Asclepias viridis or Asclepias asperula? --Regardless, this is testimony to the water of Garland. After 12 days from being planted, four milkweed seeds that were soaked in Garland tap water 24 hours prior to planting have germinated (shown in the container on the right). Only one seed soaked 24 hours prior to planting in sterile water has germinated (shown in container on the left. In the wild, according to some geologist, only 2 seeds out of 100 milkweed seeds will germinate. Thus far, I have five seeds out of 18 that have germinated in a protected environment.
"What's in a name? that which we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet." (Juliet --Act II Scene II - Romeo and Juliet )
Actually, someone should have told Juliet that names are important identifiers--especially when we are referring to names of plants. These seeds, which a friend rescued for me from the White Rock Lake area are unknown as to which type of antelopehorn they are. The seeds got their name from the shape of their pods which resemble antelope horns. Since we do have a few pods, or parts of pods, we can make some fairly good guesses as to the species of milkweed.
As many of you know, way back when Carolus Linnaeus developed a Latin binomial nomeclature for plants which is referred today as the "scientific name" for a plant. It consists of the Genus and the Species. The Genus name for milkweed is Asclepias. Here in Texas we have over 30 varieties of native milkweed or Asclepias. You can find a complete list at Texas Milkweeds.
NOTICE HOW CONFUSING THE COMMON NAMES ARE FOR THESE TWO DIFFERENT SPECIES OF MILKWEED
Another advantage for using Latin names for plants is the consistency. Regardless what a plant may be called in one state, region or even country--when one uses a Latin name as the identifier, the name is always the same, regardless the language. It makes for a common language to facilitate scientific study.
Asclepias viridis - a.k.a. green antelopehorn, green milkweed
Asclepias asperula - a.k.a. antelope horns, spider milkweed, and Spider-antelope horns
It the seed turns out to be Asclepias viridis, it will look like the photo below:
Image Number 1391484 - Green Antelopehorn (Asclepias viridis) James Byrd photographer Licensed under a creative Commons 3.0 License
The photo above shows the seed pod for the Asclepias viridis. I'm inclined to believe the native milkweed plants I have are Asclepias asperula as the pods from which they came were shorter and fatter as opposed to the elongated pod of the Asclepias viridis.
The flowers of the two plants are quite similar in shape and cluster formations. The main difference I see is that the Asclepias asperula is a much lighter green.
Photograph by Karen A. Rawlings - University of Georgia - Creative Commons Attribution
Pod photos by Harlen E. and Altus Aschen - Texas Asclepias Homepage
The pods of the Asclepias asperula appear to be rougher and not as elongated as those of the Asclepias viridis.