The method of compelling visitors to withdraw pollen-masses from
one blossom and deposit them in another - an amazing process -
has been already described under the common milkweed. Lacking the
quantity of sticky milky juice which protects that plant from
crawling pilferers, the butterfly-weed suffers outrageous
robberies from black ants. The hairs on its stem, not sufficient
to form a stockade against them, serve only as a screen to
reflect light lest too much may penetrate to the interior juices.
We learned, in studying the prickly pear cactus, how necessary it
is for plants living in dry soil to guard against the escape of
their precious moisture.
Transplanted from Nature's garden into our own, into what Thoreau
termed "that meager assemblage of curiosities, that poor apology
for Nature and Art which I call my front yard," clumps of
butterfly-weed give the place real splendor and interest. It is
said the Indians used the tuberous root of this plant for various
maladies, although they could scarcely have known that because of
the alleged healing properties of the genus Linnaeus dedicated it
to Aesculapius, of whose name Asclepias is a Latinized
corruption.
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