Erect herb, one or two feet tall.  Uppermost leaves usually opposite each other, but lower leaves usually in whorls of four.  Flowers in crowded clusters, white or pale pink.  Flowers, like those of other milkweeds, oddly shaped, with 5 petals bent backwards and and a crown formed of 5 fused stamens, each with a hood.  Blooms in late spring and early summer.

Dry woods.  In Wildwood, occasional on the eastern slope of the Park.

Easily identified by the typical milkweed flowers, the whorled leaves, the low stature, and the woodland habitat.  Common milkweed (A. syriaca) has white to purple flowers, butterflyweed (A tuberosa) has orange flowers, and swamp milkweed (A. incarnata) has pink ones.  All three of these are much taller than four-leaved milkweed and prefer open areas.