Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

WHORLED MILKWEED

File Size: 93 KB

Asclepias verticillata L.

Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 1-3 feet

Family: Apocynaceae - Dogbane Family

Flowering Period: June, July, August, September

Stems:

Erect, unbranched, somewhat angled, usually with lines of minute hairs extending downward from bases of leaves.

Leaves:

Whorled, 3-6 per node, simple, sessile, crowded, erect to spreading, narrowly linear to filiform, 3/4 to 3 inches long, less than 1/10 inch wide, glabrous or minutely pubescent; margins entire, rolling under; tips pointed.

Inflorescences:

Umbels, several, on stalks .5 to 1.5 inch long in axils of upper leaves, 6-20-flowered.

Flowers:

5-parted, about 1/4 inch tall, on thread-like stalks 1/4 to 1/2 inch long; calyx lobes triangular, green to purple-tinged, sparsely hairy to nearly glabrous; corolla lobes elliptic, glabrous, whitish green or sometimes purple-tinged, bent abruptly downward; hoods broadly oblong, erect, white; tips broadly rounded; horns slender, needle-like, arching inward.

Fruits:

Pods, narrowly spindle-shaped, 3 to 4 inches long, 1/4 to 1/3 inch wide, glabrous or minutely hairy, ascending or erect on straight or curved stalks; seeds egg-shaped, tufted with whitish hairs at tips.

Habitat:

Dry prairies, rocky hillsides, and sandy, open woods, most abundant on chalk or limestone soils.

Distribution:

Throughout Kansas.

Toxicity:

Very poisonous to livestock but is unpalatable and rarely consumed. It can cause problems when fed in hay.

Uses:

Some Native American tribes used whorled milkweed medicinally to treat snakebites and throat and nose ailments.

Comments:

Whorled milkweed forms colonies. Formerly treated as Asclepiadaceae - Milkweed Family.

Whorled milkweed