378 



STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



MILKWEED FAMILY. ASCLEPIADACEAE. 



Perennial herbs or shrubs, mostly having milky juice; flowers too peculiar for beginners, mostly 

 born in umbels; pod one-celled, bearing flat seeds with silky hairs at one end. 



A larg« family, containing 1,900 species mostly found in tropical or warm temperate regions. 



Fig. 160 (140). 



Common Milkweed. Asclepias Syriaca L. Stem stout, usually unbranched, finely pubescent, 

 coming from deep, fleshy roots difficult of extermination; leaves opposite, broad, flowers in umbels; 

 pods 8-13 cm. long, covered with soft spinous processes. 



A native plant very troublesome on sandy land in the northern part of the state wtere the crop 

 Is undisturbed for more than two years. Occasionally "sick" with a pale, dwarf growth, a bac- 

 terial disease. 



