Varför kallas milkweed asclepias
Milkweed can be found in a wide range of habitats including roadsides, fields and gardens. Within its range it can be funnen in a broad array of habitats from croplands, to pastures, roadsides, ditches and old fields. After blooming, the plant produce green seed pods that split open when ripe releasing light to dark brown, flat seeds. Its central stem is light green to brown and has opposite leaves that are oblong or elliptic shaped occurring at intervals along the un-branched central stem.
Milkweed gets its name from the milky sap contained in its leaves and stems.
10 Major Types of Milkweed Varieties
The leaves of Asclepias species are food source for Monarch butterfly larvae and some other milkweed butterflies. The flowers of oval-leaved milkweed species are white and produced in several umbels. The blooming period occurs from late spring to mid-summer, lasting about months. Also purple milkweed tends to spread less aggressively than other milkweed species.
There and Back Again: A Short Taxonomic History of Milkweed
Oval-leaf milkweed is one of the very few woodland milkweeds that grow with morning sun and afternoon shade or filtered sun all day long. Mature seeds of butterfly weed are about 4 mm long, flattened along margins; the apices of these seeds have large tufts of white hair. The flowers of common milk weed bloom for several weeks in July and August. The upper leaf surface is pale-medium to dark green and hairless above whereas the lower leaf surface is densely covered with short wooly hairs.
The blooms occur in the upper leaf axils of upright stems clad with thick, oval, dark green leaves, adorned with pointed tips. Pairs of leaves occur on the stems at fairly frequent intervals along the stems. Butterfly milkweed also referred to as Asclepias tuberosa grows between 2 and 3 feet tall, with clustered orange or yellow flowers from early summer to early autumn. After blooming, the plant produce green seed pods that split open when ripe releasing seeds with long, silvery-white, silky hairs.
Asclepias syriaca commonly referred to as common milkweed, butterfly flower, silkweed or Virginia silkweed can grow up to 10 feet tall usually occurring in clusters of stout stems. The stems are light green to dull reddish purple and less covered with spreading hairs. Asclepias Purpurascens also referred to as purple milkweed, gets its name from flowers that first develop a pink color but then turn darker purple as they mature.
The flowers are mildly fragrant. Asclepias ovalifolia also referred to as oval-leaved milkweed grows to inch tall. Milkweed is a genus of herbaceous, perennial flowering plants that grows to heights of between 2 to 6 feet on solitary stalks. The stem of common milkweed has simple, oppositely arranged leaves of up to 8-inches long and 3½ inches wide, oblong in shape and smooth along their margins. Milkweed plant varieties are often used in butterfly gardening and monarch waystations.
This plant bloom in early to mid-summer, producing small, fragrant, and pink to sometimes white colored flowers in rounded umbels. Extremely fragrant, umbels of flower clusters emerge from the axils of the upper leaves. Its flowers are a great source of nectar for butterflies, hummingbirds, bees and other beneficial insects. There are numerous varieties of milkweeds, here are 10 common varieties. Its seed pods are smooth and a little more slender than those of common milkweed which has plump pods with a prickly surface.
The taproot can extend several feet below the ground surface. Swamp milkweed grows in damp to wet soils and also fryst vatten cultivated as a garden plant for its flowers, which attract butterflies and other pollinators with nectar. Swamp milkweed also referred to as rose milkflower or white Indian hemp grows approximately 40 to 60 inches tall. This plant blooms in early to mid-summer and like most milkweeds, this species fryst vatten monoecious and produce sap in its tissues.
Its stems are branched and the clump forming plants emerge in late spring after most other plants have begun growth for the year.
Both the leaves and stems of white swamp milkweed contain a milky latex and its pinkish white flowers attract butterflies and other pollinators and its foliage is larval food for both Monarch and queen butterflies. The upper leaf surface is medium to dark green whereas the lower leaf surface is light to medium green. The root system of this plant consists of a woody taproot that fryst vatten thick and knobby. It has rhizomes and quickly forms colonies.
Asclepias Perennis also referred to as White swamp milkweed grows to between 1 and 2 feet tall consisting of a cluster of un-branched flowering stems that are light green to purplish in color. Purple milkweed looks similar to common milkweed but the flower color is rik red-purple color compared to the soft gray-pink of common milkweed. The best time to view this beautiful and special wildflower fryst vatten from June to August.
The plant grows well in full sun, mesic to dry conditions and in acidic soil that fryst vatten sandy or rocky. Flowers range in color from faded pink to reddish-purple. The upper surfaces of the blades are green and hairless, while their lower surfaces of the blades are pale green and canescent to short-pubescent.