Asclepiadaceae and Associates

Common names can be telling, e.g., rattlesnake, bluebird, whip-poor-will. Milkweed? Well, there is that “milk” or white sap which oozes when the plant is damaged, but I’d question that sap’s quality as a nutritional calcium-rich fluid. And, “weed” (a plant growing where it is not wanted) might be an arguable point in a conversation with a monarch butterfly. What might you say about milkweeds?

by Patty Gillespie, IAS volunteer associate editor, and Michelle RS. Denning, IDNR, Prairie Ridge State Natural Area