Asclepias verticillata L.

Eastern Whorled Milkweed

Herb

Perennial

Vascular

Eastern Whorled Milkweed is a native herbaceous perennial in the Dogbane family (Apocynaceae). It can be found throughout Alabama. Eastern Whorled Milkweed occurs on sand hills, in prairies, on chalk outcrops, in cedar glades, and in dry, open woods. It is a perennial with a fibrous root system. Plants are often colonial with short, thin rhizomes. The stems are usually unbranched, 1-3 feet tall, pubescent in lines, and green or reddish brown in color. The leaves are sessile or short petiolate, whorled, 4-6 in number per node, linear, often revolute, and pubescent or glabrate (becoming glabrous with age). All parts of the plant exude a milky sap when damaged. The flowers are produced in umbels from the upper leaf axils. Each umbel has 7-20 pedicellate flowers. Individual flowers have 5 small, green sepals that are hidden by the reflexed petals when the flower is open. There are 5 strongly reflex greenish-white petals, and 5 hoods. The hoods have prominent horns that are strongly bent over the center of the flower. The hoods and horns are white in color. The fruit is a follicle. The seed are flat, oval, and brown in color. Each seed has a tuff of white hairs that aid in wind dispersal. Eastern Whorled Milkweed is sometimes available from wildflower nurseries or as seed. It prefers a well-draining soil in full or partial sun. It is tolerant of poor soils and drought once established. The foliage of Eastern Whorled Milkweed is a larval food source for Monarch butterflies.--A. Diamond

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Native

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