Silkweed.

Asclepias syriaca. Milkweed Family. June - Aug.

A plant 3 - 5 feet high, found in fields, roadsides, waste places. Common. New Brunswick south to North Carolina and Kansas; also westward.

Flowers

Variable in color, dull crimson-pink, lilac or yellowish; one or more thick clusters springing from the leaf angles. Seed pods large, filled with silky down and flat, overlapping seeds.

Leaves

Opposite, broad oblong, toothless.

Common Milkweed.

Purple Milkweed

A. purpurascens.

Similar in habit to the preceding. Found in woods, dry fields. New Hampshire to Ontario, Minnesota, Kansas, and southward.

Flowers

Crimson or crimson-magenta, in terminal clusters.

Leaves

Elliptical or egg-shaped, upper ones taper-pointed, minutely downy beneath.