Intro: Erect perennial of upland forests and woodland edges.

Stems: Stems solitary, stout, weakly hairy; leaks milky sap when bruised.

Leaves: Leaves opposite, usually in 2-6 pairs (lowermost pair reduced in size), petiolate, oval to widely elliptic, to 5½ in. long, dark green and smooth above, pale green and hairy beneath.

Inforescence:

Flowers: Flowers in a crowded, globe-shaped terminal umbel; white, about 3/8 in. long, consisting of 5 spreading-reflexed corolla lobes and a central crown--composed of 5 2-parted appendages ("hood" and "horn")--with a purple ring at the base and surrounding a complex structure of fused anthers and style.

Fruits: Fruit an erect, spindle-shaped follicle containing tufted seeds.

Comments: This white-flowered milkweed, like others in the genus, produces a generous supply of nectar in the flowers that is favored by butterflies (including the Monarch, though it is not an important food source for their caterpillars), skippers and bees, wasps and ants.

Height: 2-3 ft.

plant sale text: This white-flowered milkweed, like others in the genus, produces a generous supply of nectar in the flowers that is favored by butterflies (including the Monarch, though it is not an important food source for their caterpillars), skippers and bees, wasps and ants. The flowers are at stem's end in umbels, individuals having a red ring between the sepals and the upper parts of the flower giving the plant its common name redring milkweed. It thrives in average to dry conditions, becoming quite drought tolerant once established. Also grows well at the edge of woods, tolerating some shade.

bloom table text:

description: Erect perennial of upland forests and woodland edges.

stems: Stems solitary, stout, weakly hairy; leaks milky sap when bruised.

leaves: Leaves opposite, usually in 2-6 pairs (lowermost pair reduced in size), petiolate, oval to widely elliptic, to 5½ in. long, dark green and smooth above, pale green and hairy beneath.

inflorescence:

flowers: Flowers in a crowded, globe-shaped terminal umbel; white, about 3/8 in. long, consisting of 5 spreading-reflexed corolla lobes and a central crown--composed of 5 2-parted appendages ("hood" and "horn")--with a purple ring at the base and surrounding a complex structure of fused anthers and style.

fruits: Fruit an erect, spindle-shaped follicle containing tufted seeds.

comments: This white-flowered milkweed, like others in the genus, produces a generous supply of nectar in the flowers that is favored by butterflies (including the Monarch, though it is not an important food source for their caterpillars), skippers and bees, wasps and ants.

cultural notes:

germination code:

native range: eastern North America