PINK WILD FLOWERS 
Milkweed. It has a faint odour and a sub-acrid 
taste. The roots have been especially recommended 
in cases of asthma, but they are probably of very little 
value as a medicine. The young shoots have been 
used as a vegetable, and were cooked much after the 
manner of asparagus or spinach. The stout, round 
and usually simple stalk rises from three to five feet 
high. The thick-textured leaf is long-oval in shape, 
with blunt, rounding ends: The apex of the latter is 
often tipped with a short, stiff point and the base is 
sometimes narrowed or again slightly fulled on either 
side at the short stem. The veinings are widely 
spreading and the midrib is very prominent. The 
margin is entire. The upper surface is smooth, and 
the under side is downy. The colour above is grayish 
green, and whitish or silvery beneath. The leaves 
measure from four to nine inches in length. The 
corolla lobes of the large and fleshy flower vary from 
green through white, to finally a dull purple, from 
base to tip, with the latter colour predominating. The 
numerous flowers are very fragrant. They are set on 
slender stems that spring from the same point on a 
short, drooping stalk that grows from the axils of the 
upper leaves, and they form large, handsome, rounding 
heads or umbels. In the fall, the rough-coated, satin- 
lined seed pods are filled with white silky fluff, 
which is attached to many flat, brownish seeds 
that overlap each other like so many shingles. At 
this time they are a familiar sight, and the down has 
been used for stuffing many a pillow and mattress. 
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