Asclepiadaceae | common milkweed
A tall downy plant with slightly dropping, purplish to pink flower clusters.
Habitat: Old fields, roadsides, and waste places.
Flowers: 1/2" wide; petals 5, reflexed; conspicuous central crown divided into 5 hods; cluster 2" wide.
Leaves: 4-10" long, opposite, broad-oblong, light green with gray down beneath; exuding milky sap when bruised.
Fruit: Rough-textured pod, opening along one side, containing many overlapping seeds, each with a tuft of silky hairs.
Thieret, J. W., Niering, W. A., & Olmstead, N. C. (2001). National Audubon Society field guide to North American wildflowers: eastern region (Chanticleer Press ed.). New York: Alfred A. Knopf.