76 PLANTS GROWING IN MUD. 



SWAMP MILKWEED. 



Asclepias incarndta. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Milkweed. Crimson. Scentless. Maine to Louisiana. July-September. 



Flowers: perfect; regular; growing in terminal umbels. Calyx: of five 

 sepals, the tube very short. Corolla : funnel-form, with five reflexed lobes that 

 nearly hide the sepals. The next inner row of upright bodies are hoods, or 

 nectaries that enclose five little incurved horns ; and under these horns are the 

 stamens and pistils. Stamens : five, with fringed tips that are not the anthers ; 

 united and enclosing the pistils. Anthers: attached to the short filaments by 

 their bases. Pollen : in distinct little masses ; two being attached together 

 by a thread. Pistils: two; united above into a flat, sticky disk. Fruit : a 

 pair of pods with numerous seeds and soft, silky hairs; seldom more than one 

 becoming fully developed. Leaves: narrow; oblong; somewhat heart-shaped 

 at base. Stem : two to three feet high ; very leafy ; smooth, with little milky 

 juice. 



Of this very striking and handsome family Professor Britton 

 says : "There are about 220 genera and 1900 species of very 

 wide distribution." 



The flowers are difficult, but not impossible, for the non- 

 botanist to analyse ; and the attempt will at all events pique 

 one's curiosity enough to encourage him to pry closely into 

 their intricacies. 



The milkweeds are entirely dependent on insects for fertiliza- 

 tion ; as the pollen masses lie too low in the blossoms to reach 

 the stigma. It is for this reason that they have provided them- 

 selves with the little hoods that hold the nectar, as it could not 

 be retained by the reflexed corolla lobes. Bees, therefore, visit 

 the plants gladly, and when their feet become entangled in the 

 tiny thread that holds together the pollen masses they carry 

 them off without complaining. A. Syriaca, page 280, Plate 



CXLIV. 



A. lanceolcita, (Plate XXXIII} is a brilliant variety of the 

 swamps that occurs southward from New Jersey to Florida and 

 Texas. The umbels have but few flowers, very large and 

 showy, and are of an intense orange-red colour. It blooms in 

 July and August. 



