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Species Image Gallery (opens in a new window) |
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| THE MILKWEED FAMILY | ||
| The milkweeds are widespread in tropical,
subtropical, and warm temperate regions of the world. They are found in
different habitats including marshes, swamps, deserts, rainforests, and
grasslands. Sometimes they even grow in disturbed areas, for example, roadsides. There are features that all, or at least most, of the milkweeds have in common. For example, these plants have a milky sap that you can see when you break open that stem, leaves, and sometimes the flowers. Be careful though, this milky sap contains bitter-tasting and sometimes poisonous substances. Milkweeds are herbs, shrubs, lianas, or rarely trees. In this family, the leaves are usually opposite. The flowers are found in an umbel or an umbrella-like cluster. The flowers have five sepals, petals, and stamens. One unique feature of milkweed flowers is the corona, which is formed from the fusion of the filaments of the stamens. The filaments have petal-like appendages that make the corona look like petals. The flowers are scented to attract insects for pollination. The fruits are pods called follicles that release seeds with long silky hairs. |
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| WHORLED MILKWEED | ||
| LATIN NAME: Asclepias syriaca | ||
| WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? | ||
| Silkweed grows up to 2 m high. This plant has very deep taproots which help it to get water from the ground. Like most milkweeds, silkweed has opposite leaves along its hairy stem. The leaves are wider in the middle than at the top or bottom and come to a point at the tip. The edges of the leaf are smooth or wavy and if you look underneath, you will see a reddish line; this is the midrib. There are between 20 and 30 flowers in each umbel. The flowers are purplish green with whitish or purplish coronas. The seeds are flat with long, white, silky hairs. | ||
| WHERE DOES IT GROW? | ||
| Silkweed grows on river slopes and shrubby river banks. In the United States, this plant also grows in fields and roadsides. | ||
| WHERE IS IT FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN? | ||
| There is only one population in Saskatchewan in the Souris River Valley of the southeastern corner of the province. Silkweed is found in the Moist Mixed Grassland ecoregion. | ||
| WHY IS IT RARE? | ||
| This plant is considered endangered in Saskatchewan because there is only one population. It is in an area that is grazed by cattle and may be sensitive to grazing or trampling. It also may have been affected by the construction of the Rafferty Dam. | ||
| HOW TO IDENTIFY SILKWEED | ||
| * Is there a white milky sap when you break the
leaves or stem? * Are the leaves opposite on the stem with a reddish midrib underneath? * Are the flowers purplish? * Did you find it in the southeastern part of the province? |
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| If you answered yes to all of these questions, you may have found silkweed! | ||
