HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS 



Red Milkweed 



A, rubra. — Color of corolla-lobes, purplish red ; of hoods, orange 

 red. Flowers, many, in umbels. Leaves, lance-shaped, taper- 

 pointed at apex, round or indented at base, 3 to 8 inches long. 

 Stem, smooth, 1 to 4 feet high. July. 



Moist grounds, as wet pine barrens, New Jersey and Penn- 

 sylvania to Florida, Louisiana, and Missouri. 



Common Milkweed. Silkweed 



A, syr\aca. — Color, a dull greenish or purplish crimson, often 

 paler. This is one of those colors bordering both on crimson and 

 purple, difficult to describe. Leaves are unmistakable, being 

 broad, oval, smooth along their edges, softly downy beneath, 

 acute at apex, obtuse at base, with short petioles, 4 to 9 inches 

 long. Stem, 3 to 5 feet high, with much milky juice. Follicles, 

 4 or 5 inches long, covered with soft prickles. June to August. 



In rich, good soil, but found in some waste places and 

 fields in all the States east of Kansas. 



Four-leaved Milkweed 



A. quadrifotia. — The stem is naked below except for a pair of 

 small leaves, but bears, about the middle, leaves 2 to 4 inches long 

 in 1 or 2 sets of fours; also, above, 1 or 2 pairs; all ovate or lance- 

 shaped, thin, tapering, somewhat downy underneath, short- 

 petioled. Stem, 3 to 5 feet high, stout, generally unbranched. 

 The blossoms are a pale rose color, fading to almost white. May 

 to July. 



Dry woods and rocky hills from New Hampshire to Minne- 

 sota, southward to North Carolina and Arkansas. 



Few-flowered Milkweed 



A. lanceolkta. — Color of corolla segments, bright red ; of hoods, 

 orange. Flowers, in umbels, 5 to 12 together. Leaves, long and 

 narrow, willow- shape, gradually tapering to the apex, 4 to 10 

 inches long, on short petioles. Stem, smooth, almost leafless 

 above, 2 to 4 feet high. June to August. 



In swamps and wet pine barrens near the coast, New Jer- 

 sey to Florida and Texas. 



Wild Sweet William 

 Phlox macutkta. — Family, Polemonium. Color, crimson. Calyx, 

 tubular, 5-ribbed and 5-cleft into long, narrow, ribbon-like seg- 

 ments. Corolla, a slender tube, with a wheel-shaped, 5-lobed, 

 open, spreading border. Stamens, 5, short, inserted on the tube 



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