Angiosperms (Flowering Plants) • Earth.com

Swamp Milkweed

(Asclepias incarnata)

galery
en

Description

Asclepias incarnata, the swamp milkweed, rose milkweed, rose milkflower, swamp silkweed, or white Indian hemp, is a herbaceous perennial plant species native to North America. It grows in damp to wet soils and also is cultivated as a garden plant for its flowers, which attract butterflies and other pollinators with nectar. Like most other milkweeds, it has sap containing toxic chemicals, a characteristic that repels insects and other herbivorous animals. Swamp milkweed is an upright, 100 to 150 cm (39 to 59 in) tall plant, growing from thick, fleshy, white roots. Typically, its stems are branched and the clump forming plants emerge in late spring after most other plants have begun growth for the year. The oppositely arranged leaves are 7.5 to 15 cm (3 to 6 in) long and 1 to 4 cm (1⁄2 to 1 1⁄2 in) wide and are narrow and lance-shaped, with the ends tapering to a sharp point. The plants bloom in early to mid-summer, producing small, fragrant, pink to mauve (sometimes white) colored flowers in rounded umbels. The flower color may vary from darker shades of purple to soft, pinkish purple and a white flowering form exists as well. The flowers have five reflexed petals and an elevated central crown. After blooming, green seed pods, approximately 12 cm (4 3⁄4 in) long, are produced that when ripe, split open. They then release light to dark brown, flat seeds that are attached to silver-white silky-hairs ideal for catching the wind. This natural mechanism for seed dispersal is similar to that used by other milkweed plants.

Taxonomic tree:

Domain:
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum:
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order:Gentianales
Family:Apocynaceae
Genus:Asclepias
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