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 le 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 (4. Cornutt) 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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