PINK WILD FLOWERS 



Milkweed. It has a faint odour and a sub-acrid 

 taste. The roots have been especially recommended 

 in cases of asthma, but they are probably of very little 

 value as a medicine. The young shoots have been 

 used as a vegetable, and were cooked much after the 

 manner of asparagus or spinach. The stout, round 

 and usually simple stalk rises from three to five feet 

 high. The thick-textured leaf is long-oval in shape, 

 with blunt, rounding ends. The apex of the latter is 

 often tipped with a short, stiff point and the base is 

 sometimes narrowed or again slightly fulled on either 

 side at the short stem. The veinings are widely 

 spreading and the midrib is very prominent. The 

 margin is entire. The upper surface is smooth, and 

 the under side is downy. The colour above is grayish 

 green, and whitish or silvery beneath. The leaves 

 measure from four to nine inches in length. The 

 corolla lobes of the large and fleshy flower vary from 

 green through white, to finally a dull purple, from 

 base to tip, with the latter colour predominating. The 

 numerous flowers are very fragrant. They are set on 

 slender stems that spring from the same point on a 

 short, drooping stalk that grows from the axils of the 

 upper leaves, and they form large, handsome, rounding 

 heads or umbels. In the fall, the rough-coated, satin- 

 lined seed pods are filled with white silky fluff, 

 which is attached to many flat, brownish seeds 

 that overlap each other like so many shingles. At 

 this time they are a familiar sight, and the down has 

 been used for stuffing many a pillow and mattress. 



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