Late Spring - Early Summer Flowers

Milkweed (Asclepias sp.)

Who hasn't seen these tall plants with balls of flowers? If you break the leaf or the stem, a milky substance will ooze out. Yep, that's why it's called milkweed. 


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White milky liquid appears on broken leaves or stem of milkweed (Meadowbrook Park, Urbana, IL)
You can find several species of milkweed in prairies. The pictures here show common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) with pink to purple flowers and large oval leaves.
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After the bloom, seepods are formed -- they look almost like a pickling cucumber. Green color later changes to dark brown or black as the seedpod dries, hardens, and eventually cracks open to release fluffy white seeds. The seeds are actually brown and the attached soft white hair helps them fly, spreading milkweed seeds with wind.
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Ripe Milkweed seed pod with seeds (Lake of the Woods, Mahomet, IL)
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Immature Milkweed seed pods are green and prickly (Lake of the Woods, Mahomet, IL)
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Detail of milkweed flower with Japanese beetle (Meadowbrook Park, Urbana, IL)
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Young milkweeds prior to bloom (Rock Springs, Decatur, IL)
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Blooming common milkweed (Meadowbrook Park, Urbana, IL)
Scientific Name: Asclepias syriaca

Other milkweed species

Butterfly Milkweed

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Orange flowers of Butterfly Milkweed at Windfall Prairie (Danville, IL).
Scientific Name: Asclepias tuberosa

Swamp Milkweed

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Swamp Milkweed at Meadowbrook Park (Urbana, IL). Note the narrow pointy leaves.
Scientific Name: Asclepias incarnata