Milkweed Plant Guide

The milkweed plant is an important source of nectar for the many nectar seeking insects in our gardens. It is also a larval food source for many other insects, including the Monarch Butterfly and thus plays an important role in our butterfly gardens.

Monarch Butterfly on my Tropical Milkweed earlier this year

Whilst surfing the net the other day, I came across this U-Tube video seen below. Tony who presents it is an entomologist, here he discusses the milkweed plant and shares many other interesting facts with us. The video also highlights many of the insects seen on the milkweed as you see them and they are indentified here; I hope that in future you will be easily able to identify them should you see them on plants in your garden. 

 Tropical Milkweed

There are over 140 Milkweed which is a genus of herbaceous perennial, dicotyledonous plants. the most frequently seen here in Florida is the Asclepias curassavica or Tropical Milkweed. Here at GardenersReach.com we have a couple of other posts about the Milkweed you should consider reading Milkweed Seed Bugs and Aphids on My Butterfly Milkweed

In the video, Tony mentions that in World War II, the schoolchildren across the Midwest collected thousands of pounds of milkweed fluff to stuff life preservers for the armed forces in the Pacific.  The reason, kapok which was normally used for this purpose was unavailable due to the Japanese occupation in Indonesia.

Milkweed Seed Fluff 

Tony also mentions that milkweed is a common folk remedy used for removing warts. The milkweed sap is said to be used topically directly to the wart several times daily until the wart falls off.

It is my understanding that dandelion sap is often used in the same way, however as with Tony I have never had a wart and cannot vouch for the authenticity of the information!