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The milk vine, also known as the moth
vine, may have been imported as a decorative garden plant, but it is
now considered an invasive weed. For many years seeds of milk
vine drifted into my yard frequently. Recently they seem to have
disappeared from the neighborhood.
The manner in which this milk vine
has over grown a cypress tree may explain another of its common names,
"cruel plant". In this case the milk vine looks dead because its
stem was cut.
The bulge at the base of the flower's
tube gives rise to another common name, "white bladder-flower".
Here a close up shows the details of
the flower.
The fruit of the milk vine is very
similar to the pod of milkweed, which is closely related.
When
the pod opens, the seeds drift on the wind like dandelion seeds.
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