ASCLEPIAS SYRIACA-SILK EED. 



CLASS, GYNANDRIA ; ORDER, PENTANDRIA. 

 NATURAL ORDER, ASCLEPIADACE^E. 



GEN. CHAR. Petals five, reflexed. Nectaries five, concave, 

 erect, containing little horns. Each stamen with a pair of 

 pendulous masses of pollen, suspended from the top of the stigma. 

 Follicles smooth. SPEC. CHAR. Stem very simple. Leaves 

 lanceolate, oblong, gradually acute, downy beneath. Umbels 

 sub-nodding, downy, three to five feet high. Flowers in large 

 close clusters, sweet scented pollinia are fly traps. 



This is a very common American plant ; it grows in sandy fields, 

 on the road sides and by rivers, where it flowers in full bloom from 

 July to August, attracting the attention of our summer tourists. 

 The flower stems diverge from each other like the bracts of an 

 umbrella, bearing the flowers on their extremities ; these are large, 

 of a pale purple, sometimes green and red, reflexed quite back ; the 

 nectary is red, double toothed ; the horns moderately incurved ; 

 the mass of anthers cylindrical, with black corpuscles at the top of 

 the wings, each of which draws out a pair of yellow egg-shaped 

 pollen masses. The pod or follicle is covered with little sharp 

 prickles ; they contain a silky seed-down in large quantities, which 

 is used for various useful and ornamental purposes, and to obtain 

 which, is the principal object in cultivating the plant. The stem 

 is from three to five feet high, affording in its fibres a durable 



