Swamp milkweed

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Swamp milkweed fruit

Swamp milkweed fruit

Swamp milkweed leaves

Swamp milkweed flowers

Swamp milkweed fruit

Swamp milkweed

Swamp milkweed

Swamp milkweed

Swamp milkweed hoods and horns

Swamp milkweed

Swamp milkweed

Swamp milkweed inflorescence

Morphology

Stem

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.

Inflorescence

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

Flower

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.

Fruit

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.

Ecology

Habitat

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

Distribution

Throughout Kansas.

Practical Information

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.

Additional Notes