Green Milkweed Vine, Pearl Milkweed

Description:

Milkweeds produce their seeds in follicles. The seeds, which are arranged in overlapping rows, have white, silky, filament-like hairs known as pappus, silk, or floss. The follicles ripen and split open, and the seeds, each carried by several dried pappi, are blown by the wind.

Habitat:

Miller Springs Park is a 360-acre park located below Belton Lake, on the Leon River, in Bell County, Texas. It contains diverse riparian terrain, including limestone bluffs, estuarial wetlands, mountain cedar hilltops, and riverside cottonwood stands. Numerous trails traverse prairie-like open spaces and forests of native cedar elm, live oak, and red oaks. Recent floods have created a new canyon that reveals numerous layers of sedimentary rock and fossils. Area wildlife includes white-tail deer, red foxes, coyotes, black squirrels, armadillos, and about 200 species of birds in the course of the year.

Notes:

This vine was twining up a young cedar elm growing in a grassy opening near the trail.