Plant · P-972

Milkweed Fibre

Asclepias speciosa

Showy milkweed is an erect perennial of open dry-to-moist ground across western North America, grown for the tough bast fibre stripped from its stems - historically twisted into rope, net and cordage - and for the silky seed floss, a kapok substitute once used to stuff life jackets and insulation. Young shoots, unopened flower buds and immature seed pods are edible after boiling to remove the bitter milky latex, but the latex itself and the mature plant carry toxic cardiac glycosides that make raw or excess consumption and unprocessed grazing dangerous to people and livestock alike. Missouri Botanical Garden rates it dry-to-medium moisture and full sun, tolerant of poor, dryish, gravelly ground, and reports it develops a deep taproot once established, so is best left undisturbed rather than transplanted. As the required host plant for monarch butterfly larvae, it also anchors pollinator habitat wherever it is planted. It self-seeds if pods are not removed before they split, spreading less aggressively than common milkweed.