by DaySounds © 2013-17
Milkweed, Showy (Asclepias speciosa)
bruises and minor wounds heal faster. It is said that the sap applied daily on a
wart over a 2-4 week period helps to remove it. It can be found in dry places and
next to water as well.
Warning: even though some people consume it internally after boiling it, DaySounds
discourages its use as food/infusion. It can create serious heart problems, give place to
a miscarriage, and/or make breast-feeding babies sick.
Flower Description, partially provided by Cathy Railton, director of the Starsmore Nature
Discovery Center in Colorado Springs, CO., USA: The Milkweed flower is composed of five
green small sepals (hidden under the petals), and 5 pink petals (folded down) below a
crown/corona of 5 pink petal-like (petaloid), hood-like appendages, which are the expansions
of the fused filaments. Each hood has a light-pink horn (appendage) curving upward from
inside, arching over the center of the flower, toward the stigma. The 5 anthers are attached
to the sides of the stigma. The pollen is kept within waxy sacks in the pollinarium--which
sometimes trap the pollinator or its legs for good.
© DaySounds
PO Box 2145
Estes Park, CO 80517
USA