Foothills. Moist roadsides, fields. Summer.
Highway 145 north of Dolores, July 22, 2004.

Broad, long, and widely spaced leaves ascend a tall and sturdy flower stalk topped by a huge, showy cluster of pink/white flowers. These Milkweeds are common along roadsides and in fields. The tan, three inch long seed pod containing silky hairs around the seeds is a common toy for kids and was used in the past as pillow filling.

Linnaeus named this genus in 1753.  John Torrey named the species from a specimen collected by Edwin James in 1820 "on the Canadian [River]".  (Quotation from Intermountain Flora.)  "Asclepias" was a legendary Greek physician and the Greek god of medicine and "speciosa" is Latin for "showy" or "beautiful".

Foothills. Moist roadsides, fields. Summer.
Highway 145 north of Dolores, July 22, 2004.

Foothills. Moist roadsides, fields. Summer.
Highway 145 north of Dolores, July 22, 2004.

Foothills. Moist roadsides, fields. Summer.
Near Dolores River, September 19, 2006.

Gray Milkweed seed pods split in the fall and in a few days silken plumes will carry brown seeds on stormy winds.