Asclepias exaltata

Stems 8-15 dm, glabrous or puberulent in narrow lines; lvs thin, broadly elliptic, 1-2 dm, acuminate at both ends, glabrous, or puberulent beneath; petioles 1-2 cm; umbels loosely few-fld, the slender pedicels spreading or often drooping; cor white to pale dull purple, the lobes 7-10 mm; hoods white or pink, 4 mm, about equaling the gynostegium, the lateral margins adjacent, each terminating in an erect tooth 1-1.5 mm, the rest of the hood truncate; horns subulate, suberect, conspicuously exsert; fr erect on deflexed pedicels, puberulent, 12-15 cm. Moist upland woods; s. Me. to Va. and in the mts. to Ga., w. to Minn., e. Io., Ill., and Tenn. June, July. (A. phytolaccoides)

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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From Flora of Indiana (1940) by Charles C. Deam

This is strictly a woodland species and is more or less infrequent, and associated for the most part with white oak. Ordinarily only a single plant or two are found at a place.

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Indiana Coefficient of Conservatism: C = 8

Wetland Indicator Status: UPL

Diagnostic Traits: principal leaves opposite, petiolate, membranaceous, cuneate at base, apex acuminate; umbels nodding, axillary; pedicels slender, flexuous; corolla greenish; pods slender fusiform, thinly short pubescent.