A vocabulary of landscape — a landscape of words
1367 entries
milkweed
Milkweed is a group of perennials of open ground with thick opposite leaves, domed clusters of intricate flowers, and a sticky white latex that runs from any break in the plant. The latex carries compounds that stop the hearts of most animals that eat it. The flower is one of the most complicated in the plant world, delivering pollen in paired saddlebag packets that clip onto an insect’s leg.
Etymology
The English name is for the latex, and the same feature named it in most European languages. The Latin genus name is Asclepias, for the Greek god of medicine, given because various species had been used medicinally.
Notes
Monarch caterpillars eat nothing else. They tolerate the toxins, store them in their own tissue, and become poisonous themselves, which is what the orange and black is advertising. The seed pods split to release seeds on long silky floss, and that floss was collected by American schoolchildren during the Second World War as a replacement for imported kapok in life jackets, by the million pounds.