ASCLEPIADACEAE 



MILKWEED FAMILY 



SWAMP MILKWEED 



Asclepias incarnata L. 



The Swamp Milkweed is a most common species in low wet 

 places, being found from New Brunswick to Saskatchewan, 

 south to Tennessee, Louisiana and Colorado. It blooms from 

 July to September 

 and during August 

 especially its masses 

 of red or rose-purple 

 flowers make a bril- 

 liant display. 



The slender, 

 nearly or entirely 

 smooth stem, 2-4 

 feet high, is very 

 leafy and branched 

 or rarely simple. 

 Two downy lines oc- 

 cur near the top and 

 on the branches of 

 the peduncles. 

 Leaves are lanceo- 

 late or oblong-lanceo- 

 late,acuminate atthe 

 tip and narrowed or 

 obscurely heart 

 shaped at the base. 



The many- 

 flowered umbels are usually quite numerous. Pedicels of the 

 flowers are hairy. In fruit they are erect or curved. The collars 

 within the corollas are more than half the length of the pink or 

 purplish hoods, and the slender incurved horns are longer. The 

 pods are erect when mature, 2-3 >^ inches long and are only 

 slightly roughened with very short hairs. 



The Prairie Milkweed, Asclepias Sullivantii Engelm., suggests the 

 Common Milkweed but is entirely smooth and grows instead in 

 moist prairies. The very smooth stem is 2-4 teet tall and bears 

 numerous oblong, nearly sessile leaves and i or more clusters of 

 rose-purple flowers which have no fragrance. The pod is nearly 

 smooth and is obscurely spiny on the beak. 



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