CautionEdible cooked
Common milkweed
Asclepias syriaca
Thick opposite leaves, pink flower balls, milky sap. Monarch host. Young shoots and pods are traditional food if boiled.
- Marks
- Milky sap; opposite leaves; warty pods
- Size
- 3–5 ft
- Habitat
- Fields, roadsides, garden edges.
- Season
- June–August bloom.
- Frequency
- common
Unbranched stems with broad opposite leaves. Flower clusters are dusty rose and heavily fragrant. Seed pods are warty and full of silk.
Uses
Young shoots, unopened buds, and small pods boiled in two waters. Silk for tinder. Critical monarch plant — leave most of the patch. Dogbane looks similar and is more toxic — milkweed sap is milky and the pods are warty.
Lookalikes
Hemp dogbane
Apocynum cannabinum
Milkweed cousin with branching stems and toxic sap. Superb cordage, bad food.
ToxicDo not eat