Saturday, July 9, 2011

From Wilkes County: Green Comet Milkweed (Asclepias viridiflora) Is Back!

We were excited to find flowering plants of the Green Comet Milkweed (Asclepias viridiflora) near Sandy Creek in Greene County and at two sites in Jasper County, Georgia. We'd been mourning the apparent loss, to road grading, of a Green Comet Milkweed plant we;d found in Wilkes County last year.

Every time we’ve gone along this road, we’ve looked for it but not seen it. And then, last Sunday, I spotted it. No, it hadn’t moved. It had grown at an angle so that I was probably seeing the leaves of the plant edge on and not recognizing the characteristic leaf shape. Last Sunday I glanced back and caught sight of the leaves.

And there it was.

Another angle. It blends into the plants around it.

And this year it has a seed pod as well as setting more flowers. It’s the first time we’ve seen a green comet seed pod. We’ll be following this plant.
Click on an image to view a larger image

Distribution Map:
- United States Department of Agriculture Plants Database: Asclepias viridiflora (Green Comet Milkweed)
- University of North Carolina Herbarium: Asclepias viridiflora

Identification resources:
- Southeastern Flora: Green Comet Milkweed (Asclepias viridiflora)
- Missouri Plants: Asclepias viridiflora
- Illinois Flowers: Short Green Milkweed (Asclepias viridiflora)

Related posts:
- 2010: Year Of The Wildflower – Wildflower Index
- Green Comet Milkweed (Asclepias viridiflora)
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3 comments:

  1. SallyAugust 19, 2011 at 10:16 AM

    Wild! Great post, JSK. This is our most visible native milkweed here in the foothills, not to say common though. Always have to look for it. And I'd NEVER heard it called "green comet" before; wonder if that's one of those newfangled common names.

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  2. JSKAugust 19, 2011 at 1:27 PM

    What do you call it Sally?
    As I 'google' the name I do see several other common names. Thus, the need for scientific names :-)
    Sadly, the road grader came through again and we couldn't find it on our last trip along this road. Hopefully the seeds were mature enough that we might see additional plants. We'll be checking again next year though.

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  3. JSKAugust 21, 2011 at 5:49 PM

    Sally, I forgot the second part of your comment. 'Green comet' is the common name on the USDA plant site at http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ASVI

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