Asclepias viridiflora; also known as green comet milkweed, green-flower milkweed, and green milkweed; is a species of milkweed (Asclepias). The plant is located in the eastern and central United States, ranging between Connecticut to Georgia and Arizona to Montana, and is also in southern Canada and northern Mexico. The Latin epithet viridiflora translates as "green-flowered".
Asclepias viridiflora is an erect to ascending herb up to 50 cm tall, with greenish-white flowers. The pods lack the warts and tubercules common on other species of Asclepias.Sundell, E. 1993. Asclepiadaceae, Milkweed Family. Journal of the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science 27:169-187.Rafinesque. C.S. Medical Repository, ser. 2, 5: 360. 1808. It grows in moist to dry shaded roadsides, fields, and prairies.
Conservation status It is listed as endangered in Florida, as threatened in New York, and as endangered in Connecticut."Connecticut's Endangered, Threatened and Special Concern Species 2015". State of Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Bureau of Natural Resources. Retrieved 31 December 2017.(Note: This list is newer than the one used by plants.usda.gov and is more up-to-date.)
Native American ethnobotany The Blackfoot apply a poultice of chewed roots to swellings, rashes, sore gums of nursing infants,Hellson, John C., 1974, Ethnobotany of the Blackfoot Indians, Ottawa. National Museums of Canada. Mercury Series, page 75 and sore eyes.Hellson, John C., 1974, Ethnobotany of the Blackfoot Indians, Ottawa. National Museums of Canada. Mercury Series, page 80 They also chew the root for sore throats,Hellson, John C., 1974, Ethnobotany of the Blackfoot Indians, Ottawa. National Museums of Canada. Mercury Series, page 71 use the plant to spice soups, and use the fresh roots for food.Hellson, John C., 1974, Ethnobotany of the Blackfoot Indians, Ottawa. National Museums of Canada. Mercury Series, page 101 The Brulé Lakota give pulverized roots to children with diarrhea, and an infusion of the whole plant is taken by mothers to increase their milk.Rogers, Dilwyn J, 1980, Lakota Names and Traditional Uses of Native Plants by Sicangu (Brule) People in the Rosebud Area, South Dakota, St. Francis, SD. Rosebud Educational Society, page 34
References