Purple Milkweed - Asclepias purpurascens

Features: This milkweed looks like a smaller cousin of Common Milkweed, with more purplish flowers. Leaf veins have a purple tinge. It is a much more conservative plant, that needs attention and care to thrive. It is endangered in several states, including Wisconsin. 

It will grow in prairies in full sun with enough water, but prefers woodland edges that are part sun and part shade. Like all milkweeds, its leaves feed Monarch caterpillars and its lovely purple-pink flower clusters are a very popular nectar source for bumblebees, other native bees, wasps and beetles. They form smooth narrow seed pods after pollination.

Light: Partial to Full Sun

Soil: Medium to moist 

Height: 2-3 feet

Blooms:  June to July

See more information and photos at: Illinois Wildflowers and US Forest Service

Photo credits: 1. Illinois Wildflowers, 2,3 Missouri Botanical Garden, 4 USDA