Date: 04/18/2002

Number: 1

First shoots of A. incarnata (Swamp milkweed) up in the garden (about 2" tall).

I was out (4/17/02) at a nearby wildlife management area (Soldiers Delight WMA) here in Baltimore County and I checked the places where A. syriaca (common milkweed) grows wild. It has not come up here yet. Only last year's dry stalks, with their attached empty seed husks, are lying on the ground among thick clumps of grass by the roadside. Interestingly, a patch of dogbane (Apocynum sp.)that grows along the entrance road to the visitor center, is already up, about a foot tall. It is growing all around where last year's old dry stalks are also standing. Their dry husks are long and thin compared to the thick, oval-shaped husks of the syriaca described above. Of the new dogbane shoots sprouting up, the stems are thick, and very similar to Asclepias. It would be very easy to
mistake them for milkweed at this time.

There were no milkweeds in the garden yet, but it is encouraging to see the reports that are showing up on Journey North from locations slightly south of us.

Randallstown, MD

Latitude: 39.4 Longitude: -76.8

Observed by: Rudy
Contact Observer

The observer's e-mail address will not be disclosed.
Contact will be made through a web-based form.