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Balloon Plant
Asclepias physocarpa
29.8431, 79.6033
Field Notes
Description:
Commonly known as balloon plant, balloon cotton-bush, family jewels plant or swan plant, it is a species of milkweed.
The plant is native to southeast Africa, but it has been widely naturalized. It is often used as an ornamental plant. The name "balloon plant" is an allusion to the swelling bladder-like pods which are full of seeds.
Habitat:
The plant blooms in warm months. It grows on roadside banks, at elevations of 2800 to 5000 feet above sea level. The plant prefers moderate moisture, as well as sandy and well-drained soil and full sun.
The flowers are small, with white hoods and about 1 cm across. The capsule is a pale green, and in shape an inflated sphere. It is covered with rough hairs. It reaches three inches in diameter. The leaves are light green, linear to lanceolate and 3 to 4 inches long, 1.2 cm broad. The seeds have silky tufts (as visible in my second photo)
Notes:
Found this one in a tea garden on a hill station (6000 ft above sea level), growing among the garden plants consisting of perennials and annual plants. I'm sure that someone would stop at this plant to find out what it is?!
Interestingly I also find that the plant is a food source for the caterpillars of Danaus butterflies, and is a specific Monarch butterfly food and habitat plant. It is also popular in traditional medicine to cure various ailments.
All of the milkweeds are named for a milky sap in the plant's stem and leaves. After the Monarch caterpillar has metamorphosed into a butterfly, the alkaloids from the sap they ingested from the plant are retained in the butterfly, making it unpalatable to predators.
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