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Asclepias

 
Dictionary: As·cle·pi·as

n.

(Bot.) A genus of plants including the milkweed, swallowwort, and some other species having medicinal properties.

Asclepias butterfly (Zoöl.), a large, handsome, red and black butterfly (Danais Archippus), found in both hemispheres. It feeds on plants of the genus Asclepias.


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Veterinary Dictionary: Asclepias
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Widespread genus of the plant family Asclepiadaceae which contains many poisonous plants, most of them with copious white sap. Contain cardiac glycosides. Cause diarrhea and heart failure syndrome. Includes A. asperula, A. brachystephana, A. curassavica (red cotton bush), A. eriocarpa (A. galioides), A. incarnata, A. labriformis, A. latifolia, A. mexicana, A. pumila, A. physocarpus (Gomphrena physocarpus), A. speciosa, A. subverticillata (A. verticillata), A. syriaca. Called also milkweeds, wild cotton.

Annuals Dictionary: Asclepias
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Milkweed family
Asclepiadaceae

As-klee'pi-as. Milkweed . Milky-juiced, rather showy, but sometimes weedy, perennial herbs, including about 200 species, chiefly from the New World, but a few African. The cultivated species are mostly North American.

Description
Leaves opposite or in whorls, rarely alternate; without marginal teeth. Flowers regular, often showy, usually in close, roundish umbels, but sometimes in few-flowered clusters in leaf axils. Corolla with 5 deep lobes.

How to Grow
Easy to grow in warm climates. Start seeds indoors, and move to sunny site with moist, fertile soil after last frost. A. curassavica flowers about 5 months after it is sown.

Asclepias curassavica
Blood Flower . 2-4 ft. (60-120 cm) high, the stem smooth or nearly so. Flowers ƈ in. (6 mm) long, brilliant orange-red, in clusters. Tropical America. Tender perennial grown as a tender annual.



Gardener's Dictionary: Asclepias
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The botanical name for milkweed.

asclepias

Word Tutor: Asclepias
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pronunciation

IN BRIEF: n. - Genus of chiefly North American perennial herbs: silkweed.

Wikipedia: Asclepias
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Milkweeds
Asclepias syriaca showing flowers and latex like sap.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Gentianales
Family: Apocynaceae
Subfamily: Asclepiadoideae
Genus: Asclepias
L.
Type species
Asclepias syriaca L.
Species

See text.

Asclepias L. (1753), the milkweeds, is a genus of herbaceous perennial, dicotyledonous plants that contains over 140 known species. It previously belonged to the family Asclepiadaceae, but this is now classified as a subfamily Asclepiadoideae of the dogbane family Apocynaceae.

Milkweeds are an important nectar source for bees and other nectar seeking insects, and a larval food source for monarch butterflies and their relatives, as well as a variety of other herbivorous insects (including numerous beetles, moths, and true bugs) specialized to feed on the plants despite their chemical defenses. Milkweed is named for its milky juice, which contains alkaloids, latex, and several other complex compounds including cardenolides. Some species are known to be toxic.

Carolus Linnaeus named the genus after Asclepius, the Greek god of healing, because of the many folk-medicinal uses for the milkweed plants.

Pollination in this genus is accomplished in an unusual manner, as the pollen is grouped into complex structures called pollinia (or "pollen sacs"), rather than being individual grains or tetrads, as is typical for most plants. The feet or mouthparts of flower visiting insects such as bees, wasps and butterflies, slip into one of the five slits in each flower formed by adjacent anthers. The bases of the pollinia then mechanically attach to the insect, pulling a pair of pollen sacs free when the pollinator flies off. Pollination is effected by the reverse procedure in which one of the pollinia becomes trapped within the anther slit.

Species in the Asclepias genus grow their seeds in follicles. These follicles contain soft filaments known as either silk or floss. The filaments are attached to individual seeds. When the follicle ripens, the seeds are blown by the wind, each carried by several filaments.

Milkweeds use three primary defenses to limit damage caused by caterpillars: hairs on the leaves, cardenolid toxins, and latex fluids. Data from a DNA study indicates that more recently evolved milkweed species utilize less of these preventative strategies, but grow faster than older species; potentially regrowing faster than caterpillars can consume them.[1]

Contents

Species

Some Asclepias species:

