MILKWEED FAMILY ASCLEPIADACEAE 
PURPLE MILKWEED 
Asclepias purpurascens L. 
This species is less common than some of the other Milk- 
weeds but its large, deep purple flowers are among the most 
beautiful. It grows in dry soil of fields, roadsides and thickets 
from New Hampshire to North 
Carolina and west to Minnesota and 
Arkansas. 
The tough unbranched stem 
grows 2-4 feet high and is very leafy 
to the top. The leaves are opposite 
and smooth above and minutely 
velvety beneath. The abundant 
milky juice flows freely when a stem 
or leaf is broken. 
The umbels of flowers are pro- 
duced from June to August in several 
of the upper leaf axils or at the end 
of the stem. The corolla is deep 
purple and the hoods, oblong and 
nearly twice as long as the anthers, 
are somewhat paler. The horns are 
broad at the base but taper to a 
sharp point and curve inward. The 
fruiting pedicels are deflexed and the 
downy follicles are nearly erect and 
4-5 inches long. 
The Common Milkweed, Asclepias 
syriaca L., is probably most familiar for 
it is an ever-present weed in rich fields 
and along roadsides. Its greenish white 
to dull purple flowers are less brilliant 
than in some of the other species; their 
odor is heavy and not pleasant to 
human beings, but they produce a 
wealth of nectar for bees and butterflies. The stout stem is 3-5 feet 
tall and the broadly oval leaves are 4-9 inches long and minutely 
downy beneath. The pods are 3-5 inches long and rough with short 
soft processes. The flat brownish seeds bear an abundance of white 
silky hairs or down that has often been used for stuffing pillows. 
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