Everwilde Farms - 1 lb Common Milkweed Native Wildflower Seeds - Gold Vault Bulk Seed Packet

This familiar wildflower is a significant food source for monarch caterpillars and butterflies, and so it is used for butterfly gardens and waystations. This common variety spreads easily, but most gardeners do not mind if it spreads a bit. In 1753, eminent botanist Carl Linnaeus gave Blood Flower its Latin genus name, "Asclepias." Asclepias, the name of the legendary Greek representation of medicine and healing, is especially appropriate since this plant formerly had numerous medicinal uses. At one time, the silk from the seed pods was spun for fabric or used for stuffing pillows; in World War II, school children gathered the silk to provide a cheap filling for soldiers' life jackets. Commercial attempts to make use of this abundant plant included the manufacture of paper, fabric, lubricant, fuel, and rubber; eventually these became impractical and were abandoned. Milkweed attracts flocks of butterflies and their larvae; butterflies are immune to the plant's poison, and actually become rather poisonous themselves as protection from predators.