Читать книгу The Scout's Guide to Wild Edibles. Learn How To Forage, Prepare & Eat 40 Wild Foods онлайн

34 страница из 39

Two mayapple plants with ripe fruit in late July. The fruit is shaped like a hen’s egg, and ranges in size from a small egg to a large egg, with a medium size most commonly found.

Milkweed, Common

RANGE:

Eastern 2/3 of U.S. except Florida; western states: in Montana and Oregon only; present in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec

HABITAT:

Fields, roadsides, fencerows, meadows, prairies

POSITIVE ID:

• Milkweed is a non-woody perennial with broad, rubbery, elliptical leaves along a stem typically 3–5′ tall. The stem does not branch until it reaches the flower clusters.

• Smooth-edged leaves bleed white latex when torn, as does the rest of the plant. The leaf underside has short, woolly hairs.

• Clusters of flower buds and flowers are spherical and 3–4″ in diameter. The flowers are crown-shaped and sweet smelling.

• The seedpods are about 4″ long, light green at first. The surface is covered with rows of soft, rubbery hair-like projections. The pods contain small, circular brown papery seeds and white silken threads. When pods ripen and split open, the threads form parachutes for seed dispersal.