ASCLEPIADACEAE (MILK WEED FAMILY) 317 
Means of control 
Drainage of the ground is the first step toward the destruction 
of Swamp Milkweed, after which it needs to be kept closely cut 
throughout the growing season in order to starve the perennial 
roots. 
SHOWY MILKWEED 
Asclépias speciosa, Torr. * 
Native. Perennial. Propagates by seeds. 
Time of bloom: June to August. 
Seed-time: August to October. 
Range: Minnesota to British Columbia, southward to Arkansas, 
Utah, and California. 
Habitat: Moist soil; wet meadows and along streams. 
Plants of this species are sometimes smooth, but usually they 
are finely white-woolly all over, even to the flowers, of which the 
calyx is densely so. Stems simple, stout, one to two and a half 
feet tall. Leaves opposite, thick, broadly ovate to heart-shaped, 
grayish green, with large veins and short, stout petioles. Umbels 
many-flowered, the corollas greenish purple, the pedicels and the 
stout peduncle softly hairy. Follicles plump, three or four inches 
long, covered with soft, spinous processes, and also densely white- 
woolly, held erect or slightly spreading on recurved pedicels. 
Means of control 
Drainage of the ground. Uprooting with grubbing-hoe or plow, 
or such close and persistent cutting as to rob the perennial roots 
of all sustenance. 
COMMON MILKWEED 
Asclépias syriaca, L. 
Other English names: Silkweed, Cottonweed. 
Native. Perennial. Propagates by seeds and by rootstocks. 
Time of bloom: June to August. 
Seed-time: August to October. : 
Range: New Brunswick to the Northwest Territory, southward to 
Georgia, Missouri, and Kansas. 
Habitat: Fields, pastures, roadsides, and waste places. 
