CommonMilkweed

=Common Milkweed= (Ascelpias syriaca)

[[image:IMG_0156b.jpg width="335" height="261" align="right" caption="Figure 1: Common Milkweed. Colin Peterson on 9/25/08"]]

 * Common Milkweed** is a medium-sized plant found in a small patch in the Ames High Prairie, just to the left after passing the mailbox.¹ Milkweed is commonly known for its white, flurry seeds and their long, tough pods.¹ The pods (and seeds) are usually fully-grown and opening in the fall, so Milkweed is well known as a fall plant. It is called milkweed because of the white sap it contains in the stem.

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Identifying The //__**Common**__// Milkweed
Common Milkweed is distinguished between other varieties of Milkweed and (when in bloom) other flowers by a number of details. Because it is considered a weed, you will only find it in unkept areas like roadsides, and of course, our prairie. It grows to be anywhere from 2 - 6 feet tall,² our samples are about 4 feet high.¹ During the fall season, its seed pods are rough, compared to Sullivant's Milkweed, which has a slick, smooth surface. The pods will be fully grown and bursting open (I had the great luck of seeing one burst as I was taking pictures) in the fall. The seeds are brown, and carry white, silky "wings" that help it carry in the wind.¹ It's stem will be a brown or yellow color, compared to green in its summer bloom season. It is also covered in small, numerous, hairs the whole length.³ You can see in figure 1 its pods, stem, and dead leaves at the bottom. It will probably also be crawling with bugs, like the little orange beetles you can see in figure 1.⁴ In the //summer//, its flowers will be blooming. The color of the flower will vary.² The flowers will be in clusters and will be dead by August.² The leaves on common milkweed are elongated and ovular, and rotate around the stem.³ They are 2 - 10 inches long.² Figure 2 shows Common Milkweed in its summer bloom period. Keep in mind that Common Milkweed is always different in different areas. Its color vibrancy, flower size and color, stem height and size, pod size, and leaf size can all vary depending on moisture levels, soil content, and other factors. Differentiating between Milkweed species is difficult, because differences often minute and and there are 140 known varieties.⁵

History and Etymology
Milkweed is a plant native to North American.⁵ The Common Milkweed was first described by Cornut in 1635, and the Milkweed family was later officially named //Asclepias// by Linnaeus.⁵ Asclepias comes from Asklepios, the Greek god of healing, because it has historically been used for medicinal purposes. Linnaeus thought the species came to Europe from Asia, so he named it (syriaca) incorrectly, creating a misnomer.⁵ Scientific plant names can't be changed, so the misnomer is stuck. Native Americans had been using the plant for centuries before Cornut, however.⁴ Natives used the plant's milky latex for medicinal purposes with all sorts of calamities. The plant can also be used as a flax. The seed pods, or follicles, are edible if boiled, and have historically been eaten, as well as the dried (milk) latex.<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255)">⁴ It has also been used in tea. The United States had it listed as treatment for lung and thorax disease in the nineteenth century.<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255)">⁶ In World War II, Milkweed suddenly became popular. The rubber shortage caused the U.S. to look for alternatives, and milkweed was tried, mostly unsuccessfully. However, it worked well in flotation devices and flying suits.<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255)">⁴ Supposedly, the government encouraged children to collect the plants' follicles for these purposes.<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255)">⁶

Plant Structure and Flower
As previously mentioned, the plant is about 2 - 6 feet tall. The plant's flowers are located near the top of the stem.<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255)">¹ The plant's leaves spiral down the side, about 2 - 4 inches apart along the stem, two located opposite of each other. The flower umbels, or the flower bunches, are 2 - 4 inches apart, with each individual flower being only a quarter inch wide.<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255)">³ When the seed releasing season comes (fall) the leaves and stem are dead and the plant has retreated to its rhizome for the winder. The seed pods*, also called follicles, or the plant's fruit, are around 4 inches long.<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255)">¹ The pods are a rough, thick, coating, holding the seeds until the are mature. the seeds are only millimeters in size. Each follicle, about one inch thick, contains dozens of seeds, varying between pods.<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255)">¹ The milky sap contains various toxins like alkaloids and caoutchouc, and is toxic when consumed by animals,<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255)">⁵ and is therefore dangerous to livestock, but they do not eat it. The Milkweed plant doesn't stick out amongst a prairie, but can instantly be identified in the fall by their seed pods.¹ Milkweed grows mostly in sandy soils with lots of sunlight, but it is very versatile. The plant can become invasive.<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255)">⁵

