ASCLEPIADACEAE MILKWEED FAMILY 
BUTTERFLY WEED. PLEURISY ROOT 
Asclepias tuberosa L. 
This plant served the Indians with medicine and food. 
The root was used in treatment of pleurisy, the green 
fruits in the cooking of buffalo meat much as green Pep- 
pers are used with 
chicken or other meats, 
and from the flow- 
ers crude sugar was 
extracted. 
Most beautiful of Milk- 
weeds and handsome 
enough for any flower gar- 
den, the Butterfly Weed is 
at its best in dry field, hill- 
side or along the road. It 
is found in practically all 
states east of the Rockies 
and its glowing orange 
flowers, blooming from June 
to August, are everywhere 
admired. 
Numerous stout hairy 
stems from the same stout 
and deeply penetrating root 
grow 1-2 feet high and give 
a bushy appearance to the 
plant. The leaves are alter- 
nate instead of opposite, and the abundant milky juice character- 
istic of other Milkweeds is lacking. 
The corolla is greenish orange and the hoods, 2 or 3 times as 
long as the anthers, are bright orange or yellow. The horns are 
slender and within the crown. The follicles are covered with 
very short whitish hairs. 
A form of this plant which is identical except for its yellow flowers 
in place of orange has been recognized by two Illinois authorities as 
occasionally growing with the Pleurisy Root. It is the Yellow 
Butterfly Weed, Asclepias tuberosa L. forma /utea Clute, according 
to Pepoon. 
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