Intro: Erect perennial of pocosin ecotones, wet pine savannas, sandhill seeps and seepage swamps.
Stems: Stem solitary, unbranched, with 3-5 leaf nodes, smooth or with hair in lines between nodes; leaks milky sap when bruised.
Leaves: Leaves opposite, sessile or nearly so, lance-shaped and round or weakly heart-shaped at the base, 3 1/2-5 in. long, margins wavy, sparsely hairy.
Inforescence:
Flowers: Flowers in rounded terminal and upper axillary umbels, about 1.5 in. wide; flowers dull red to pinkish-purple, 1/2-3/4 in. long, consisting of 5 strongly reflexed corolla lobes and a lighter-colored central crown--composed of 5 2-parted appendages ("hood" and "horn")--surrounding a complex structure of fused anthers and style.
Fruits: Fruit an erect, narrowly spindle-shaped follicle containing tufted seeds.
Comments:
Height: 1 1/2-4 ft.
plant sale text: Poke Milkweed has terminal umbels of white flowers, sometimes tinged with a lavender or greenish tint. The flowers are produced in such profusion that overall this plant is quite showy when in bloom. The flowers of this southeastern native species are arranged in large, drooping umbels. The nectar of the flowers attracts many butterflies. This species is also a host plant for the larvae of Monarch and other species of butterflies. Poke Milkweed grows at the edges of woods and along roadsides.
bloom table text:
description: Erect perennial of pocosin ecotones, wet pine savannas, sandhill seeps and seepage swamps.
stems: Stem solitary, unbranched, with 3-5 leaf nodes, smooth or with hair in lines between nodes; leaks milky sap when bruised.
leaves: Leaves opposite, sessile or nearly so, lance-shaped and round or weakly heart-shaped at the base, 3 1/2-5 in. long, margins wavy, sparsely hairy.
inflorescence:
flowers: Flowers in rounded terminal and upper axillary umbels, about 1.5 in. wide; flowers dull red to pinkish-purple, 1/2-3/4 in. long, consisting of 5 strongly reflexed corolla lobes and a lighter-colored central crown--composed of 5 2-parted appendages ("hood" and "horn")--surrounding a complex structure of fused anthers and style.
fruits: Fruit an erect, narrowly spindle-shaped follicle containing tufted seeds.
comments:
cultural notes:
germination code:
native range: eastern United States