Asclepias incarnata L.

Erect, stout, to 1.5 m, branched above; lvs lanceolate to oblong or linear-oblong, usually acuminate, at base acutish to subcordate; umbels usually several or many; cor pink to red (white), the lobes 4.5–6 mm; hoods 2.5–3 mm, about equaling the gynostegium, the lateral margins entire, divergent from near the base; horn subulate, incurved, much surpassing the hood; 2n=22. Open swamps, ditches, and wet prairies; N.S. to Fla., w. to Sask., Utah, and N.M. June–Aug. Var. incarnata, with nearly the range of the sp., but not common in the Atlantic seaboard states, is sparsely and inconspicuously hairy to essentially glabrous, and the stems are usually repeatedly branched. Var. pulchra (Ehrh.) Pers. largely replacing var. incarnata in N.S., N. Engl., and the coastal states southward, is evidently hairy and seldom much branched, with mostly broader lvs more abruptly contracted at base.

Swamps, wet thickets and shores. The subspecies pulchra is frequently found in somewhat brackish tidal marshes.

CAUTION: It contains a glucoside asclepiadin. It is poisonous. The unopened flower buds are used as a favouring and thickener in soup. The young fruit are boiled and eaten. The flower clusters can be boiled down to make a sugary syrup.

Plants can be grown from seed or cuttings.