Whorled Milkweed

Asclepias verticillata, commonly known as whorled milkweed, is an upright perennial that typically grows to 2 1/2’ tall on simple, usually unbranched stems clad with long, narrow, sessile, needle-like, linear leaves (each 2-3” long) with revolute margins arranged in whorls of 3 to 6 at each node along the length of the stems. Stems ooze a milky sap when cut or broken. This plant is native to glades, dry prairies, dry slopes, dry open woods, pastures, fields and roadsides in a large part of central and eastern North America extending from Massachusetts to Ontario and Saskatchewan south to Arizona and Florida.

Flowers bloom in small clusters (umbellate cymes of 3-20 flowers) in the upper leaf axils and stem ends between June and September. Flowers are fragrant. Each tiny flower (to 1/4” long) has a 5 lobed calyx, 5 greenish-white corolla lobes and 5 white hoods with incurved horns protruding from each hood. Flowers give way to smooth, narrow seed pods (to 3” long) which split open when ripe releasing numerous silky-tailed seeds for dispersal by the wind.