Common Milkweed
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This time of year, the Common Milkweed is beginning to look a bit ragged even if there haven’t been a lot of Monarch Butterfly or Milkweed Tussock Moth caterpillars eating its leaves. The seed pods are sometimes interesting although the pods are cut off the plants in early August at the Boathouse Garden to keep them from spilling their seeds all over.
I found a few pods that were left where they fell after being cut – and discovered that some of them had been close enough to maturity that they had split open and were spilling their contents. Since they are on the ground the seeds will likely not float away very far. Note that one of the pods has a milkweed bug; these bugs consume milkweed seeds. Some of the seeds are probably not dried enough to float away at all – may stay compacted in the husk even though the seeds look mature.
