Whorled Milkweed (Horsetail Milkweed)

Media
Whorled milkweed flowers.
Scientific Name
Asclepias verticillata
Family
Apocynaceae (dogbanes); formerly Asclepiadaceae (milkweeds)
Description

Whorled milkweed is an herbaceous perennial, usually unbranched but occasionally with a few branches toward the tip. Sap is milky. Flowers in the typical milkweed form, in small umbels arising from upper leaf nodes, white to greenish white, with 6–20 flowers per umbel. Blooms May–September. Leaves threadlike, soft, to 2 inches long, arising from many whorls on the stem, with 3–6 leaves per whorl. Fruits smooth, narrow pods less than 4 inches long, erect, bearing seeds that have a tuft of white hairs.

Similar species: Another Missouri milkweed, fourleaf milkweed (Asclepias quadrifolia) is also called whorled milkweed. It looks much different, with 2 or 4 lance-shaped to ovate leaves per node, and often has pinkish flowers. Also, it lives in open woods instead of upland prairies.

Size

Height: 8–24 inches.

Where To Find
image of Whorled Milkweed Horsetail Milkweed distribution map

Scattered nearly statewide, but nearly absent from the Bootheel lowlands.

Occurs in upland prairies, savannas, glades, exposed ledges and tops of bluffs, and sometimes in dry upland forests; also pastures, roadsides, and railroads.

The entire former milkweed family (Asclepiadaceae) has recently been rolled into the dogbane family (Apocynaceae). For many years, botanists have known the two families were closely related. The milkweed group, with its distinct floral structures, is still considered a unique subfamily or tribe of the dogbane family. As you consult various sources, you can expect to see milkweeds grouped in either family.

Milkweeds have a long list of historical medicinal uses, and the milky sap (latex) was once explored as a potential source of rubber. Milkweeds are increasingly popular with native wildflower gardeners, because planting them can aid North America’s declining monarch butterfly populations.

Many bees, butterflies, and skippers drink nectar from the flowers, and crab spiders often hide in the clusters, hunting them. Monarch butterflies use milkweeds as larval food plants, collecting the sap's toxic cardiac gycosides in their bodies and becoming unpalatable to predators.

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Similar Species

Where to See Species

This 655-acre native prairie was purchased from Vaughn Lumpee in 1987. Mr. Lumpee ran a cattle operation on this area and he had a great fondness for the cowboy lifestyle.
About Wildflowers, Grasses and Other Nonwoody Plants in Missouri
A very simple way of thinking about the green world is to divide the vascular plants into two groups: woody and nonwoody (or herbaceous). But this is an artificial division; many plant families include some species that are woody and some that are not. The diversity of nonwoody vascular plants is staggering! Think of all the ferns, grasses, sedges, lilies, peas, sunflowers, nightshades, milkweeds, mustards, mints, and mallows — weeds and wildflowers — and many more!