WILD FLOWERS OF NEW YORK 225 



pink or nearly white, its lobes lanceolate-oblong; column short, hoods 

 white, obtuse at the apex, twice as long as the anthers and short incurved 

 horns. Fruiting follicles 3 to 5 inches long, erect on ascending pedicels. 



In woods and thickets, Maine to Minnesota, south to Alabama and 

 Arkansas. 



The Polk or Tall Milkweed (Asclepias exaltata (Linnaeus) 

 Muhlenberg) is 3 to 6 feet tall, with thin, oval, ovate or oblong leaves, 

 long pointed at each end. Flowers greenish purple, drooping and arranged 

 in few or several umbels toward the top of the plant. Frequent in woods 

 and thickets. 



The White Milkweed (Asclepias variegata Linnaeus) occurs 

 only from southern New York southward. The leaves are opposite, ovate, 

 obovate or oblong, thick in texture and sometimes the middle ones verticil- 

 late in fours. Flowers white or the segments purplish near the base. 



The Whorled Milkweed (Asclepias verticillata Linnaeus) 

 is very slender and leafy, the leaves linear and verticillate in threes to 

 sixes. Flowers greenish white. It is found in dry or sandy fields in 

 southern New York, and rarely in other portions of the State. 



Common Milkweed; Silkweed 

 Asclepias syriaca Linnaeus 



Plate 175 



Stems stout, rarely branched, 2 to 5 feet high, finely pubescent above. 

 Leaves oblong to ovate, finely but densely hairy beneath, smooth above 

 when mature, pointed or blunt at the apex, rounded or slightly heart- 

 shaped at the base, 4 to 8 inches long, 2 to 4 inches wide; petioles short, 

 one-fourth to three-fourths of an inch long. Flowers numerous in one to 

 several umbels on long stalks from the upper axils of the leaves; corolla 

 purplish to greenish purple or greenish white, the segments oblong- 

 lanceolate, one-fourth to one-third of an inch long; column short and thick, 

 the hoods ovate-lanceolate with a tooth on each side, longer than the anthers 

 and the incurved horn. Fruiting follicles 3 to 5 inches long, erect on 

 recurved stalks, tomentose and covered with short, soft processes. 



Roadsides, fields and waste places, New Brunswick to Saskatchewan, 

 south to North Carolina and Kansas. Flowering from July to September. 



