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Asciepias incarnata
Drawing copyright Mark Müller
Asclepiadaceae Family - "Swamp Milkweed, Rose Milkweed, Silkweed, Water Nerve Root, White Indian Hemp"
Asclepias, from the Greek God of healing and medicine and incarnata from the Latin for "flesh", referring to the color of the flowers.
Found from Wyoming and Manitoba to Quebec, south through New England, South Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas and New Mexico. Prefers moist soils at the edges of prairie potholes, sedge meadows and marshes. Blooms with pale-pink to rose-purple flowers from June through August. Can reach heights over 5 feet.
The Milkweed Family has a long history of medicinal use. Asclepias incarnata was also cultivated for food uses, so it has been a valuable plant of the tallgrass biome for thousands of years. Some tribes added the flowers and bulbs to soups, some used the flowers stewed and served almost like preserves, immature pods were often cooked with buffalo meat and still others used the immature flower clusters and fruits as a cooked vegetable.
Medicinally, the ground root of this species was used to induce temporary sterility, tea made from the root was used to "expel internal parasites" and the ground seeds were used in a poultice to draw the poison from a rattlesnake bite. The sap was rubbed on warts to make them disappear. The Rappahannocks even used the sap to cure ringworm.
During WWII, the sap of the milkweed family plants were used experimentally to provide a rubber substitute. The silk produced by the seed pods was also used as a substitute for kapok in flotation devices for many years.
