Object Status:
Unlocated
Accession Date:
May 24, 1817
Primary Source Reference:
Peale Museum Accessions Book, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, p. 85
Additional Source Text:
"Which stood out all the winter, yet very glossy and strong."
Notes:
Milkweed fibers are obtained from the seeds of any of several milkweed plants of the genus Asclepias. Milkweeds are a native perennial in North America. The seed pods produce a silky lightweight fuzz, called silk or floss. The lustrous, soft fibers are yellowish white in color and are used for upholstery padding and life jackets. Swallow-worts were once placed in the milkweed family, Asclepiadaceae, but are now Vincetoxicum rossicum.
Charles Whitlow (Whitlaw) was a botanist and inventor who came to America from Great Britain in 1794. By 1809 he was a nurseryman in New York City, selling shrubs and fruit trees imported from London. Jefferson Papers, Founders Online, National Archives / https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-04-02-0333 ; J. Leander Bishop, A History of American Manufactures from 1608 to 1860, 2 vols. (Philadelphia, 1868), 2: 181-182
Current Common Name:
Milkweed
Current Scientific Name
Asclepias
