DESCRIPTIVE MANUAL 



239 



Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca L.). 



Description. — A perennial herb with a stout stalk 2-5 ft. high, 

 finely, softly pubescent or tomentose ; leaves oblong, oval or ovate, 

 obtuse or roundish at the base, the young leaf somewhat pubescent 

 above, soon becoming glabrate ; petioles stout, flowers from a few 

 to many, borne in umbels ; peduncles pubescent or tomentose ; co- 

 rolla dull purple or greenish purple, occasionally pale in color; 

 fruit a follicle and borne on erect pedicels ; trichomes multicellular 

 from a single cell, somewhat floccose. 



Distribution. — This milkweed is common from New England to 

 North Carolina and Kansas. In Iowa it is abundant in oat fields, 

 on highways and in gardens throughout the state. 



Fig. 138. Common Milkweed (Asclepias syria-cci). Fields, meadows, roadsides, 



etc. a trichomes or plant hairs. 



(Drawing by Charlotte M. King; general aspect photographed by Colburn.) 



