Common milkweed seedling1/10/2024 ![]() It is one of the most aggressive milkweeds and its purplish flowers that form ball-shaped clusters and its large warty seed pods-more striking than most milkweed pods-can help identify it. Seeds, commonly carried off by the wind, reportedly remain viable in the soil for at least 3 years.Ĭommon milkweed grows best in full sunlight or light shade and occurs in fields and waste areas and along roadsides, water body banks and forest margins. With maturity, the follicles dry up and turn brown before splitting open lengthwise, releasing numerous brown flat seeds-each with a tuft of silky hair (pappus) attached to one end. The conspicuous seed pods (follicles) are initially fleshy, pale green, covered with soft-pointed bumps, and shaped like long teardrops (3–5 inches long). A single common milkweed plant can produce an estimated 25 fruits with each fruit containing as many as 450 seeds. Although commonly lavender-pink, the flowers can also be shades of yellow or green.The flowers have both male and female parts, but must be cross-pollinated by insects to form seeds. Individual flowers are small, 5-petalled with a 5-part central crown, sweetly scented, and each occurs at the end of a long, slender flower stalk. Milkweed flowers occur in rounded clusters at stem ends and in upper leaf axils. They have short leaf stalks (petioles) and velvety undersides. They measure 3–10 inches long and 2–5 inches wide. The leaves of common milkweed are opposite and broadly oval or oblong with smooth margins, prominent veins and an often red-tinged midrib. All plant parts contain a white milky latex that is excreted upon injury. The stems are hollow, subtly squared, seldom branched, and generally covered with short downy hairs. Initially green, the stalks often turn deep red in the fall. Although the stems of common milkweed are usually solitary, multiple stems can originate from a common root crown. An erect perennial herb, milkweed grows 2–6 feet tall. This tap-rooted plant reproduces mainly by seed, but once established it can regenerate vegetatively by rhizomatous roots bearing adventitious buds. ![]() ![]() Also Known As: milkweed, butterfly flower, silkweed, Virginia silk, cottonweed, wild cottonĬommon Milkweed, Asclepias syriaca L., is native to North America and its range extends across most of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. ![]()
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