Common milkweed, Asclepias syriaca (syn. Asclepias cornutti), is also known as butterfly flower, common silkweed, cottonweed, silkweed, silky swallow-wort (also used for the closely related pleurisy root), swallow-wort (a name it shares with the unrelated greater celandine), Virginia silk and Virginia silkweed. The name milkweed probably refers to the latex sap, and the references to cotton and silk refer to the floss which collects on the seeds when they are mature (inset), which is so abundant that it is used like kapok, and has even been used for stuffing life jackets!

Common milkweed is an attractive plant worthy of a place in any garden. A hardy perennial, a native of Eastern North America, it reaches a height and spread of around 3 feet (1m). It is attractive to wildlife (a food plant for Monarch butterflies and various bugs and beetles) and prefers light to medium soil. It will not grow in full shade.

Young shoots, flower buds, young seed pods and young flowers are edible if thoroughly cooked. Take care if you decide to use the shoots that they are really from this plant, as there are much more dangerous plants whose shoots look very similar: Apocynum cannabinum (Common Dogbane) and Apocynum androsaemifolium (Spreading Dogbane) – click on the names to find out how to distinguish them. It is inadvisable to eat large quantities, and you should never eat it raw because it contains toxins which are destroyed by cooking.

Even without eating it or using it medicinally, this is a useful plant. It is a good source of fiber of as good quality as flax, and both this and the seed floss were used by native Americans to make textiles.

To be honest, this is not a very active plant medicinally, but one use which may be interesting is as a treatment for warts. Simply apply the latex extracted from the leaves and stems directly onto the wart. You need to repeat this at least once a day for several weeks, but so far as I can recall, there are not many herbal remedies for warts, so this is probably worth a try if you suffer from them.

As with all plants which are grown for use in medicine, common milkweed should be grown organically to ensure that it retains its properties unsullied by the presence of foreign chemicals. To find out more about growing organic common milkweed visit the Gardenzone.

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