THE AA'IERICAN MILKWEEDS 



23 



which are positively troublesome." I take the aesthetic 

 side of this question, and I am free to say that all plants, 

 and all flowers, are beautiful to me and worthy of study, 

 however the agriculturist may regard them. 



There are some nineteen species of milkweeds in the 

 United States, not counting the Green Milkweeds (Acer- 

 ates), of which there appear to be four species recognized. 

 These latter have greenish flowers and other featxires 

 distinguishing 

 them; but at this 

 writing they must 

 be set aside, 

 to be described 

 at some future 

 time. This applies 

 also to the plants 

 called "Angle- 

 Pods," three genera 

 of which contain, 

 when taken to- 

 gether, some ten 

 species that are also 

 grouped in the 

 milkweed family. 



It is not always 

 an easy matter to 

 correctly identify 

 the American milk- 

 weeds, for in their 

 characters some of 

 them are foimd to 

 be quite near their 

 closest relatives in 

 the family. Such 

 specimens as I have 

 collected and pho- 

 tographed to illus- 

 trate the present 

 article have very 

 kindly been verified 

 for me by Mr. P. 

 L. Ricker, of the 

 Division of Plant 

 Industry, of the U. 

 S. Department of 

 Agriculture at 

 Washington. 



The buds and 

 flowers of the Com- 

 mon Milkweed, or 

 Silkweed, as it is 

 sometimes called, 

 are well shown here 

 in Figure 1. vStruc- 

 turally, they are 

 very complex, — in- 

 deed to such an 

 extent as to render 

 popular description 

 quite out of the 



THE ROUGHISH PODS uF THE tuMMO.X MILKWEED 



Pig. 2. — This illustration presents three pods of the Common Milkweed — one in full view, one crossed 

 by a leaf, and one almost out of sight. Thev are of a brilliant green color, of a medium shade, and cov- 

 ered by a growth of longish. soft, spinous processes, of the same color as the pod. These processes 

 disappear as the pod ripens; and but two of the pods are ever found on the same stem, consequently 

 two plants are here shown — one behind the other. Were we to open one of these pods, we would find 

 the immature seeds beautifully as well as systematically arranged in a curved plane, with their silk 

 firmly adpre.ssed against them. Note how the stem of the upper pod is beat dounu'arils so as to be 

 parallel to the stem of the plant. This picture also gives an excellent idea of the leaves of the Common 

 Milkweed of the normal type — that is, not affected in any way by hybridization. 



question. This species is now known as Asclepias syriaca, 

 though formerly it was called Asclepias cornuti. Mathews, 

 in his "Field Book of Wild Flowers," says it is "the 

 commonest of all the Asclepias, and remarkable for 

 its cloyingly sweet, somewhat pendulous flower-cluster, 

 which is most aesthetic in color; it varies from pale brown- 

 ish lilac to pale lavender-brown, and from dull crimson- 

 pink and pink-lilac to yellowish (the horns particularly) 



and brownish lav- 

 ender" (p. 368). As 

 in a good many 

 other species of 

 these plants, the 

 juice is milky 

 white in appear- 

 ance, being some- 

 what sticky when 

 handled. 



Perhaps one of 

 the most interesting 

 species of all this 

 milkweed group is 

 the one known as 

 the butterfly-weed 

 — for other reasons 

 called the Pleurisy- 

 root. Linnaeus 

 named this Ascle- 

 pias iuberosa, and in 

 Figure 5, I show a 

 reproduction of one 

 of my photographs 

 of its very dainty 

 little seed-pods. 

 These give us no 

 conception of the 

 beauty of the flow- 

 ers which their 

 stalks supported 

 during the midsum- 

 mer days of last 

 year. One thing 

 about this species 

 is, that, contrary' to 

 rule, its juice is not 

 milky, although the 

 plant is a true milk- 

 weed. It is gener- 

 ally found growing 

 in old fields, or in 

 dr)', worn-out pas- 

 tures ; and as it often 

 comes to be a yard 

 or more high, we 

 can frequently rec- 

 ognize its gorgeous 

 flowers of a rich, 

 glowing orange at a 

 very considerable 

 distance. Some- 



