flDill^weeb jfamil^. 



Poke Milkweed. Asclepias phytolaccoides. 



Fouud in moist and shady banks in July. 



The leafy stalk is not hollow, but very milky, of a close, firm fibre ; 

 it is smooth or slightly downy — especially when young; from 2 to 5 

 feet in height ; clear green. 



The large lower leaves (5 or 6 inches long by 3 inches in width) 

 are oval, pointed at both ends ; the upper are narrower ; their margins 

 are entire, midribs strong, and texture very thin and fine, downy and 

 pleasant to the touch. In color a clear green, paler beneath, the midrib 

 being pinkish above. They are set on short stems, in pairs, which grow 

 at alternate angles. 



The flower is large ; its oval lobes are very much reversed, and 

 colored a clear light green ; the crown tubes are broad, short, and 

 notched at their tips ; the horns are long and needle-pointed, they curve, 

 and meet together in the center ; these parts are all ivory white, while 

 the little calyx is green. The flowers nod and droop on long, slender, 

 pale foot-stems that hang in a loose cluster on a stout thick stem, which 

 springs from the angle of a side leaf. 



Sometimes the plant bears more than one of these flower-clusters ; 

 it is the most delicate of our common Milkweeds, exceeding even the 

 Four-leaved in fineness, and the ivory white of its flower crown is re- 

 markable for its clarity of hue. 



43° 



