Saturday 21 November 2009

Milkweed Pods

I was walking with TessaDog under grey November skies today.
Most of the colour has faded from the landscape, turning to delicate shades of brown and beige.

The milkweed pods are bursting, scattering their silky seeds in the wind.

During WW2, hundreds of tons of milkweed pods were gathered by school children in USA and Canada and the silky fluff processed as a substitute for kapok, used to pad life jackets and flying suits. It’s been estimated that more than 11 million pounds of milkweed were collected by the end of WW2.

14 comments:

  1. Wars have a way of bringing out the ingenuity in people.

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  2. milkweed buds are DELICIOUS--similar to but better than asparagus. you have to get them before the little flowers pop out.

    beautiful photos

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  3. That's interesting. I never knew that (about gathering milkweed for life jackets).

    Love your pics. They really are good. I was trying to capture a milkweed pod the other day, but it just turned out boring. Yours look alive!

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  4. I love these photos. While I was in New York, I took some photos of milkweed too.

    Interesting fact about the use of them.

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  5. Very interesting...don't have any here in our area so know nothing about them.

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  6. What a cool fact about milkweed. I had no idea. I happened to post a milkweed photo too.. I like yours better. :)

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  7. To quote Michael Caine..'not a lot of people know that'!!
    Very interesting. I love milkweed, they smell amazing too.
    xox

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  8. Fascinating bit of info about the milkweed. I love the creative juices that flow.
    Read your comment on Leena's blog and just cracked up. Your Tess and my Granddogger Snicker must be related...

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  9. So again, thanks to blogging (and you) I learnt something new! :-)

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  10. I love the silky threads inside the pods. Nice photos!

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  11. That's very interesting about the kapok substitute. I didn't know that.

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  12. lovely photos
    I'll have go google milkweed. it looks silkier than kapok

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  13. Oh that's what they are, I found them and I was amazed by this little furry plant. Anna :)

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  14. That's a LOT of milkweed, Sham! And so beautifully photographed here.

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