Whorled Milkweed

Asclepias verticillata L.

Asclepiadaceae (Milkweed Family)

▲ ▼ mature, flowering plants, about 18-24 inches tall

▲ ▼ mature, flowering plants

▲ ▼ flowers on stems

▲ ▼ flower detail

▲ whorled leaves on stem

▲ colony of whorled milkweed in Nebraska

Asclepias verticillata L., Whorled Milkweed: (Bayer Code: ASCVE; US Code ASVE)

Native creeping perennial with rhizomes
Leaves linear, not hairy, and in whorls of three or four around stem at nodes
Flowers are greenish-white in terminal axils; fruit is slender pod
Sap is one of the more poisonous of milkweeds--poisoning more common with this species
Found in pastures, roadsides, in good, sandy or clayey soils; tolerates wetter soils
Similar western whorled milkweed (Asclepias subverticillata) is found in western parts of the Midwest, but has more branching in upper stems and is often found in wetter soils (at least wetter for western Midwest)
There are several native Missouri milkweed species with narrow, but opposite (not whorled) leaves--they appear at first to be whorled milkweed, but lack of whorled leaves indicates they are another species

(Updated January 24, 2019)