Wild Flowers East of the Rockies 279 



POKE MILK-WEED (Asclepias phytolaccoides) is 



a tall species growing from 2 to 6 feet in height. The 

 flowers composing its clusters are fewer in number 

 than those of the common milkweed but much larger 

 and of a clear, ivory-white color. The flower stems 

 are long and slender so that the entire cluster is in 

 a nodding position, it being the only one of the genus 

 in which all the flowers are pendent. The leaves 

 are large and thin, and pointed at each end. The 

 seed-pod is large and has a longer, more pointed tip 

 than that of the Common Milkweed. Poke Milkweed 

 is found, usually in dry situations, along the edges 

 of woods or along roadsides, from Me. to Minn, and 

 southwards. It flowers from June until August. 



WHORLED MILKWEED (Asclepias verticillata) is 

 a very slender species, common in dry woods and on 

 prairies in the South; found north to Mass, and Sas- 

 katchewan. The stem is slender, simple and rises 

 from 1 to 3 feet high. The narrow linear leaves have 

 their margins rolled under; they grow in closely clus- 

 tered whorls about the stem, usually quite erect. The 

 numerous, small, greenish-white flowers grow in a 

 round clusters or umbels at the summit of the stem. 

 It is a ver.y dainty species, one not apt to be con- 

 fused with any other member of the family. Both 

 the stem and the leaves are slightly downy and have 

 a whitish bloom. Their juices are milky like those of 

 the others. 



PURPLE MILKWEED (Asclepias purpurascens) is 

 a common species whose umbels of deep magneta 

 flowers loom up conspicuously in dry fields and thick- 

 ets, from June until August. It is found from Me. 

 to Minn, and southwards. 



FOUR-LEAVED MILKWEED (A. quadrifolia) bears 

 one or two whorls of four leaves about midway of the 

 stem and several pairs near the summit. It Is a 

 delicate species with few clusters of small magenta 

 flowers. 



