Asclepias tuberosa, commonly known as butterfly weed, is a species of milkweed native to eastern and southwestern North America. It is commonly known as butterfly weed because of the butterflies that are attracted to the plant by its color and its copious production of nectar.
The monarch butterfly or simply monarch is a milkweed butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. Other common names, depending on region, include milkweed, common tiger, wanderer, and black-veined brown. It is amongst the most familiar of North American butterflies and an iconic pollinator, although it is not an especially effective pollinator of milkweeds. Its wings feature an easily recognizable black, orange, and white pattern, with a wingspan of 8.9–10.2 cm (3.5–4.0 in). A Müllerian mimic, the viceroy butterfly, is similar in color and pattern, but is markedly smaller and has an extra black stripe across each hindwing.
Asclepias is a genus of herbaceous, perennial, flowering plants known as milkweeds, named for their latex, a milky substance containing cardiac glycosides termed cardenolides, exuded where cells are damaged. Most species are toxic to humans and many other species, primarily due to the presence of cardenolides. However, as with many such plants, some species feed upon them or from them. The most notable of them is the monarch butterfly, which uses and requires certain milkweeds as host plants for their larvae.
Asclepias syriaca, commonly called common milkweed, butterfly flower, silkweed, silky swallow-wort, and Virginia silkweed, is a species of flowering plant. It is native to southern Canada and much of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, excluding the drier parts of the prairies. It is in the genus Asclepias, the milkweeds. It grows in sandy soils as well as other kinds of soils in sunny areas.
Asclepias incarnata, the swamp milkweed, rose milkweed, rose milkflower, swamp silkweed, or white Indian hemp, is a herbaceous perennial plant species native to North America. It grows in damp through wet soils and also is cultivated as a garden plant for its flowers, which attract butterflies and other pollinators with nectar. Like most other milkweeds, it has latex containing toxic chemicals, a characteristic that repels insects and other herbivorous animals.
Butterfly gardening is a way to create, improve, and maintain habitat for lepidopterans including butterflies, skippers, and moths. Butterflies have four distinct life stages—egg, larva, chrysalis, and adult. In order to support and sustain butterfly populations, an ideal butterfly garden contains habitat for each life stage.
Asclepias asperula, commonly called antelope horns milkweed or spider milkweed, is a species of milkweed native to the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico.
Asclepias curassavica, commonly known as tropical milkweed, is a flowering plant species of the milkweed genus, Asclepias. It is native to the American tropics and has a pantropical distribution as an introduced species. Other common names include bloodflower or blood flower, cotton bush, hierba de la cucaracha, Mexican butterfly weed, redhead, scarlet milkweed, and wild ipecacuanha.
Asclepias fascicularis is a species of milkweed known by the common names narrowleaf milkweed and Mexican whorled milkweed. It is a perennial herb that grows in a variety of habitats.
Asclepias speciosa is a milky-sapped perennial plant in the dogbane family (Apocynaceae), known commonly as the showy milkweed and is found in the western half of North America.
Asclepias cordifolia is a species of milkweed commonly called heart-leaf milkweed or purple milkweed. It is native to the western United States, growing between 50 and 2,000 m elevation in the northern Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges. Heart-leaf milkweed was valued by the Native American Miwok tribe for its stems, which they dried and processed into string and rope.
Asclepias eriocarpa is a species of milkweed known by the common names woollypod milkweed, Indian milkweed, and kotolo. It is a perennial herb that grows in many types of habitats.
Asclepias viridis is a species of milkweed, a plant in the dogbane family known by the common names green milkweed, green antelopehorn and spider milkweed. The Latin word viridis means green. The plant is native to the midwestern, south central and southeastern United States, as well as to the southeastern portion of the western United States.
Asclepias quadrifolia, commonly called four-leaved milkweed or fourleaf milkweed, is a species of milkweed in the Apocynaceae (dogbane) family. It is sometimes referred to as whorled milkweed, but it should not be confused with Asclepias verticillata. A. quadrifolia occurs in the eastern United States and Canada.
Asclepias lanceolata, the fewflower milkweed, is a species of milkweed that is native to the coastal plain of the United States from New Jersey to Florida and Southeast Texas. A. lanceolata is an upright, perennial plant that can grow between 3 and 5 feet tall, with red-orange flowers blooming in the summer months. It can also be referred to as Cedar Hill milkweed, as it was first described by Dr. Eli Ives in the neighborhood of Cedar Hill in New Haven, Connecticut.
Asclepias sullivantii is a species of flowering plant in the milkweed genus, Asclepias. Common names include prairie milkweed, Sullivant's milkweed, and smooth milkweed. It is native to North America, where it occurs in the central United States and Ontario in Canada.
Asclepias viridiflora, is commonly known as green comet milkweed, green-flower milkweed, and green milkweed. It is a widely distributed species of milkweed (Asclepias), known from much of the eastern and central United States from Connecticut to Georgia to Arizona to Montana, as well as southern Canada and northern Mexico. The Latin specific epithet viridiflora means green-flowered.
Asclepias hirtella, commonly called the tall green milkweed, is a species of flowering plant in the milkweed genus and dogbane family (Apocynaceae). It is native to Canada and the United States, where its range is concentrated in the Midwest and Upper South.
Asclepias perennis, also known as aquatic milkweed or white swamp milkweed, is a North American species of milkweed that is found throughout the Coastal Plain from eastern Texas to southern South Carolina, northward along the Mississippi River, and into the Ohio Valley of Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky. There seems to be a few disjunct populations in Arkansas, Texas, and Indiana.
Asclepias cinerea, also known as Carolina milkweed or ashy milkweed, is a herbaceous perennial plant species in the genus Asclepias. It is native to the United States where its range is concentrated in the Southeast.
