FLOWER OF THE WEEK AT SOPCHOPPY DEPOT PARK

Swamp milkweed

By LYNN ARTZ, SANDY TEDDER and DAVID RODDENBERRY

Found in sunny wetlands, swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) may be Florida’s most beautiful native milkweed. Stately clumps of 3-5-feet-tall stems bear showy clusters of small mauve-pink flowers. Each ¼-inch flower has 5 downward curving petals and a raised crown of 5 nectar cups, each with an upward curving horn. A landing insect slips on the horn and its leg enters a slit between nectar cups, picking up pollen. Also called rose or pink milkweed, this milkweed has abundant nectar and attracts many butterflies and native bees. Monarchs prefer to lay eggs on swamp milkweed and the caterpillars eat the leaves. It can thrive in average garden soil if it does not dry out. You can grow it in containers. Swamp milkweed is blooming now in the pond at Sopchoppy Depot Park.