Asclepias meadii

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This rare, attractive species of Midwestern tallgrass prairies and glades. Today, all of the tallgrass prairie populations of this species in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana have been destroyed by agriculture, and the only remaining native eastern populations occupy glade habitat in southeastern Missouri and southern Illinois. However, following federal and state recovery planning, populations are being restored in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. It now persists in about 150 populations, many of which are located on privately-owned land that is mowed each year. This mowing unfortunately often coincides with the flowering of this species, thus preventing sexual reproduction, and perpetuating the rarity of the species. (Bowles et al. 2001)