Mead's milkweed

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Mead's milkweed

Mead's milkweed leaves

Mead's milkweed leaves

Mead's milkweed inflorescence

Mead's milkweed

Mead's milkweed leaves

Mead's milkweed inflorescence

Morphology

Stem

Plants glabrous, glaucous; sap milky. Stems erect, simple.

Leaves

Opposite; petiole absent; blade narrowly lanceolate to ovate, 2 to 3 3/5 inch long, 3/5 to 1 4/5 inch wide, apex acute.

Inflorescence

Umbel-like cyme, terminal, 8--20-flowered.

Flower

1/3 to 3/4 inch long, 1/4 to 3/5 inch wide; calyx lobes 5, lanceolate to triangular, 1/8 to 1/5 inch; corolla lobes 5, greenish cream sometimes tinged purple, lobes reflexed, lance-oblong to elliptic, 1/4 to 2/5 inch; hoods 5, greenish cream, petal-like, erect, 1/6 to 1/4 inch, margins with a pair of teeth distally, tip rounded; horns sickle-shaped, fused to bases of hoods, arching over anther head.

Fruit

Pods, narrowly spindle-shaped, 3 to 4 inches long, 1/3 to 2/5 inch wide, smooth, glabrous; seeds ovate, ca. 1/3 inch; tufted with white silky hairs, 1 1/5 to 1 3/5 inch long.

Ecology

Habitat

Tallgrass prairies

Distribution

East 1/4 of Kansas

Additional Notes