milkweed

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   any of various plants, especially of the genus Asclepias, with milky sap and pods containing silky-tufted seeds

   The milkweed pods split open and released white down into the wind.

A compound of milk and weed, named for the white latex-like sap released by its stems and leaves. North American milkweeds are especially associated with monarch butterflies, whose caterpillars feed on plants of the genus Asclepias.

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