Asclepias speciosa


Asclepias speciosa is a milky-sapped perennial plant in the dogbane family, known commonly as the showy milkweed, and is found in the Western half of North America.

Habitat and range

This species is native to the western half of North America.

Growth pattern

This flowering plant is a hairy, erect perennial.

Leaves and stems

The large, pointed, elongate, simple, entire leaves are arranged oppositely on stalks.

Inflorescence and fruit

The eye-catching, hirsute, pale pink through pinkish-purple flowers occur in dense umbellate cymes. Their corollas are reflexed and the central flower parts, five hoods with prominent hooks, form a star shape. The fruit is a large, rough follicle filled with many flat oval seeds, each with silky hairs.
This species flowers from May through September.

Uses

Native Americans used fiber in the stems for rope, basketry, and nets. Some Native Americans believed the milky sap had medicinal qualities, however, most species of milkweed are toxic.
The young leaves and seed pods can be boiled and eaten.

Butterflies and moths

Asclepias speciosa is a specific monarch butterfly food and habitat plant. Additionally, phenylacetaldehyde produced by the plants attracts Synanthedon myopaeformis, the red-belted clearwing moth.
It is also a larval host for the dogbane tiger moth and the queen butterfly.