*cracks knuckles* Alright everyone strap in.
Hi, I'm Ani, the appointed Milkweed Queen of several Discord group chats, and I'm gonna talk about some of my favorite types of milkweed because its Earth Day, I'm bored, and I had nothing else ready to post. Everyone ready?
I'm not going to give these a formal ranking, I'm just going to ramble about them.
We all know the important reasons to like milkweed--supporting Monarchs, feeding the pollinators, restoring native species to your local habitat and creating an environment for many creatures to live in, that's all fantastic obviously. With that established, this ranking system will have little to do with that. We're talking aesthetics, babey! And any fun facts I happen to toss in are, well, fun facts. If you learn about a new kind of milkweed from this, or want to chime in with your own favorites, by all means let me know!
Swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)! If you've been following my blog for awhile, you likely know I've been on a Grand Quest to find, purchase, and/or grow swamp milkweed for a few years now. Honestly, though, who can blame me! Look at those vibrant pink flowers, contrasting with those bright green leaves! Love at first sight, I'm telling you. I've also heard that it smells like vanilla. Vanilla! It's also, reportedly, one of the few types of milkweed that excels in wet environments, and even though my environment isn't very wet, we stan a queen for that quality.
Whether you prefer to call it Sandhill Milkweed or Pinewoods Milkweed, Asclepias humistrata is a champion of sandy soils and also my heart. I hadn't looked too far into this species until late last year, when I was helping another friend look at different milkweeds, but how could I not look into this beautiful plant! With pink stems and veins as early as the seedling stage, pinkish-white flowers and a low-growing spread habit, I would be honored to grow such a specimen in my garden. Their inch-thick, foot-long tap roots help them to quickly spring back to life after a wildfire, providing important food and habitat for creatures returning to the area. How lovely!
Redring milkweed (Asclepias variegata) is another species I hadn't looked too far into until this year, and honestly at great detriment to myself. I'll be honest! I may have ignored this queen at first because I'm not big on white flowers, but those red rings...! Ooh, I want this so bad. The leaves are also fairly big and a lovely dark green, which just makes the white and red pop out more!
Heartleaf milkweed (Asclepias cordifolia) is honestly so iconic, I wish it was native to my region! If you live on the West coast... grow some for me please. How can you not love this specimen! Dusty green heart-shaped leaves directly attached to pink stems, these stunning deep reddish-purple flower clusters...! I continued following one of the most annoying people I'd ever witnessed on Instagram for two months just because I first saw this species in a tiktok of his.
Purple milkweed (Asclepias purparescens) is honestly just. A queen. What else is there to say? Look how purple she is! So purple I almost can't believe it's even real, and yet they are! Not native to my region, far as I know, which is a bummer. I've heard they're hard to grow, but if you can manage it? Share your secrets with the world, honestly, we need more of this plant in our lives.
Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) is honestly just a classic. I love the light pink of the flowers, and those leaves are huge! I've heard they spread like wildfire, but with clusters of blooms like this? How can you even be too mad about that?
Showy milkweed (Asclepias speciosa). Honestly I'm not going to pretend I was always crazy about this species, but the more I see it pop up on iNaturalist, the more I find myself growing fond of it. These flowers look like crazy fireworks, and honestly, kinda have to stan.
"Oh, Ani, you have so many lovely favorites! Do you have any least favorite--" Tropical milkweed, hands down. I appreciate it's value as more of a 'babys first milkweed' plant but I'm tired of seeing it everywhere, especially knowing it's a bit invasive in my area?
Anyways, these are some of my favorite milkweed species! What are some of yours?
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Lamb's Quarter
Find:cultivated fields, pastures, wasteland, roadsides, gardens and almost anywhere the soil is disturbed.
Description:Leaves are alternate, 1 to 4 inches long, up to about 2½ inches wide, variable in shape, diamond-shaped to egg-shaped to lance-elliptic in outline, pointed to blunt at the tip, wedge-shaped at the base, tapering to a stalk half to about as long as the blade. Lower leaves are largest, usually irregularly toothed, 1½ to 2+ times as long as wide, occasionally with a pair of very shallow lobes near the base (but usually not), becoming smaller and less toothy as they ascend the stem with the uppermost leaves often much narrower, proportionately longer, and toothless.Surfaces are green often turning reddish with age, hairless, moderately to densely white or pink-mealy especially when young, the upper surface usually becoming smooth, the lower surface usually remaining white-mealy. Stems are erect to ascending, unbranched to much branched, sparsely to densely white-mealy especially on the upper stem, and green to purple striped, sometimes purple at the leaf nodes.
Precautions:lambs quarters contain oxalic acid, which can be both a stomach irritant and can impede the absorption of calcium. Cooking eliminates most oxalic acid — but go easy if you choose to eat them raw.
Lilacs
(Not native but everywhere)
Find: yards,farms,feild and parks.
Description:This shrub is 8-20' tall, sending up multiple branching stems that form a vase-shaped crown. Stems at the base of this shrub are up to 8" across. The bark of large old stems is gray to gray-brown, somewhat rough-textured, slightly shredded, and sometimes shallowly furrowed. The bark of young stems is gray to brown and smooth, while new shoots are green and glabrous. Pairs of opposite leaves occur along the young stems and shoots. Individual leaves are 2-5" long and 1½-3½" across; they are cordate to ovate and smooth along their margins. The upper leaf surface is yellowish green to dark green and hairless, while the lower surface is pale green and hairless. The slender petioles are ½-1½" long, light green, and glabrous. Elongated panicles of flowers about 3-7" long develop from the stems of the preceding year. The panicles taper gradually toward their apices and they are ascending to erect. Individual flowers are about 1/4" (6 mm.) across and 1/3" (8 mm.) long, consisting of a narrowly tubular corolla with 4 spreading lobes, a short tubular calyx with 4 teeth, a pistil with a single style, and 2 inserted stamens. On different shrubs, the corollas can be purple, lavender, light blue, pink, or white, although lavender is the most common color. The branches of each panicle are light green and glabrous.
