Stems very hairy, rather stout, usually branched above, erect or ascending, 1 to 2 feet high from a stout, perennial root, with slightly milky sap. Leaves alternate, oblong to lanceolate, pointed or blunt at the apex, narrowed, rounded or heart-shaped at the base, sessile or very short petioled, 2 to 6 inches long, one-fourth to 1 inch wide. Flowers bright orange or yellow, numerous in terminal, cymose umbels; lobes or segments of the corolla about one-fourth of an inch long, reflexed in flower; the segments of the five-parted crown (corona) about one-third of an inch long; hoods erect, oblong, bright orange or yellow and two to three times as long as the stamens and longer than the filiform horns. Fruit a finely pubescent pod (follicle), 4 to 5 inches long.

In dry fields and roadsides, Maine to Ontario and Minnesota, south to Florida and northern Mexico. Flowering from July to September.

Memoir 15 N. Y. State Museum

Plate 171

Butthrfly Weed; Pleurisy Root - Asclepias tuberosa