels at the ends of the 

 branches; stemmed, the stems hairy; the petals oblong, 

 obtuse. 



THE FRUIT: a follicle, four to five inches long, covered 

 with fine hairs. 



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