Find Your Ask the Expert: some type of pod plant
i have 2 of these pod type plants with 3 “blooms” total in my front yard but i have no idea what they are or how they got there, any idea of what it is? It was closed for the longest time but today it opened up, coincidentally this is our first cold day of the year but i dont know if that has anything to do with the timing. I have never seen it before in any garden in the area and my place seems to be a haven for anything that can bloom. Kari
See Attached Photos
Possible Milkweed Pod
Possible Asclepias Pod
Kari,
I know it has been a week since you sent these photos and I will have to be honest this one stumped me. Usually something comes to mind instantly when I look at a photo. I may not know the name of the exact plant but I at least have an idea where what to look for. This time I drew a blank. That was until this morning when another pod questions was asked. Someone sent me a photo of pods used in a flower arrangement. I knew instantly where to look. However when looking for that pod name I saw other pods in the same family. The Genus that I believe both these pods belongs to is Asclepias. Even through these two pods look nothing alike I found similar picture for each under this genus. Of course they were different spcies which is why they don’t look exactly alike. I believe the kind you have may be Asclepias tomentosum sometimes called common milkweed. A picture of the whole plant or a bloom might help pin down the exact identification.
thanks for getting back to me. One out of the three I have finally popped completely open and now I have seeds stuck all over my garden that i have to pick out. The smaller picture that is in the original post is the whole plant, both are very close to the ground growing sideways. What confused me is that there are no blooms at all to compare to another plant, that is why I had to ask someone else LOL. I have been looking at different species in Texas (with no luck) but I dont think it will help until it blooms. I really just kept it around because it was something I had never seen before and I like my kids to watch things grow. Thanks so much for your help!
Attached Image: DSC00092.jpg
Kari,
After seeing your other photo I think it is a Asclepias viridis. They are indigenous to Texas and tend to lay over.