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Common Milkweed
Asclepias syriaca
40.6981, -73.3505
Field Notes
Description:
Plants can grow over 3 feet tall, and produce a toxic white sap when leaves are torn off. It produces round, purple flowers, and in Fall seed pods that open up to release puffy seeds that blow away.
Habitat:
It grows in sandy soils mostly, and appreciates lots of sunlight. Can be found in ditches,roadsides,parking lots,fields, or your garden.
Notes:
Monarch Butterflies eat this plant, they depend on it for survival. The caterpillars eat the leaves, and the butterflies drink the nectar. In my area all but this plant were plowed down, there used to be hundreds of these plants and monarch butterflies visiting daily. The Town destroyed their habitat, I do hope they restore it!
Species ID Suggestions
Spotted for Missions
Photographed
PublishedSeptember 8, 2010
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