milkweed

American  

[milk-weed] / ˈmɪlkˌwid /

noun

• milkweeds
  plural

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.

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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

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• milkweeds
  plural

Etymology

Origin of milkweed

First recorded in 1590–1600; milk + weed ¹

Compare meaning

How does milkweed compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• dogbane vs. milkweed

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

milkweed milkweeds

Ms. Williams delights in the paradoxes of butterfly evolution, including monarch caterpillars’ calibrated resistance to milkweed toxins.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026

Monarchs depend on everyday people—farmers, gardeners and city planners—planting milkweed and protecting pollinator spaces, so their recovery depends on cooperation, not coercion.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 1, 2025

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 ● Dec. 1, 2025

Then, coastal sage, buckwheat, wild grape, wildflowers, milkweed and other native plants will be planted on the roughly one-acre habitat.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 31, 2025

There was honeysuckle growing along the path, and milkweed too.

From "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini

“Planting milkweeds in your garden is great,” she says.

From National Geographic ● Dec. 14, 2023

“They use their olfactory sense to identify the locations of milkweeds on wind currents,” Lee-Mäder said, “tracking those down like bloodhounds on a trail, to be able to lay their eggs on those plants.”

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 8, 2023

Goldfarb cites the example of milkweeds, the exclusive feeding plant for monarch butterfly caterpillars.

From Salon ● Nov. 1, 2023

Scientists have discouraged people from planting tropical milkweed, a showy non-native plant that’s problematic in California because, unlike native milkweeds, it doesn’t die back during the winter.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2023

She was miserably conscious of a pastoral scene all gone to mildew—cows beneath willows by the creek, milkweeds dripping, dried mullein weed stalks no longer dry.

From Free Air by Sinclair Lewis