Phone toll-free 800-291-2143

Asclepias tuberosa - "Pleurisy Root, Butterfly Weed, Yellow Milkweed, Orange Swallowwort, Orangeroot, Whiteroot, Indian Posy, Windroot, Canada Tuber, Canada Flux, Chigger Flower" -

Milkweed family - From the Greek God of Healing and Medicine, Asclepias and tuberosa, meaning "tuberous".

Butterfly Milkweed is found throughout the Tallgrass Prairie region in open areas, usually in prairies or remnants of prairies. It is showing up now along old country roads and abandoned roads and abandoned railroad right-of-ways. It blooms from May through September and can reach 2 1/2 feet in height; bright orange, occasionally yellow flowers clustered together in heads.

The flowers do attract insects and are specifically designed to attract flying pollinators. Only a few of the flowers will be pollinated on any given plant; that is why there are generally so few pods in the Fall.

The root of Asclepias tuberosa was once thought to be a cure for pleurisy, hence the name "Pleurisy Root". Dr. Charles Millspaugh summarized the claims of many authors on medical meterials regarding the medicinal qualities of Pleurisy Root: "The Pleurisy Root has received more attention than any other species of this genus, having been regarded almost since the discovery of this country, as a subtonic, diaphoretic, alternative, expectorant, diuretic, laxative, escarhotic, carminative, anti-spasmodic, anti-pleuritic, somachic, astringent, anti-rheumatic, anti-syphilitic...It has been recommended in low typhoid states, pneumonia, catarrh, bronchitis, pleurisy, dyspepsia, indigestion, dysentery, helmenthiasis and obstinate ecezemas."

During WWII, the sap of the milkweed family plants were used experimentally to provide a rubber substitute. The silk produced by the seed pods was also used as a substitute for kapok in flotation devices for many years.