Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Asterids: Lamiids: Gentianales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Asclepias verticillata
FAMILY
Apocynaceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Read more about Whorled Milkweed at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
See diagrams of milkweed flower structure at Wayne's Word.
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Asclepias verticillata
FAMILY
Asclepiadaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 157-01-003:
Asclepias verticillata FAMILY Asclepiadaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Asclepias verticillata
COMMON NAME:
Whorled Milkweed, Narrowleaf Milkweed
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
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USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_asve_001_lvd
)
USDA / Selected Weeds of the US. 1970 swus_page_289
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_a_verticillata_b
June
Horns very narrowly triangular, much surpassing the hoods, per Wildflowers in the Field and Forest: Northeastern US (Clemants & Gracie, 2006).
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JK Marlow jkm130718_440
July McDowell County NC
Conspicuous whorls of linear leaves on a slender stem make this easy to ID, per Atlantic Coastal Plain Wildflowers (Nelson, 2006).
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JK Marlow jkm230706_4311
July Pickens County SC
Glassy Mountain Heritage Preserve
Leaves 3-7cm long, 1-2mm wide, pubescent or glabrate, often revolute, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
JK Marlow jkm230706_4312
July Pickens County SC
Glassy Mountain Heritage Preserve
Stem pubescence in lines, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
JK Marlow jkm230706_4328
July Pickens County SC
Glassy Mountain Heritage Preserve
)
JK Marlow jkm230706_4329
July Pickens County SC
Glassy Mountain Heritage Preserve
The petals turned downward, the upright hoods topped by protruding horns, per Atlantic Coastal Plain Wildflowers (Nelson, 2006).
)
JK Marlow jkm230706_4335
July Pickens County SC
Glassy Mountain Heritage Preserve
)
JK Marlow jkm230706_4340
July Pickens County SC
Glassy Mountain Heritage Preserve
Beautiful, but not conspicuous...
)
Will Stuart wil_8440701897_34aa2724ef
July Anson County NC
)
Will Stuart wil_8447573271_aff39a84fe
July Anson County NC
)
JK Marlow jkm230808_4821
August Pickens County SC
Glassy Mountain Heritage Preserve
)
JK Marlow jkm230905_5281
September Pickens County SC
Glassy Mountain Heritage Preserve
)
JK Marlow jkm230905_5281b
September Pickens County SC
Glassy Mountain Heritage Preserve
)
Steve Marlow snm102712_009
October Pickens County SC
Glassy Mountain Heritage Preserve
Narrow spindle-shaped follicles, 2-3" long, dehiscent along 1 suture, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Asclepias verticillata
FAMILY
Apocynaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Asclepias verticillata
FAMILY
Asclepiadaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 157-01-003:
Asclepias verticillata
FAMILY
Asclepiadaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Asclepias verticillata
2285
Forb
Perennial
Habitat: barrens, thin soils of rock outcrops (especially mafic or calcareous rocks), open woodlands, longleaf pine sandhills, pine flatwoods, road and powerline rights-of-way, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Common in Piedmont (rare in NC Coastal Plain) (uncommon elsewhere in GA-NC-SC)
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
DOES THE PLANT HAVE "MILKY SAP"?
Has milky sap (latex)
LEAVES:
Simple
Mostly in whorls of 3-6 (sometimes opposite)
FLOWER:
Spring/Summer/Fall
Greenish-white petals
often tipped with rose-purple
Radially symmetrical
5-merous
5-lobed corolla
Superior ovary
Bisexual
Flowers in 2-8 umbels from upper leaf axils
FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Follicle
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- All About South Carolina Wildflowers (Midgley, 1999) p110
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Wildflowers (Nelson, 2006) p114
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 1st ed. (Porcher & Rayner, 2001) p229
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 2nd ed. (McMillan, Porcher, Rayner, & White; 2022) p302
- Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants p154
- Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast (Cotterman, Waitt, & Weakley, 2019) p136
- Wildflowers of the Eastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1999) p068
- Wildflowers in the Field and Forest: Northeastern US (Clemants & Gracie, 2006) p354
- Field Guide to the Wildflowers of Georgia (Chafin, 2016) p052
- Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005) p194
- Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005) p231
- Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998) p129
- Wildflowers of the Sandhills Region (Sorrie, 2011) p124
If a search such as "Carex leptalea var. leptalea" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "Carex leptalea".
Or, to minimize chances of a misspelling, try just "Carex le".
Less is more: If "pencil flower" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "pencil".