milkweed, silkweed

any of numerous plants of the genus Asclepias having milky juice and pods that split open releasing seeds with downy tufts

• white milkweed, Asclepias albicans — tall herb with leafless waxy-white stems and whitish starlike flowers; southwestern United States
• blood flower, swallowwort, Asclepias curassavica — tropical herb having orange-red flowers followed by pods suggesting a swallow with outspread wings; a weed throughout the tropics
• poke milkweed, Asclepias exaltata — milkweed of the eastern United States with leaves resembling those of pokeweed
• swamp milkweed, Asclepias incarnata — densely branching perennial of the eastern United States with white to crimson or purple flowers
• Mead's milkweed, Asclepias meadii, Asclepia meadii — milkweed of central North America; a threatened species
• purple silkweed, Asclepias purpurascens — perennial of eastern North America having pink-purple flowers
• showy milkweed, Asclepias speciosa — milkweed of southern North America having large starry purple-pink flowers
• poison milkweed, horsetail milkweed, Asclepias subverticillata — milkweed of southwestern United States and Mexico; poisonous to livestock
• butterfly weed, orange milkweed, chiggerflower, pleurisy root, tuber root, Indian paintbrush, Asclepias tuberosa — erect perennial of eastern and southern United States having showy orange flowers
• whorled milkweed, Asclepias verticillata — milkweed of the eastern United States with narrow leaves in whorls and greenish-white flowers

• herb, herbaceous plant — a plant lacking a permanent woody stem; many are flowering garden plants or potherbs; some having medicinal properties; some are pests

• Asclepias, genus Asclepias — genus of chiefly North American perennial herbs: silkweed; milkweed