butterfly weed

Butterfly weed
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Gentianales
Family:	Apocynaceae
Subfamily:	Asclepiadoideae
Genus:	Asclepias
Species:	A. tuberosa
Binomial name
Asclepias tuberosa L.

Common names

Butterfly Weed, Canada Root, Chigger Flower, Chiggerflower, Fluxroot, Indian Paintbrush, Indian Posy, Orange Milkweed, Orange Swallow-wort, Pleurisy Root, Silky Swallow-wort, Tuber Root, Yellow Milkweed, White-root, Windroot

Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) is a species of milkweed native to eastern North America. It is a perennial plant growing to 0.6-2 m (1 -2 feet) tall, with clustered orange or yellow flowers from early summer to early fall. The leaves are spirally arranged, lanceolate, 5-12 cm long and 2-3 cm broad.

This plant favors dry, sand or gravel soil, but has also been reported on stream margins. It requires full sun.

The common name comes from the butterflies that are attracted to the plant by its color and its copious production of nectar. Butterfly weed is also the larval food plant of the Queen and Monarch butterflies. The butterfly weed grows to be 1-3 feet long.

Extracts in herbalism and by Native Americans were used as an expectorant for wet coughs and other pulmonary ailments. Use of the herb is contraindicated in pregnancy, during lactation or with infants due to the small amount of cardiac glycosides.^[1]

Identification

The plant looks similar to the Lanceolate milkweed (Asclepias lanceolata), but is uniquely identified by the larger number of flowers, and the hairy stems that are not milky when broken. It is most commonly found in fields with dry soil.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Asclepias tuberosa

Propagation

Butterfly weed is easily propagated in water.

Other common names

Canada-root, Chiggerflower, Indian posy, Orange-root, Orange swallowwort, Tuberroot, Whiteroot, Windroot, Yellow or Orange milkweed.

Subspecies indicated

• Asclepias tuberosa interior, Central United States.
• Asclepias tuberosa rolfsii (Rolfs Milkweed), Southeast United States.
• Asclepias tuberosa tuberosa, Eastern United States.

Gallery

Entire plant from the ground to the flower	Young stems during spring	A young leaf	An emerging flower head
Closeup of the hairy stems	Closeup of unopened buds	Flower head	Closeup showing unopened, opening, and fully opened flower buds
Orange flowers	Red-striped orange flowers	Yellow flowers

References

External links

The Wikibook Horticulture has a page on the topic of Asclepias tuberosa

• Butterfly weed brief information and pictures
• USDA information
• Missouri Botanical Garden Asclepias tuberosa (native plant without Milky Stems)
• Missouri Botanical Garden Asclepias tuberosa 'Hello Yellow' (cultivar with Milky Stems)

References

• Peterson, Roger Tory; Margaret McKenny (1968). A Field Guide to Wildflowers of Northeastern and North-central North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0-395-18325-1. 
• Photo of a J.J. Audubon Plate Clay-Colored Sparrow perched atop Asclepias tuberosa