SUBMISSION #2

Griffin DeMatteo
PSS 112
10/08/21
Common Milkweed – Weed Biology

Common Milkweed is a plant native to the new world and found throughout the majority
of North America. It’s Latin name, Asclepias syriaca alludes to the Greek deity of medicine,
“Asklepios”. Its species name references Syria, where Carl Linnaeus mistook as the origin of the
plant. In reality its origin is believed to be in the modern-day corn country and prairie lands of
the midwestern US and Canada (Taylor, 2016). There are over 100 different species of milkweed
that can be found throughout the Americas, some arid and some tropical. Many of the varieties
grown ornamentally throughout the US, but especially in the Southeast are tropical varieties
native to South America. The 20 or 30 varieties native to the prairies expanded their range and
numbers dramatically as the Midwest began to be cultivated for corn and soy production (Crain,
2015). Consequently, monarch butterflies have adapted their migratory patterns to utilize this
expanded hospitable frontier in the corn belt.
A mature milkweed plant exhibits opposite branched oval leaves. A plant can grow from
as little as two feet to six feet tall. The flowers that bloom on milkweed plants throughout the
summer months are very small purple flowers, about a half inch in diameter. Banded together in
tight clusters with several other flowers, they form an inflorescence, which is often closer to two
inches in diameter. The heavy, bumpy fruit pods which contain the fluffy seeds can be found on
mature plants later in the season. The name milkweed derives from the “milky” white sap that
oozes from the marred stem of a plant. This unusual colored sap is a good tool for identifying the
plant. Another great way to distinguish it characteristically is by looking below the soil (Crain,
2015). The extensive and difficult to dig up rhizomatic structure of milkweed allows it great
success in regenerating from below the ground at the start of each new season.
As a perennial plant, milkweed primarily reemerges each year through regrowth from its
rootstock. In most of the US it emerges early in the season and begins to bud in early June. Later
that month the plant begins to flower and will do so through August. At the end of the season it
produces very large seed pods, which disperse through wind throughout autumn. Its seeds are
attached to a pappus which is a featherlike structure designed to aid wind induced seed dispersal
(Crain, 2015). Pods typically start appearing on plants around 80cm tall, and each pod can
contain 100-200 seeds. They are dispersed late in the season, usually in the fall, and often
experience more reproductive success the bigger the seed pod (Morse, 1985). Although the plant
invests much energy in its large seed pods and pappi, propagule distribution accounts for very
little vegetative plant growth each year in comparison to regrowth from root systems.
Milkweed plays a very different role in different spheres of our world. To the
conservation biologists and lepidopterists, it is an extremely vital plant to the habitat of
monarchs. To the cattle farmer or vegetable grower, it is a noxious weed that threatens the
livelihood of their animals and crops. For the latter who are interested in eliminating it from their
fields a number of herbicides can be used. The most effective are glyphosate and amitrole, two
post emergence herbicides. The most effective time to spray has proven to be in June when the
buds are first beginning to emerge. Spraying after the emergence of flowers in August has
proven effective but to a lesser extent than earlier in the season (Bhowmik, 1982).
 Works Cited

Bhowmik, Prasanta C. July 1982. “Herbicidal Control of Common Milkweed”. Weed Science.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/256497104_Herbicidal_control_of_common_milkwee
d_Asclepias_syriaca_L

Crain, Rhiannon. December 9, 2015. “Habitat Feature: Milkweeds”. Habitat Network. The
Cornell Lab. https://content.yardmap.org/learn/milkweeds/

Morse, Douglas H. 1985. “Propagule Size, Dispersal Ability, and Seedling Performance in
Asclepias syriaca”. Oecologia. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4217746

Taylor, David. 2016. “Common Milkweed”. US Forest Service.

https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/asclepias_syriaca.shtml