Common milkweed

Asclepias syriaca

Description 4

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.

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  4. (c) floracliff, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)

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