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Plant Details
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Butterfly milkweed |
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Scientific Name: | Asclepias tuberosa |
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Common Name: | Butterfly milkweed |
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Native Location: | The lower 48 States and Canada with exception to a few western states |
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Description: | This perennial plant can grow up to three feet in height, often shrubby or multi-stemmed. The flower is a brilliant orange in a flat cluster at the terminal part of the stem. Seed pods occur after flowering which is characteristic of the milkweed family. Unlike most milkweeds, however, the sap of this plant is not white and milky. Blooms in late spring to summer and sometimes again in the fall. Butterfly milkweed is a host plant plant to the monarch caterpillar as well as a great nectar source for many butterflies and insects. |
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Plant of Month on: | September 2008 |
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All Photos by Mark Deering, Curator of Butterflies ©2005
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