milkweed

Any of various plants of the genus Asclepias, having milky juice, usually opposite leaves, variously colored flowers grouped in umbels, and pods that split open to release seeds with downy tufts.

The tall blue lettuce, Lactuca spicata.

A general name for plants of the genus Asclepias, somewhat especially for A. Cornuti, the most common American species: so called from their milky juice.

A plant of the genus Euphorbia, especially E. corollata, the flowering or blooming spurge. See Euphorbia.

In Great Britain: The sow-thistle, Sonchus oleraceus.

The milk-parsley, Peucedanum palustre.

Any plant of the genera Asclepias and Acerates, abounding in a milky juice, and having its seed attached to a long silky down; silkweed. The name is also applied to several other plants with a milky juice, as to several kinds of spurge. Its leaves are a favorite food source for the larvae of the monarch butterfly.

Any of several plants, of the genus Asclepias, that have a milky sap and have pods that split to release seeds with silky tufts.

A monarch butterfly.

annual Eurasian sow thistle with soft spiny leaves and rayed yellow flower heads