Stats

Lifespan: Perennial
Size: Small
Diet: Photosynthetic
Biome: Temperate woodland edge
Range: North America
Movement: Sessile
Breeding: Seeds
Defense: Toxins
Status: Common

About

A low, branching wildflower with pink, bell-shaped flowers and a milky, toxic sap that oozes from any broken stem. Its pleated flower throat traps the legs of small visiting insects, sometimes holding them fast until they work free or die.

Life cycle

1.
seed
A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
2.
sprout
A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
3.
sapling
A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
4.
mature
Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

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Taxonomy

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Gentianales
Family: Apocynaceae
Genus: Apocynum
Species: Apocynum androsaemifolium