Common milkweed

Images

Click on image to view full size

Common Milkweed

Milkweed fruit

Milkweed infloresence

Milkweed leaves

Milkweed leaves

Milkweed fruit

Milkweed infloresence

Milkweed flowers

Milkweed

Morphology

Stem

Erect, usually solitary, stout, simple, sparsely to densely pubescent.

Leaves

Mostly opposite, ascending to spreading, broadly egg-shaped to elliptic or oblong, 2.4 to 12 inches long, 2.2 to 4.4 inches wide, firm, sparsely to moderately soft hairy above, finely woolly below; tip blunt or rounded with short, abrupt, sharp point; margins not rolled underneath; on stalks .1 to .6 inch long.

Inflorescence

Umbels, few to several, 20- to 130-flowered, in upper leaf axils; on stalks .5 to 5.5 inches long.

Flower

.4 to .7 inch tall; stalk slender, .6 to 1.8 inch long; calyx lobes 5, lanceolate, .1 to .2 inch long, green to purplish, densely pubescent; corolla lobes 5, elliptic-lanceolate, .25 to .4 inch long, reflexed, rose to purple or rarely white, minutely hairy on the back; hoods ovate, attached near base, spreading, up to .2 inch long, somewhat fleshy, tip rounded, margins with a pair of prominent teeth near the midpoint; horns sickle-shaped, united to lower 1/3 of hood, arching.

Fruit

Pod, spindle-shaped, 2.8 to 4.4 inches long, .75 to 1.4 inch thick, smooth to densely covered by projections, woolly, erect to ascending on downward-curved stalks; seeds many, broadly ovate, 1/4 to 1/3 inch long, tufted with long, silky hairs 1.4 to 1.8 inch long .

Ecology

Habitat

Found along banks of ponds or waterways, roadsides, edges of woodlands, and in open disturbed sites or waste areas.

Practical Information

Toxicity

All parts of this plant are poisonous to a greater or lesser degree. The shoots were thoroughly boiled with a change of water before being eaten.

Uses

In the spring, a number of Native American tribes cooked the young shoots and ate them as an asparagus-like food. Common milkweed was also used medicinally by Native Americans.

Additional Notes