THE AMERICAN MILKWEEDS 



25 



the subject. Neltje Blanchan gives us something about 

 this very butterfly milkweed in the following words 

 which require no apology for quoting: "Surely here is a 

 butterfly flower if ever there was one, and such are rare. 

 Very few are adapted to tongues so long and slender that 

 the bumble-bee can- 

 not help himself to 

 their nectar; but 

 one, almost never 

 sees him about 

 the butterfly weed. 

 While other bees, a 

 few wasps, and even 

 the ruby-throated 

 hummingbird, 

 which ever delights 

 in flowers with a sus- 

 picion of red about 

 them, sometimes 

 visit these bright 

 clusters, it is to the 

 ever-present butter- 

 fly that their mar- 

 velous structure is 

 manifestly adapted . 

 Only visitors long 

 of limb can easily 

 remove the pollinia, 

 which are usually 

 found dangling 

 from the hairs of 

 their legs. We may 

 be sure, after gen- 

 erously feeding its 

 guests, the flower 

 does not allow many 

 to depart without 

 rendering an equiv- 

 alent service. The 

 method of compel- 

 ling visitors to with- 

 draw pollen-masses 

 from one blossom 

 and deposit them 

 in another an 

 amazing process 

 has been already 

 described under the 

 common milkweed. 

 Lacking the quan- 

 tity of sticky, milky 

 juice which protects 

 the plant from 

 crawling pilferers, 

 the butterfly -weed 

 suffers outrageous 

 robberies from 

 black ants. The 

 hairs on its stem, 



MILKWEED PODS GIVING THEIR WINGED SEEDS TO THE WIND FOR DISTRIBUTION 



Fig. 4. These bursting seed-pods of the Common Milkweed {A. syriaca) is one of the most beautiful 

 sights in the plant world. This photograph was made by the author in the late summer of 1916, and 

 satisfactorily illustrates the process or phenomenon. It shows the pods in allstages of opening, the 

 seeds exemplifying every phase of their escape and preliminaries to migration. These pods are still 

 roughish, and of a pale, stone-gray color. They are hard, dry, and tough, but not brittle, while the 

 stems or stalks are easily broken. The flat, thin seeds are of a rich brown or deep tan color, and very 

 easily detached in any case from their silky appendage. In form, they are ovate, with the apex attached 

 to the silk, while the seed proper is convex on one surface, and correspondingly concave on the other, 

 the thin part being the sharp surrounding margin. Neltje Blanchan says: "Like the dandelion, 

 thistle, and other triumphant strugglers for survival, the milkweed sends its offspring adrift on the 

 winds to found fresh colonies afar. Children delight in making pompons for their hats by removing 

 the silky seed-tufts from the pods before they burst, and winding them, one by one, on slender stems 

 with fine thread. Hung in the sunshine, how charmingly fluffy and soft they dry! " (loc. cil.. p. 138.) 



not sufficient to form a stockade against them, serve 

 only as a screen to reflect light lest too much may pene- 

 trate to the interior juices. We learned in studying the 

 prickly pear cactus, how necessary it is for plants living in 

 dry soil to guard against the escape of their precious 



moisture" (loc. cit. 

 p. 327). 



The lance-hcad 

 shaped leaves of 

 this species of milk- 

 weed are of a lovely 

 tawny green, and 

 spring alternately 

 from the stem of the 

 plant. 



Sometimes i n - 

 deed quite fre- 

 quently the stalk- 

 lets that directly 

 bear the seed-pods 

 in many milkweeds 

 are peculiar in one 

 respect : they are 

 bent or curved like 

 the capital letter S, 

 and sometimes so 

 twisted that the 

 apex of the seed-pod 

 actually points 

 downward to the 

 ground ; this feature 

 is well shown in some 

 of my figures illus- 

 trating this article, 

 particularly in Fig- 

 ures 3 and 5. Even 

 the flowers them- 

 selves turn back to- 

 ward the main stem 

 in some of the milk- 

 weeds. Next sum- 

 mer you will have 

 no trouble in finding 

 the species wherein 

 this feature is well 

 pronounced, for the 

 common poke milk- 

 weed exemplifies it 

 beautifully (Asclep- 

 ias phytolaccoid.es) . 

 If in the meantime 

 you would like to 

 see a good cut of 

 one of this kind, you 

 will find it in the 

 "Wild Flowers of 

 the Northeastern 

 States," by Ellen 

 Miller and Margaret 



