Common Milkweed ..... ( Asclepias
syriaca )
 Un-opened Milkweed Pods
Milkweed is found from Saskatchewan to New Brunswick and south
into the United States. This plant has purplish to pink clusters
of flowers when in bloom. Its leaves are oblong and quite broad,
light green in color with a gray down underneath. When the leaves
are damaged they bleed a white milky juice. The plant blooms from
June to August.
 Young Milkweed Plant Detail
© Harvey Kirsch DigiPixels_Image    |
 Monarch Larvae
Alan J. Hanks The plant which is the basic food source for the Monarch Butterfly Larvae, contains a chemical component called " cardiac glycosides, allied to digital ins used in treating some types of heart disease. " The glycosides are absorbed by the Monarch Larvae making them toxic. This is why birds avoid and do not eat the Monarch Butterfly or it's larvae, they taste bad. If we destroy the Milkweed pest, as some suggest, we starve the Monarch Butterfly to extinction. Un-fortunatly it's 2009 and there is less Milkweed and fewer Monarchs. LWF ... The Pods burst open revealing the seeds which are covered with silky hair. This hair was collected by volunteers to make bandage liners during WW II.  |