Showy milkweed.

Description:

From (http://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/cs...). Asclepias flowers look like crowns, with the corolla reflexed and hoods elevated above the corolla. Showy milkweed (Asclepias speciosa) is a hairy perennial with stems ascending to erect. The leaves are opposite, persistent, with short petioles, elliptic to ovate blades, and bases rarely cordate and clasping. The corolla is reflexed and rose-purple; the hoods are elevated above the corolla in pink, aging yellow. Horns are exerted beyond the hoods.

Habitat:

Showy milkweed occurs in many sunny, dry habitats including fields and roadsides, from 0 to 1900 m. The plant occurs in California to British Colombia and Central Canada south to Texas.

Notes:

People have used milkweed for fiber, food, and medicine all over the United States and southern Canada. Fibers from the stems of milkweed have been identified in prehistoric textiles in the Pueblo region. Tewa-speaking people of the Rio Grande still make string and rope from these fibers. At Zuni, the silky seed fibers are spun on a hand-held wooden spindle and made into yarn and woven into fabric, especially for dancers. Pueblo people ate green milkweed pods and uncooked roots from one of the species that forms fleshy tubers underground.