A natural history/meditation from “Monarchs and Milkweeds Almanac” by Ina Warren Milkweed - tuberosa

More than anything, I must have flowers, always, always. ~ Claude Monet

A selection of the common While the majority of Asclepias Flower color: names used throughout the species (50+) have opposite foliage, 6 clearly have alternate Flaming Tangerine orange country: Pleurisy Root; foliage: Asclepias cutleri, Chigger Weed; engelmanniana, hirtella, Butterfly Weed; stenophylla, tuberosa and viridis. Burning Bush; Railroad Annie; BLOSSOM: Silkweed; Archangel; Yellow Milkweed; Orange Blossom Special: Orange Swallowwort; Flower clusters arise at the top of Indian-Bokay; the very hairy stems. Each cluster Indian Paint; is relatively flat, with up to 25 Indian-Plume; individually stalked flowers, each Indian Posy; less than an inch long. The flower Indian Paint Brush; color is typically brilliant orange, Canada Root; Pleasing but also ranges from pale yellow Root; Rubber Root; to deep reddish-orange. Bloom Wind Root; Colic Root; time April to September White Root; Orange depending on location. Root; Tuber Root; Flux Root; Fly catcher It is striking, flamboyant and one of our hardiest . Transcontinental Journey: Grows across North America from Tuberosa refers to swellings on Canada to Mexico the roots or tubers. A chigger (for the uninitiated) is US Range: an orange-colored biting mite. 41 states, plus DC: AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, Give me one good reason why: FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, Asclepias tuberosa has one basic MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, difference to other Asclepias MS, NC, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NY, species: its latex is watery clear, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, not milky…. TX, UT, VA, VT, WI, WV ...a milk-less milk-weed.

HABITAT: Dirt poor: (1) drawings: botanicus.org : Canada Range Its habitat is usually in well- (2) http://plants.usda.gov 2 provinces: Ontario, Quebec drained prairies, open savannas, sandy or gravelly sites, dry/rocky 1985 ~ NC Wildflower of the Year Mexico Range: open woods, glades and fields. It 5 states: Chihuahua, Coahuila, flourishes in full sun or light PODS: Follicles erect on a Nuevo Leon, Sonora and shade and in hay fields that have deflexed pedicel (FEDP). Its twin, Tamaulipas not been herbicided. It may be upward pointing, spindle-shaped seen along roadsides and in pods mature in late summer. Elevations: Sea level to 8000’, woodland margins, thus well They are 4-6” long and less than depending on location adapted to poor soil. an inch thick. They are smooth and usually covered in fine, LEAVES: Abundant alternately Common names in Mexico: downy hairs. Seeds are dispersed arranged leaves are roughly 4” by the wind on silky tufts. Escoranilla, Oreja de conejo long and 1” wide; dagger-like Tlalacxoyatl, (English translation: blades. Once established, this Cohen and Brower (1983) Immortal); In Coahuila, it is native perennial’s foliage becomes called Desconocido reported that A. tuberosa is low in thicker each year. cardenolides. A natural history/meditation from “Monarchs and Milkweeds Almanac” by Ina Warren

(Personal note: I patronize only Like cures like?: They’re blowin’ in the wind: It nurseries that do not bash their A. tuberosa was listed in the has been determined to have customers who consciously add to 1820-1905 editions of the US roughly 6,400 seeds per ounce! their native collections the Pharmacopoeia as well as the friendly, non-native species and National Formulary for 2o years heirloom family favorites that from 1916-1936. Some journals also provide life-giving to reference it as having active our imperiled pollinators, action against tuberculosis. specifically seedless varieties of Tuber-osa vs. tuber-culosis? the Buddleja Butterfly Bush.)

My World’s - Fair Lady: Asclepias tuberosa caused quite a stir in Philadelphia at the US Centennial Exhibition in 1876. The specimens had been grown in Holland and shipped to the US for the exhibit. Mrs. William Starr Original map in R. E. Woodson, 1954 Dana remarked 20 years later, Asclepias monograph of A. tuberosa; “Truly flowers, like prophets are courtesy of www.botanicus.org at without honor in their own Missouri Botanical Garden country.”

Oh, I wish I were Asclepias tuberosa That’s the flower I’d truly Drawing from American Medical love to be Botany by Jacob Bigelow (1818) For if I were Asclepias tuberosa would be While most milkweeds are disease in love with me ! and pest free, crown rot, rust and leaf spot can be a problem if in (in your best Oscar Mayer® Wiener voice) wet or poorly drained soils. You had me at yello: According to Marie Harrison in Gardening in the Coastal South, butterfly weed “has an iron constitution. It withstands the heat and drought of July, the wind and saltwater blown in by storms, and repeated defoliation by caterpillars. In spite of all Nobody moves, nobody dies: that nature can dish out, it blooms orange, yellow or red blossoms If plants MUST be dug (rescued during the hottest part of summer.” from a bulldozer path, etc), moved or divided, it is best to transplant them either in the winter when the deep knobby roots are dormant or in the early spring while the shoots are small. Consumption be done about it?: Only in plant rescue operations Its common name pleurisy root due to habitat destruction should came about as it was said to treat they be transplanted when inflammation of the pleura flowering. Most of them die from (lining of the lungs). It was the shock of transplant. thought to be an effective expectorant. Sir Ghillean T. Lead us not into temptation: Prance, Director emeritus of Kew Lovely plantings of Butterfly Instead of digging plants from the Botanic Gardens wrote that it is Milkweed in the collections of the wild, it is ALWAYS better to “one of the most cited plants in U. S. Botanic Gardens’ Monarch support native plant nurseries by books about the medicines of Waystation in Washington, DC. purchasing their nursery-grown North American Indians.” container plants.