Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

SWAMP MILKWEED

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Asclepias incarnata L.

Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 2-8 feet

Family: Apocynaceae - Dogbane Family

Flowering Period: June, July, August, September

Stems:

Erect, mostly solitary, simple to branced above, stout, glabrous or with lines of hairs extending downward from leaf bases.

Leaves:

Mostly opposite, ascending to spreading, lanceolate, 1.2 to 6 inches long, 1/5 to 1.8 inches wide, thin, pliable, sparsely hairy on veins; tips pointed; on stalks 1/5 to 3/5 inch long.

Inflorescences:

Umbels, few to many, 10- 40-flowered, terminal; on stalks 1/2 to 3 inches long.

Flowers:

5-parted, 2/5 inch tall; on thread-like stalks 2/5 to 4/5 inch long; calyx lobes lanceolate to ovate, less than 1/10 inch long, green to purple; corolla lobes elliptic to oblanceolate, 1/4 inch long, bright pink or rarely white, glabrous, bent abruptly downward; hoods oblong, pinkish or whitish, attached near base, slightly spreading; horns needle-shaped, white, united to lower half of hood.

Fruits:

Pods, spindle-shaped, 2 to 3 inches long, glabrous to sparsely hairy, erect on straight to curved stalks; seeds many, broadly ovate, 1/4 to 1/3 inch long; tufted with white hairs at tip.

Habitat:

Wet areas; lake and pond edges, stream banks, and marshy swamps.

Distribution:

Throughout Kansas.

Uses:

Native Americans used an infusion of roots as a wash to give strength and heal the navels of newborn babies; boiled the plant and took the liquid for kidney and back ailments; used dried stem fibers to help extract teeth; and used the heads in soups.

Comments:

Formerly treated as Asclepiadaceae - Milkweed Family.

Swamp milkweed