Edible Parts and uses:lilac blossoms are edible.Make into syrups,teas and wines.
Precautions:no real precautions.
Mallow-High
Find:grows in meadows, roadsides, disturbed sites and gardens.
Description:The flowers are funnel shaped or cup shaped, and usually pale pink, with each bloom having the five separate petals typical of all mallow varieties. It grows at least a metre and a half in height, is well branched.
Edible Parts and uses:leaves are edible raw.young leaves are more tender and less bitter than older leaves.young shoots are edible raw.leaves are suitable as a soup thickener.seeds are edible raw.seeds have a palatable, nut-like flavour.flower buds and flowers are edible.fruits are edible.
Precautions:Poisoning is caused by ingestion of high doses of nitrates (muscle weakness, nausea, vomiting, lack of coordination).
Mallow-Musk
Find:grows in meadows, roadsides, disturbed sites and gardens.
Description: is an ephemeral woody perennial. It has leaves of 5 to 10 cm whose musky odor has given its name to the plant. The upper leaves are pennatized - meaning finely cut. The flowers appear from June to October, in the shape of a flattened cup, with five petals, white or very pale pink.
Edible Parts and uses:leaves are edible raw.young leaves are more tender and less bitter than older leaves.young shoots are edible raw.leaves are suitable as a soup thickener.seeds are edible raw.seeds have a palatable, nut-like flavour.flower buds and flowers are edible.fruits are edible.
Precautions:Poisoning is caused by ingestion of high doses of nitrates (muscle weakness, nausea, vomiting, lack of coordination).
Common Milkweed
Find:fence rows, on roadsides, in fields, and in prairies and pastures.
Description:This is a tall and conspicuous species that sometimes forms large clones. The umbels bear large balls of pink to purplish flowers that have an attractive odor.Follicles split open in the fall and early winter dispensing wind borne seeds.
Edible Parts and uses:Although milkweeds are poisonous raw, the young shoots, leaves and seed pods are all edible cooked.
Precautions: Poisonous parts include milky sap from leaves, stems. Toxic only in large quantities. Symptoms include vomiting, stupor, weakness, spasms by ingesting other species; need careful identification.
Mint
Find:found in shaded areas, especially in moist soils, however their wide spreading rhizomes can collect moisture from a wide area. along rivers, lakes and streams, as well as shaded areas along the edges of forest and woodland.
Description:leaves and stems are generally hairy but these fine hairs can sometimes be absent. The leaves are elliptic, toothed and deeply veined. The flowers are arranged on spikes, filled with clusters of white, pink or purple petals.
Edible Parts and uses: leaves and stems.
Precautions:no real precautions.
Mullein
Find:Generally on open ground in disturbed soil.
Description:Biennial up to 2 m tall. Large pale green-grey, woolly, oval or eliptical leaves with winged stalks arranged in a basal rosette in first year. Flower spike in second year ends in a densely packed terminal spike occasionally with smaller side spikes. Flowers yellow with 5 petals. Fruit is oval capsule.
Edible Parts and uses:leaves and flowers are edible, enjoying a cup of tea made from these parts is generally preferable. Leaves and flowers can be used in a salad.
Precautions:The root, seeds and, to a lesser extent, the leaves of the plant, contain poisonous components.
Narrow-leaved purple coneflower
Find:is found in mixed grass prairies.
Description:Leaves are mostly basal, with stem leaves widely spaced and alternately attached on the lower half of the stem. Lower leaves are long and narrow, to 8 inches long, ½ to 1 inch wide, on long stalks, becoming smaller and stalkless as they ascend the stem. Edges are toothless and there are 3 distinct veins along the length. Stems and leaves are hairy and rough to the touch. Stems may be green or purple tinged.
Edible Parts and uses:Leaves and flower petals are edible. All parts of the plant have been used in tinctures or other medicinal methods.
Precautions:no real precautions.
Johnny jump-ups
Find:Habitats include limestone glades, moist sand prairies, fields, edges of sandy paths, and waste places. Sandy areas with a history of disturbance are preferred.
Description:This wildflower is a winter or spring annual about 6" tall, sometimes branching near the base of the plant; it is more or less erect. The small basal leaves have orbicular blades with long slender petioles; these are followed by alternate leaves along the stems. The stems are lightgreen to purplish green and hairless.
Edible Parts and uses:flower petals.
Precautions:no real precautions.
Pearly Everlasting
Find:growing in sunny locations althoughtit can be found in part shady areas as well. It likes dry fields, along roadsides, disturbed soils, and the edges of wooded areas.
Description:This plant is easily recognizable; it has small white button-like flowers with yellow centres. It forms a bushy mound of hairy silver-gray foliage but the flowers are easy to identify. One salient feature is that the undersides of the leaves are covered in tiny hairs, giving them a woolly feel and appearance. The stems are dry and brittle.Pearly everlasting flowers are generally flat-topped clusters of numerous 0.5cm to 1cm (¼ to 1/3”) flower heads at the top of the plant.
Edible Parts and uses:flowers in tea.Young leaves are edible when cooked.
Precautions:no real precautions.
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