Eastern Whorled Milkweed

(Asclepias verticillata)

Eastern whorled milkweed

Characteristics
Seedling Leaves Flowers Fruit
Eastern whorled milkweed seedling eastern whorled milkweed leaves Eastern whorled milkweed flowers Eastern whorled milkweed fruit

Growing habits: Erect, slender perennial herb, milky sap from stem

Root anatomy: Fibrous roots from shallow taproot with deep rhizome

Leaf anatomy: Whorled, 3-6 leaves per node, simple, blades narrowly linear, rolled downward

Flowers: In umbels, borne in clusters, 5 elliptic petals, greenish white to purple-tinged

References: Weeds of the South by Charles T. Bryson and Michael S. DeFelice