;65 



Minnesota Plant Life. 



marshes. The hairy milkweed is similar to the swamp milk- 

 weed and is found in similar stations, but has very hairy leaves. 

 In all varieties the umbels of flowers are crowded toward the 

 top of the plant and are erect, as are the pods. 



Sullivant's milkweed and the blunt-leafed milkweed are 

 smooth, pale green plants with stout stems and rather broad, 

 blunt leaves. The capsules in Sullivant's milkweed are borne 

 on straight erect stems, but in the blunt-leafed milkweed the 

 downy, slender capsules stand on stems curved downward like 

 the letter "S." The tall milkweed, or poke milkweed, has 

 lance-shaped leaves and the capsules stand erect upon pedicels 

 which grow diagonally downward. The four-leaved milkweed 



is recognized 

 by the leaves 

 toward the mid- 

 dle of the stem, 

 standing in 

 whorls of four. 

 Two m i 1 k - 

 weeds, known 

 as the common 

 milkweed and 

 the showy milk- 

 weed, are dis- 

 tinguished by 

 the pods, the 

 surfaces of 



which are covered with short, soft, somewhat elongated tufts 

 or warts. The common milkweed has oblong leaves, while the 

 showy milkweed, named on account of the large purplish-green 

 flowers, has broad, ovate leaves. Both these are very prolific 

 in fields along roadsides and in damp places throughout the 

 state. The oval-leafed milkweed is a plant of the southern and 

 western prairies. It is recognized by its smaller, greenish 

 flowers arranged in few or in solitary umbels toward the tip 

 of the stem. The leaves are rather broadly willow-shaped and 

 cottony on both surfaces. When quite mature the upper sur- 

 faces of the leaves become smooth. The whorled milkweed 

 has very narrow leaves in whorls of from three to seven. The 

 pods are slender, two or three inches long, and smooth. 



FIG. 174. Brookside vegetation. Milkweeds in foreground. After 

 photograph by Williams. 