Asclepias albicans Whitestem milkweed
Asclepias amplexicaulis Blunt-leaved milkweed
Asclepias asperula - Antelope Horns.jpg Asclepias asperula Antelope horns
Asclepias sp. flowers (Marshal Hedin).jpg Asclepias californica California milkweed
Asclepias cordifolia.JPG Asclepias cordifolia Heart-leaf milkweed
Asclepias cryptoceras Pallid milkweed
Asclepias curassavica crop.jpg Asclepias curassavica Scarlet milkweed, Tropical milkweed, Bloodroot, Bloodflower, Bastard Ipecacuanha
Asclepias eriocarpa Woollypod milkweed
Asclepias erosa 5.jpg Asclepias erosa Desert milkweed
Asclepias exaltata Poke milkweed
Asclepias fascicularis flowers 2003-06-05.jpg Asclepias fascicularis Narrow leaf milkweed
Asclepias fruticosa fruits.jpg Asclepias fruticosa syn. Gomphocarpus fruticosus swan plant, African milkweed
Asclepias humistrata Sandhill milkweed
Swamp Milkweed Asclepias incarnata Flowers Closeup 2800px.jpg Asclepias incarnata Swamp milkweed
Asclepias lanceolata Lanceolate milkweed
Asclepias linaria Pine needle milkweed
Asclepias linearis Slim milkweed
Asclepias meadii Mead's milkweed
Asclepias nyctaginifolia.jpg Asclepias nyctaginifolia Mojave milkweed
Asclepias obovata Pineland milkweed
Gomphocarpus physocarpus 1.jpg Asclepias physocarpa Gomphocarpus physocarpus, commonly balloonplant, balloon cotton-bush, giant swan plant, testicle tree, bishop's balls or swan plant
Purple Milkweed Asclepias purpurascens Head.jpg Asclepias purpurascens Purple milkweed
Asclepias quadrifolia Four-leaved milkweed
Asclepias rubra Red milkweed
Asclepiassolanoana.jpg Asclepias solanoana Serpentine milkweed
R27182818 milkweed img 0312.jpg Asclepias speciosa Showy milkweed
Asclepias subulata flowers 2.jpg Asclepias subulata Rush milkweed(Leafless milkweed)
Asclepias sullivantii Sullivant's milkweed
Common milkweed-tracy.jpg Asclepias syriaca Common milkweed
Butterfly Weed Asclepias tuberosa Umbel.jpg Asclepias tuberosa Butterfly weed, Pleurisy root
Asclepias variegata White milkweed
Asclepias verticillata.jpg Asclepias verticillata Whorled milkweed
Asclepias vestita Woolly milkweed
Asclepias vincetoxicum
Asclepiasviridiflora.jpg Asclepias viridiflora

Uses

Asclepias syriaca seed pods
Baldwinsville, New York

The milkweed filaments from the follicles are coated with wax, and have good insulation qualities. Tests have shown them to be superior to down feathers for insulation. During World War II, over 11 million pounds (5000 t) of milkweed floss were collected in the United States as a substitute for kapok. As of 2007, milkweed is grown commercially as a hypoallergenic filling for pillows.[2]

Seeds.

In the past, the high dextrose content of the nectar led to milkweed's use as a source of sweetener for Native Americans and voyageurs.

The bast fibers of some species were also used for cordage.

Milkweed latex contains about 1 to 2% caoutchouc, and was attempted as a natural source for rubber by both Germany and the United States during World War II. No record has been found of large-scale success.

Milkweed is a common folk remedy used for removing warts. Milkweed sap is applied directly to the wart several times daily until the wart falls off. Dandelion sap is often used in the same manner.

Milkweed is beneficial to nearby plants, repelling some pests, especially wireworms.

Milkweed also contains cardiac glycoside poisons which inhibit animal cells from maintaining a proper K+, Ca+ concentration gradient. As a result many natives of South America and Africa used arrows poisoned with these glycosides to fight and hunt more effectively. Milkweed is toxic and may cause death when animals consume 1/10 its body weight in any part of the plant. Milkweed also causes mild dermatitis in some who come in contact with it.

Milkweed sap is also externally used as a natural remedy for Poison Ivy.

Being the sole food source of Monarch Butterfly larva, the plant is often used in Butterfly gardening.

See also

References

  • Everitt, J.H.; Lonard, R.L., Little, C.R. (2007). Weeds in South Texas and Northern Mexico. Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press.  ISBN 0-89672-614-2
  1. ^ Ramanujan, Krishna (Winter 2008). "Discoveries: Milkweed evolves to shrug off predation". Northern Woodlands (Center for Northern Woodlands Education) 15 (4): 56. 
  2. ^ Evangelista, R.L. (2007), "Milkweed seed wing removal to improve oil extraction", Industrial Crops and Products 25 (2): 210–217, doi:10.1016/j.indcrop.2006.10.002 

External links


 
 
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Asclepiadora decumbens
broadleaf milkweed
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Dictionary. Webster 1913 Dictionary edited by Patrick J. Cassidy  Read more
Veterinary Dictionary. Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary 3rd Edition. Copyright © 2007 by D.C. Blood, V.P. Studdert and C.C. Gay, Elsevier. All rights reserved.  Read more
Annuals Dictionary. Taylor's Guide for Annuals, by Norman Taylor, revised and edited by Gordon P. DeWolf, Jr. Copyright © 1986 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Gardener's Dictionary. Taylor's Dictionary for Gardeners, by Frances Tenenbaum. Copyright © 1997 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
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