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milkweed
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Texas milkweed
Monarch butterfly perched on a plant with purple flowers.
Milkweed showy milkweed Seed dispersal
Monarch Butterfly Migration Explained
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Texas milkweed
Texas milkweed Texas, or white, milkweed (Asclepias texana).

milkweed

plant
Also known as: Asclepias
Written by
Melissa Petruzzello
Melissa Petruzzello (she/her) is Assistant Managing Editor and covers plants, algae, fungi, insects, spiders, renewable energy and environmental engineering. She also handles certain topics in Christianity,...
Melissa Petruzzello
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Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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•History

milkweed, (genus Asclepias), genus of about 140 species of herbaceous perennial flowering plants belonging to the dogbane family Apocynaceae (formerly in Asclepiadaceae). Milkweeds are found throughout North and South America, and several are cultivated as ornamentals. Many milkweed butterflies, including monarch butterflies, rely exclusively on milkweed plants as a food source for their larvae. These plants contain acrid milky juices that probably make the larvae and their subsequent stages distasteful to predators. Most milkweeds have...

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