Whorled Milkweed

(Asclepias verticillata L.)

Asclepiadaceae (Milkweed Family)

▲▼ mature, flowering plants, about 18-24 inches tall

▲▼ mature, flowering plants, about 18-24 inches tall

▲▼ flowers on stems

▲ flower detail

▲ whorled leaves on stem

▲ colony of whorled milkweed in Nebraska

·         Whorled Milkweed: (page 56-57 in Weeds of the Great Plains, not in Weeds of the Northeast)

o   a creeping perennial with rhizomes

o   leaves linear, not hairy, in whorls around stem at nodes

o   flowers are greenish-white in terminal axils; fruit is slender pod

o   sap is one of the more poisonous of milkweeds—poisoning more common with this species

o   found in pastures, roadsides, in good, sandy or clayey soils; tolerates wetter soils

o   similar western whorled milkweed is found in western part of midwest, and has more branching in upper stems and is often found in wetter soils  (wetter for western midwest)

o   there are several native Missouri milkweed species with narrow, but opposite (not whorled) leaves—they appear at first to be whorled milkweed, but lack of whorled leaves indicates they are another species