BUTTERFLYWEED 



Asclepias tuberosa Linnaeus 



The butterfly weed is probably our most beautiful orange-colored 

 wild flower. Growing in poor sandy soil, it forms masses of brilliant 

 color wherever it finds a congenial foothold. The plants are visited by 

 hosts of butterflies, some of them especially adapted to the cross- 

 pollination of the flowers, which have entirely lost the ability to fer- 

 tilize themselves. Only insects with long tongues can reach the nectar 

 hidden in the deep recesses of the complicated blossoms, whose struc- 

 ture definitely places the plant in the Milkweed Family. Curiously 

 enough, however, its juice is not milky. The Indians are said to 

 have used the long roots of this and other milkweeds as a remedy 

 for various maladies, and herb doctors of a later day use them under 

 the name of pleurisy-root. Linnaeus dedicated the family to Aes- 

 culapius on account of its alleged healing qualities, though the name, 

 as he spelled it, is a Latinized corruption. The plant yields easily to 

 cultivation, provided it is planted in dry, sterile soil, and should be 

 grown in every wildflower garden with bright sunny exposure. 



Butterfly weed has a wide range, extending from Florida to northern 

 Mexico and north to Maine, Ontario, Minnesota, and Colorado. 



The specimen sketched was found near Washington, District of 

 Columbia. 



PLATE 36 



