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milkweed

American  
[milk-weed] / ˈmɪlkˌwid /

noun

  1. any of several plants that secrete a milky juice or latex, especially those of the genus Asclepias, as A. syriaca.

  2. any of various other plants having a milky juice, as certain spurges.


milkweed British  
/ ˈmɪlkˌwiːd /

noun

  1. Also called: silkweed.  any plant of the mostly North American genus Asclepias, having milky sap and pointed pods that split open to release tufted seeds: family Asclepiadaceae See also asclepias

  2. any of various other plants having milky sap

  3. another name for butterfly weed

  4. another name for monarch

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of milkweed

First recorded in 1590–1600; milk + weed 1

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

There are plugs of grasses and gallon pots of white sage, purple sage, California buckwheat, long-stem buckwheat, deerweed, narrow leaf milkweed and coyote bush.

From Los Angeles Times

They did so because they recognized that strict prohibitions could backfire, leading landowners to destroy milkweed, a plant that monarchs need to survive.

From The Wall Street Journal

Also, monarch butterflies flit among the tall stands of narrow leaf milkweed, the plant their caterpillars require to survive.

From Los Angeles Times

Scott is working with the Monarch Fellowship, a volunteer-driven initiative to plant pollinator flowers, to offer wildflower seeds in the fall and narrowleaf milkweed seeds and plants in the spring.

From Los Angeles Times

The one exception is a pot of orange-flowered tropical milkweed, a non-native variety they keep for sentimental reasons because it reminds them of how they met when they both were single living in Santa Monica.

From Los Angeles Times