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milkweed

milkweed

7 7.9
A plant with milky sap and pods that release seeds with silky hairs
  • noun
  • /ˈmɪlkˌwiːd/
  • US
translation icon : algodoncillo
  • In their rented farmhouse there, the windows collected sunshine from surrounding fields full of milkweed, daisies, and buttercups.
  • milkweed leaves
  • milkweed plant
  • common milkweed

Or you know, maybe you want more varieties of Asclepius of milkweed.

Examples

  • The insects that consume milkweed occupy just about every conceivable feeding niche.

    Academic text (2002)
  • As this issue goes to press, silky milkweed seeds are bursting out of their crescent-shaped pods.

    Academic text (2002)
  • Was there any Johnson grass or milkweed around?

  • Dear me, I almost forgot to put out the pitcher plant, and the milkweed is coming with butter and eggs!

    Fiction book (1997)
  • Monarch caterpillars feed exclusively on leaves of milkweed plants, which grow in and around cornfields.

    Academic text (2002)
  • To find out, the researchers established corn pollen density and distribution patterns on milkweed leaves near cornfields.

    Academic text (2002)
  • Small milkweed bugs (Lygaeus kalmii) can sometimes be found in large numbers on milkweed plants, where they mate.

    Academic text (2002)
  • A monarch caterpillar creates its own window of opportunity on the leaf of a swamp milkweed, Asclepias incarnata.

    Academic text (2002)
  • In particular, they say, herbicide use on Midwest farmland destroys many milkweed plants on which monarch larvae grow.

    Academic text (1999)
  • Many gardeners choose to plant milkweed to support the declining monarch butterfly population.

Synonyms

silkweed
vsmilkweed
  • US
9.9

A plant with milky juice and seed pods that release fluffy seeds

stresses mainly North American distribution rather than just the seed features
Asclepias
vsmilkweed
  • Specialized
9.9

A group of flowering plants with milky sap called milkweeds

is the common name focused on seed tuft features rather than taxonomy

Compounds

Mead's milkweed
  • Specialized
1 9.9

A rare flowering plant that lives many years in central North America and is now threatened

A wetland plant with pink flower clusters that attract bees and butterflies

A large orange and black North American butterfly whose caterpillars eat milkweed

milkweed family
  • Specialized
7.2

A group of flowering plants that make milky sap

horsetail milkweed
  • Specialized
9.9

A plant that grows in dry areas and is poisonous to farm animals

A tall plant that lives for many years and has bright orange flowers that attract butterflies

9.5

A milkweed plant from eastern North America with white and green flowers that grows in shady woods

A milkweed plant from the southwestern United States and Mexico that makes farm animals very sick

A plant that grows in wet places with clusters of pink or white flowers

A plant with large purple and pink star-shaped flowers that attract butterflies

white milkweed
  • Specialized
8.9

A tall desert plant from the southwestern United States with white leafless stems and pale star-shaped flowers

A flowering plant with narrow leaves that grow in rings around the stem and small greenish-white flowers

Surface Forms

milkweed singular
milkweeds plural

Morphology

milkweed = milk + weed (transparent) = milk + weed

A straightforward compound: a weed-like plant characterized by milky sap, so the meaning is directly inferable from 'milk' + 'weed'.

Etymology

The word milkweed is made of milk and weed because the plant has a white 'milky sap' and grows as a wild plant. So, a milkweed is a wild plant known for its milk-like sap and its silky seeds.