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Learn more about other Mid-Atlantic plants:
Tried and True Native Plant Fact Sheets
Tried and True Native Plant Selections
for the Mid-Atlantic
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Asclepias incarnata (Swamp Milkweed)
This stately milkweed is at home in moist habitats across much of the United States.* It has flat terminal clusters of showy pale pink to mauve flowers in summer, succeeded by interesting fruit (follicles) that split to release seeds on silken parachutes.
*Two subspecies are recognized. Together they are widespread across the Mid-Atlantic Region: 1. A. incarnata L. ssp. incarnata is more prevalent in the northern Mid-Atlantic Region and frequent in the VA mountains. 2. A. incarnata L. ssp. pulchra is native only in the southeastern corner of PA. It is native to DC, common throughout DE and frequent in VA’s Piedmont and Coastal Plain. Both subspecies occur in NoVA, but variation incarnata is not native to Arlington and Prince William counties.