Asclepias meadii Torr. ex A. Gray
Family: Apocynaceae
Mead's Milkweed
Asclepias meadii image
Jason Sturner  
From Flora of Indiana (1940) by Charles C. Deam

The only record from Indiana is that of a specimen collected July 3, 1888, in dry ground near Crown Point, Lake County, by Dr. M. A. Brannon. This specimen came into the hands of S. C. Wadmond of Delavan, Wisconsin, who was generous enough to donate it to me. This species is either very rare or not recognized by collectors.

Simple, 3-6 dm; lvs 3-5 pairs, lance-ovate, 5-8 cm, acute or obtuse and mucronate, rounded to the sessile base, scabrous-ciliolate, otherwise glabrous; umbel solitary, terminal, few-fld; peduncle 5-15 cm; cor greenish-white, its lobes 8-10 mm; hoods purple, much distended at base; 5-7 mm, the lateral margins with an obtuse tooth near the middle; horns subulate, incurved, shorter than the hood. Prairies; originally from c. Ill. and c. Mo. to e. Kans., with outlying sites in ne. Ind., s. Wis., and se. Io.; now rare and restricted to Ill., Mo., and Kans. June, July.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

©The New York Botanical Garden. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Asclepias meadii image
Jason Sturner  
Asclepias meadii image
Jason Sturner  
Asclepias meadii image
Jason Sturner