STUDIES OF PLANT LIFE 



The Pink-flowered Milkweed (A. Cornuti) is fragrant and 

 also handsome; it is a tall showy plant, abounding in milky 

 juice ; the leaves are large, soft, and velvety ; the flowers are 

 of pale pink, falling in graceful tassels from between the 

 leaves; the form of the flowers is the same as in the above; 

 the seed-pods are large and the seeds flat, lying one over the 

 other, closely pressed, in beautiful succession, like the shining 

 silvery scales of a fish ; each seed is furnished with a tuft of 

 silken hair.* 



The pod opens by a long slit, and it is wonderful to see 

 the beautiful winged seeds, the instant the prison door is 

 opened, rise as if moved by some sudden impulse, spreading 

 their shining silken wings and taking flight, wafted away by 

 the slightest breeze to parts unknown. One marvels how this 

 winged multitude ever found space to lie within the nar- 

 row case from which they escaped; it reminds one of that 

 wonderful genius of the old Arabian tale that the poor 

 scared fisherman induced to re-enter the metal pot. 

 Methinks it would be even harder to gather together our 

 fugitive silky seeds than to coax a refractory genius into a 

 quart pot again! 



The whole of the Asclepias family are remarkable for the 

 strong tough silken fibre that lines the bark of the stout 

 stem. This in the common Silk-weed (A. Cornuti) has 

 attracted much attention, but has not as yet been utilized 

 for textile fabrics. The fibre is strong and can be divided 

 into the finest threads of silken softness and of good length, 

 as the plant reaches from two to three feet or more in 

 height and grows so freely that I have seen extensive planta- 

 tions of it on wild spots, where it has been self-sown and 

 where few other plants would grow. 



* The farmers' wives make pretty cushions of this white flax -like silk, by filling bags 

 of tulle or net with them, the shining silk showing through any transparent fabric. 



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