Showy milkweed

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Showy milkweed leaves

Showy milkweed

Showy milkweed

Showy milkweed

Showy milkweed

Showy milkweed fruit

Showy milkweed

Morphology

Stem

Erect, simple; plants sparsely to densely puberulent, not glaucous; sap milky.

Leaves

Opposite; petiole .08 to .5 inch; blade cordate to ovate, lanceolate, oblong, or elliptic, 2.8 to 5.5 inches long, 1.5 to 4.3 inches wide, margins entire, tip acute or rounded.

Inflorescence

Umbel-like cymes, 1-6, terminal and axillary, 10-40-flowered.

Flower

.7 to 1 inch tall, .6 to .8 inch wide; calyx lobes 5, lanceolate, .16 to .25 inch; corolla purplish rose, lobes reflexed, elliptic, .3 to .5 inch; hoods 5, pale pink to white, spreading, .3 to .5 inch, margins with a pair of blunt teeth below middle, tip long-tapering; horns sickle-shaped, 0.4-0.6 times as long as hoods, united to lower 1/3--1/2 of hoods, arching over anther head.

Fruit

Pods, spindle-shaped, 3.5 to 4.7 inches long, .8 to 1.2 inch wide, covered with numerous awl-shaped projections, woolly; seeds elliptic, .25 to .25 inch, tufted with white silky hairs, 1.2 to 1.6 inch long.

Ecology

Habitat

Moist soils of mixed-, shortgrass, and sand prairies, roadsides, waste ground, flood plains, lake margins.

Distribution

West 3/4 of Kansas

Practical Information

Uses

Native American used a decoction of plant tops as an eyewash for snow blindness; a poultice of mashed roots was applied for rheumatism; a decoction of seeds was used to draw poison from snakebites; and the milky juice was used to remove corns and calluses and heal sores, cuts, and ringworm and was dried and allowed to harden as chewing gum. The green, immature fruits were peeled and the inner layer eaten raw; and young, unopened buds were boiled with meat, gravy, or soup.

Additional Notes