Asclepias speciosa – showy milkweed

Description

Growing Conditions
Prefers full sun and moist soils. Thrives in ditches, swales, or areas where water runoff collects.

Bloom Time
Summer.

Height
To 6 feet, but usually 1 – 3 feet.

Ecology
Milkweeds produce copious amounts of nectar, attracting a multitude of pollinators. They are the obligate larval host plant for the monarch butterfly (in other words, monarch caterpillars only eat milkweed plants), and are therefore an essential part of monarch butterfly habitat along their migration corridors. While milkweed contains cardiac glycosides that can be toxic to livestock, particularly when harvested with hay, recent research has shown that cattle safely graze showy milkweed at low levels on rangelands.

Photos by USFWS and Cecelia Alexander.