Butterfly Weed.Asclepias tuberosa.Orange Milkweed.Pleurisy Root.
Found in dry pastures and fields in July.
The stalk branches often for the flowers; it is leafy, and grows from 2 to 3 feet high, with a strong fibre, its surface is hairy and its color is a strong green, purplish near the foot, and red-orange below the flower-clusters. The juice is not milky.
The long narrow leaf is somewhat blunt-pointed at the tip and heart-shaped at the base, with an entire margin, and a strong midrib; its fibre is strong and coarse, the veins showing, and it is hairy underneath and downy above; the color is a full green, much toned with orange. The leaves are set on short stems, and placed near together, alternately, and with an upward inclination.
The flower is small and long; the crown is set up high on its slender neck, its hoods short and narrow, and yet somewhat longer than the fine-pointed straight horns,—in color a splendid glowing orange; the narrow, fine-pointed lobes are slightly curling, and bright yellow; the calyx is unobservable. The flowers are set on slender, rather long, light green foot-stems, forming a loose flat-topped cluster; the clusters being arranged in a leafy terminal group.
As many as eighteen clusters have been counted upon a single stalk. The color scheme of this plant is especially good; the green betrays the same tawny tone which belongs to the gorgeous flowers.