Milkweed seed pod releasing seeds in the setting sun. The Common Milkweed is the plant that most people associate with the word “milkweed”. This is a tall and conspicuous species that sometimes forms large clones. The umbels bear large balls of pink to purplish flowers that have an attractive aroma. Asclepias syriaca, commonly called common milkweed, butterfly flower, silkweed, silky swallow-wort, and Virginia silkweed, is a species of flowering plant. It is in the genus Asclepias, the milkweeds. This species is native to southern Canada and of much of the conterminous eastern U.S., east of the Rocky Mountains, excluding the drier parts of the prairies. It grows in sandy soils and other kinds of soils in sunny areas. Common milkweed is a clonal perennial herb growing up to 2.6 m 8.5 ft tall. Its ramets grow from rhizomes. All parts of common milkweed plants produce white latex when broken. The simple leaves are opposite or sometimes whorled; broad ovate-lanceolate; up to 25 cm 9.8 in long and 12 cm 4.7 in broad, usually with entire, undulate margins and reddish main veins. They have very short petioles and velvety undersides. Many kinds of insects visit A. syriaca flowers, and some kinds pollinate them, including Apis mellifera Western honey bees and Bombus spp. bumble bees.

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拍攝者： Natureheart