Butterfly-Weed. Pleurisy-Root (_Asclepias tuberosa_) is a well-known plant in dry fields from Maine and Ontario to Northern Mexico. In Texas it is found in the sandy areas of the eastern and central parts. It blooms in the late spring and summer. Other common names include orange milkweed, orange-root, Indian posy, and orange swallow-wort. The leaves are poisonous to stock, but the honey is not considered poisonous. The monarch butterfly is a voracious feeder on the plant. It was at one time valued for its medicinal properties, but is now little used. Several plants are known by the common name of “swallow-wort” and are so called because they bloom in the spring when the swallows appear.
The leafy stems often grow one to two feet high. At the top of the stem are several clusters of small orange-colored flowers. The petals hang down when the pollen is ready to be shed. There is a crown of five erect, orange-colored hoods around the flat stigma.
[Illustration: CAROLINA DICHONDRA PRETTY DODDER]
Herbs with creeping stems; sepals 5; corolla bell-shaped, 5-lobed; stamens 5; carpels 2, separate.
Carolina Dichondra. Ground Ivy (_Dichondra carolinensis_) is, of course, not even kin to the ivy, but it does form a green carpet over the ground in places. It is widely scattered in the state and in many other localities. The greenish-white flowers are small and inconspicuous under the round leaves and are almost buried in the soil. The leaves are about an inch broad and are slender stalked. The plant is a perennial which is often hard to remove from lawns. The silvery-leaved dichondra (_Dichondra argentea_) occurs in West Texas.
Pretty Dodder. Love Vine. Strangle-Weed (_Cuscuta indecora_) may be noted in conspicuous orange or gold masses covering other plants. It is a leafless parasitic vine bearing small clusters of white flowers. The flowers are less than one fourth inch broad and have the petal-tips turned inward. There are many dodders in the state, and each kind is parasitic only on certain plants. The pretty dodder attacks the wild verbena and other herbs and low shrubs from Illinois to Texas and other parts of America.
[Illustration: TEXAS BINDWEED PURPLE MORNING-GLORY]
Plants twining or erect; sepals 5; corolla mostly funnelform, 5-lobed; stamens 5, on corolla tube; ovary superior; fruit usually a ball-shaped capsule separating into 2-4 lobes.