1 88 



MILKWEED FAMILY 



this plant by the Indians is fine, long, and tenacious, and when 

 well treated is creamy white and remarkably soft. It is used 

 in making twine, fish lines, small baskets, and similar articles, 

 especially by the Pai Utes of Nevada. The plant grows in 

 moist places at moderate altitudes and is very common in the 

 lower part of Yosemite Valley. 



Cycladenia humilis Benth., is to be expected on gravelly 

 ridges. It is a broad-leaved dwarf with showy, rose-purple 

 flowers 24 m - long. 



ASCLEPIADACEAE. Milkweed Family. 

 Herbs, with milky juice, the leaves opposite or in whorls. 

 Calyx and corolla 5-parted (divisions reflexed in ours). In 

 our single genus the 5 stamens are on the base of corolla, the 

 filaments united into a tube fused above with the styles and 

 bearing on the back a circle of 5 hoods each often with an in- 

 curved horn. Fruit 1 or 2 large pods with numerous seeds, 

 each seed with a silky tuft of hairs at apex. 



1. ASCLEPIAS. Milkweed. 

 Erect perennial herbs, branched only at base, leafy to the 

 top. Flowers pediceled, in simple stalked clusters (umbels) 

 from between the upper leaves. 



Asclepias speciosa 



Asclcpias cor di folia 



