Apocynum androsaemifolium

Native

Borders of upland woods, occasionally in fields and roadsides. Full sun.

June to August

Pale pink with dark pink veins

8″ to 32″

This is an erect perennial rising from a fibrous rhizome, often forming colonies. It may take the form of an erect but inclined, branched stem, or it may be many-branched, in which case there is no central stem. The stems and leaves contain a milky juice.

The stems are usually red or tinged with red.

Leaves are opposite, untoothed, and egg-shaped or roughly egg-shaped but two or more times as long as wide with more or less straight sides. They are 1⅓″ to 3½″ long and droop downward from the stem on short leaf stalks. They are tipped with a sharp, slender point. The upper surface is hairless and dark green. The underside is pale is usually hairy.

The inflorescence is a branched cluster with many flowers at the end of each stem and branched clusters with fewer flowers from the upper leaf axils. It usually extends beyond the leaves.

The flowers are ¼″ to ⅜″ wide, fragrant, and nodding on flower stalks that are just over ⅛″ long.

The 5 petals are united at the base to form a bell shaped cylinder with 5 lobes. They are pale pink with dark pink vertical stripes. The lobes spread or curve backward strongly at their tips.

The fruit is a pair of 3″ to 5½″ long slender seed pods.

Indian hemp (Apocynum cannabinum) is a taller plant. The leaves are usually erect or ascending, sometimes widely spreading. The inflorescence usually does not extend beyond the leaves. The flower is smaller, urn-shaped, and white or greenish white with no pink stripes. The corolla lobes are erect to spreading and do not curve backward.