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Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center


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Showy Milkweed (Asclepias speciosa)

Family: Milkweed (Asclepiadaceae)
Flowering: July-August.
Field Marks: This species, with greenish purple petals, is larger than the common milkweed, Asclepias syriaca, in all respects.
Habitat: Wet prairies.
Habit: Stout perennial herb with rhizomes.
Stems: Erect, branched or unbranched, hairy, up to 6 feet tall, with milky sap.
Leaves: Opposite, simple, ovate to ovate-lanceolate to oval, pointed at the tip, tapering or rounded at the base, hairy on the lower surface, up to 6 inches long, up to 3 inches broad, with milky sap.
Flowers: Several borne in umbels, each flower greenish purple, hour-glass-shaped, up to 3/4 inch long.
Sepals: 5, nearly free from each other, green, turned downward.
Petals: 5, greenish purple, turned downward, associated with a 5-parted central column.
Stamens: 5.
Pistils: Ovary superior.
Fruits: Follicles ovoid, white-woolly, with soft spines, up to 5 inches long.

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U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/plants/floramw/species/asclspec.htm
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Page Last Modified: Saturday, 02-Feb-2013 06:07:29 EST
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