_Asclepias tuberosa_
_Flowers--_Bright reddish orange, in many-flowered, terminal clusters,
each flower similar in structure to the common milkweed (see above).
_Stem:_ Erect, 1 to 2 ft. tall, hairy, leafy, milky juice scanty.
_Leaves:_ Usually all alternate, lance-shaped, seated on stem. _Fruit:_
A pair of erect, hoary pods, 2 to 5 in. long, 1 at least containing
silky plumed seeds.
_Preferred Habitat_--Dry or sandy fields, hills, roadsides.
_Flowering Season_--June-September.
_Distribution_--Maine and Ontario to Arizona, south to the Gulf
of Mexico.
Intensely brilliant clusters of this the most ornamental of all native
milkweeds set dry fields ablaze with color. Above them butterflies
hover, float, alight, sip, and sail away--the great dark, velvety,
pipe-vine swallow-tail _(Papilio philenor)_, its green-shaded hind wings
marked with little white half moons; the yellow and brown, common,
Eastern swallow-tail _(P. asterias)_, that we saw about the wild parsnip
and other members of the carrot family; the exquisite, large, spice-bush
swallow-tail, whose bugaboo caterpillar startled us when we unrolled a
leaf of its favorite food supply; the small, common, white cabbage
butterfly _(Pieris protodice)_; the even more common little sulphur
butterflies, inseparable from clover fields and mud puddles; the
painted lady that follows thistles around the globe; the regal
fritillary _(Argynnis idalia)_, its black and fulvous wings marked with
silver crescents, a gorgeous creature developed from the black and
orange caterpillar that prowls at night among violet plants; the great
spangled fritillary of similar habit; the bright fulvous and black pearl
crescent butterfly _(Phyciodes tharos)_, its small wings usually seen
hovering about the asters; the little grayish-brown, coral hairstreak
_(Thecla titus)_, and the bronze copper _(Chrysophanus thoe)_, whose
caterpillar feeds on sorrel _(Rumex);_ the delicate, tailed blue
butterfly _(Lycena comyntas,)_ with a wing expansion of only an inch
from tip to tip; all these visitors duplicated again and again--these
and several others that either escaped the net before they were named,
or could not be run down, were seen one bright midsummer day along a
Long Island roadside bordered with butterfly weed. Most abundant of all
was still another species, the splendid monarch _(Anosia plexippus)_,
the most familiar representative of the tribe of milkweed butterflies.
It is said the Indians used the tuberous root of this plant for various
maladies, although they could scarcely have known that because of the
alleged healing properties of the genus Linnaeus dedicated it to
Aesculapius, of whose name Asklepios is the Greek form.