Life Cycle and Reproduction
Common Milkweed is perennial, meaning that a single plant lives for more than two years, by regenerating from the winter through its root-stock.<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255)">⁵ It is also herbaceous, meaning that its stem dies to soil level down at winter.<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255)">⁵ In the spring, Milkweed grows back out from its deep buried rhizome, spring up to the ground. By July, it is fully grown and its flowers blooming.<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255)">³ When the seeds are spread, some will find soil and take root. When the plant is mature enough to make its own seeds, it requires regular pollination. This occurs via insects inadvertently spreading the flowers' pollen between Milkweed plants. Without pollination, the seeds will simply be sterile.<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255)">⁵

Role in the Ames High Prairie
Milkweed is very famous for one very important reason: Monarch Butterflies. The plant is a favorite location for Monarch Butterflies to reproduce. Their larvae are born and initially feed off the plant.<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255)">³ Also, the butterflies deliberately come in contact with the plant to douse themselves in the plant's toxin to make them poisonous to predators.<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255)">³ Many a Monarch watcher will plant Milkweed to attract the butterflies. Also, Milkweed is food to many insects. Caterpillars, beetles, and moths feed on its nectar.<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255)">¹ Its pollen is usually spread by moths and butterflies, but rarely bees. <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255)">³ In fact, entire species, known as "Milkweed Bugs" feed solely on the plant.<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255)">³ No herbivorous Mammals will eat this plant due to its poison. Milkweed is an integral part of the ecosystem of our prairie, and of much of the remaining "wild" Central United States. Still well known as a "butterfly plant", the Milkweed has good future prospects in commercial use as a bast fiber plant, the best (bast fiber) indegenious species we have (USDA study).<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255)">⁵ Milkweed is beautiful plant, and very interesting to study.

References / Bibliography

 * Text / Information**
 * 1) My (Colin Peterson's) basic observations about the plant. Most if not all can be established by looking at the article's pictures.
 * 2) http://www.ehow.com/how_2063412_identify-common-milkweed.html -eHow article on identifying the Common Milkweed plant. Used in the //Identifying// section.
 * 3) http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/weeds/plants/cm_milkweed.htm -Illinois flower information site, but includes useful information on Common Milkweed, which isn't any different from the Common Milkweed in Iowa.
 * 4) http://www.holoweb.com/cannon/common2.htm -A hobbyist's page documenting the species he identifies on his wilderness land ( much like our project here ). He has written a good article on Common Milkweed. The reliability of the site can be established by checking it with a more reliable source, source number 5 below, or other sources as well.
 * 5) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asclepias_syriaca -The Wikipedia entry on Common Milkweed. A somewhat short article, but provides lots of pictures and good references to establish credibility.
 * 6) http://www.woodrow.org/teachers/bi/2000/Ethnobotany/milkweed.html -A collective study of biodiversity and how it is contemporarily threatened. They have pages on individual species, including common Milkweed.


 * Pictures (figure numbers)**
 * 1) Taken by Colin Peterson. Taken at the AHS Prairie on 9/25/08
 * 2) © Larry Allain. USDA Plants ( links to plants.USDA.gov ) **NOT FROM OUR PRAIRIE!!**
 * 3) Taken by Colin Peterson. Seeds extracted from praire on 9/25/08. Photo taken indoors on 10/1/08.


 * Page Information**
 * * The terms seed pod, fruit, and follicles are all used interchangeably in the article to describe the plants protective seed case.
 * Almost all information of this page was collected from more than one source. The source listed is the //primary// source used in the particular statement.
 * Clicking on pictures not taken by a student will link to the site from which they were retrieved. Consider them __//external//__ links. For info on where the link will take you, see the above "Pictures" section.
 * All content, typing, formatting and referencing was done by Colin Peterson.