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Showy milkweed

Asclepias speciosa

Summary 7

Asclepias speciosa (showy milkweed) is a milky-sapped perennial plant in the dogbane family and is found in the western half of North America. It's fibrous stems have historically been used to make rope, baskets, and nets.

Botanical Information 8

Showy milkweed´s scientific name is Asclepias speciosa. It’s a vascular plant that grows up to 4 feet tall. The leaves are oval-shaped, 4 inches wide, and 8 inches long, with a reddish colored vein in the center. The underside of the leaf is hairy and the top is velvety smooth. The flowers are white, pink, pointy, and about an inch long. They bloom in clusters, called umbels, from the top part of the plant from May through September. It produces pods that grow upward 4-5 inches long, covered with hairs and spines.

Ecological Information 8

Asclepias speciosa grows in the western part of North America between 5,000 to 8,500 feet, where it likes rich loamy soils and adequate moisture. It is found along roadsides, in pastures, and abandoned fields in grasslands and semi-arid steppe. Monarch caterpillars eat the leaves from showy milkweed, ingesting toxic compounds that do not harm them but keep other animals from eating them.

Ethnobotanical Information 9

Showy milkweed has been used for medicinal purposes such as healing warts, sores, and cuts. According to ethnobotanical reports, the milky latex was dried and hardened over a fire and used as chewing gum by the Cheyenne people. The Hopi boiled the flower buds with corn or wheat to be used in meat dishes. It is also harvested for its fibers by Native Americans and they use it to make cloth. (Note: Ethnobotanical reports often lack important contextual information and relevant traditional ecological knowledge.) Milkweeds can be toxic, so be careful.

References 10

http://www.xerces.org/blog/western-monarch-numbers-low-this-year
https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/showy-milkweed
Native American Ethnobotany Database. (2020, December 29). Asclepias speciosa. http://naeb.brit.org/uses/species/442/
Nabhan, Buckley and Dial. (2015). Pollinator Plants of the Desert Southwest.
https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_PLANTMATERIALS/publications/azpmctn12744.pdf

About the Author 11

Student author(s)*: Ajay and Elioke (age 13) from South Valley Academy

*The entries in this field guide have been edited by Yerba Mansa Project staff to ensure that they contain quality, fact-checked content and standardized formatting. https://yerbamansaproject.org/

Sources and Credits

  1. (c) Bureau of Land Management Oregon and Washington, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://www.flickr.com/photos/blmoregon/8744539329/
  2. (c) James Gaither, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), http://www.flickr.com/photos/13892958@N07/3696648914
  3. (c) Andrey Zharkikh, some rights reserved (CC BY), https://www.flickr.com/photos/zharkikh/6660473307/
  4. (c) Andrey Zharkikh, some rights reserved (CC BY), https://www.flickr.com/photos/zharkikh/6726315257/
  5. (c) FarOutFlora, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), https://www.flickr.com/photos/faroutflora/16310573972/
  6. (c) Dane Larsen, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), https://www.flickr.com/photos/nofolete/3706893176/
  7. Adapted by smiller33 from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asclepias_speciosa
  8. Adapted by albuquerqueherbalism from a work by (c) kristen_himm, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)
  9. Adapted by albuquerqueherbalism from a work by (c) smiller33, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)
  10. Adapted by Hannah from a work by (c) caseynm, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)
  11. Adapted by albuquerqueherbalism from a work by (c) caseynm, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)

More Info

Range Map

(c) NatureServe, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)

iNat Map

Uses medicinal
Flower pink, white
Type herb
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