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Swamp Milkweed
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Asclepias incarnata, with common names such as: Swamp Milkweed, Rose Milkweed, Swamp Silkweed and White Indian Hemp, is a herbaceous plant species native to North America. It is found growing in damp to wet soils and is also cultivated as a garden plant for its attractive flowers that are visited by butterflies. Like most other milkweeds, it has sap with toxic chemicals, used to repel insects and herbivorous animals.
p milkweed is an upright, 100 to 150 centimeter tall plant, growing from thick fleshy, white roots.
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Encyclopedia
Asclepias incarnata, with common names such as: Swamp Milkweed, Rose Milkweed, Swamp Silkweed and White Indian Hemp, is a herbaceous plant species native to North America. It is found growing in damp to wet soils and is also cultivated as a garden plant for its attractive flowers that are visited by butterflies. Like most other milkweeds, it has sap with toxic chemicals, used to repel insects and herbivorous animals.
Description
Swamp milkweed is an upright, 100 to 150 centimeter tall plant, growing from thick fleshy, white roots. The stems are branched and the clump forming plants, emerge in late spring after most other plants have started to grow. The oppositely arranged leaves are 7 to 15 centimeter long and are narrow and lance-shaped, the ends taper to a sharp point. It blooms in early to mid summer, producing small, fragrant, pink to mauve (sometimes white) colored flowers in rounded umbels. The flowers have five reflexed petals and an elevated central crown. After blooming, green seed pods, around 12 centimeters long, are produced that when ripe, split open to release light to dark brown, flat seeds, that are attached to silver-white silky-hairs; making the seeds easily carried away by the wind.
Habitat and uses
Swamp milkweed prefers moisture retentive to damp soils in full sun to part shade and is typically found growing wild near the edges of ponds, lakes, streams and low areas or along ditches. It is one of the best attractors of the Monarch Butterfly which feeds on the flowers and lays its eggs on the plants and the caterpillars feed on the leaves. They have specialized roots for living in heavy wet soils, the scented, thick, white roots are adapted to live in environments low in oxygen. Plants bloom in mid to late summer and after blooming; long, relatively thin, rounded pods are produced that are upright growing. The pods split open in late summer to late fall releasing seeds that are attached to silky hairs that act as parachutes that carry the seeds on the currents of the wind.
This species is commonly cultivated, especially in gardens for attracting butterflies. The flower color can vary from darker shades of purple to soft pinkish purple, with white flowering forms existing too. A number of cultivars are available and the plants are used as fresh cut flowers, most for their long lasting flower display but sometimes also for the seed pods.
Gallery
Image:Swamp Milkweed Asclepias incarnata Flowers Closeup 2800px.jpg|Flowers closeup
Image:Swamp Milkweed Asclepias incarnata Insect 2732px.jpg|Flowers with a Sphex ichneumoneus feeding on its nectar
Image:Swamp Milkweed Asclepias incarnata Emerging Leaves 2000px.JPG|Leaves emerging from a stalk
Image:Monarch Butterfly Danaus plexippus Vertical Caterpillar 2000px.jpg|A seed pod with a mature monarch butterfly caterpillar
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