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Common Milkweed

Asclepias syriaca

A colony-forming milkweed with fragrant pink flower clusters and broad leaves. In the Carolinas and Georgia, found in prairies, floodplains, pastures, roadsides, disturbed areas. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition What its natural habitat tells you

71
Strong

Native to Louisiana (estimated). How scores work Is it native here?

Profile 94%

Height
3–5 feet
Spread
8–12 inches per stem, colonies spread
Light
Full sun
Soil moisture
Dry to average

Space about 1 ft apart from its recorded spread, about 100 per 100 sq ft. Enter your bed size for a count

Will it fit your yard?

At a glance

Life cycle
Herbaceous perennial
Leaves
Deciduous
Bloom
June to August
Fruiting season
July to September

Recorded in 3 Louisiana parishes.

Natural habitats

Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

1 of 3

Prairies and grasslands

Open, grass-dominated places kept open by fire, grazing or thin soil, from tallgrass prairie to Piedmont prairies.

Floodplain and bottomland forests

Forests on low ground beside rivers and streams that flood from time to time.

Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground

Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.

All habitats

Ecological relationships

Who uses this plant?

What these records mean

14CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including LA

Genus host records with ranges including LA · Asclepias

  • Danaus plexippusMonarch
  • Agathodes monstralisSky-Pointing Moth
  • Cycnia collarisUnexpected Cycnia
  • Cycnia teneraDelicate Cycnia, Dogbane Tiger Moth
  • Danaus gilippusQueen
  • Euchaetes egleMilkweed Tussock Moth or Milkweed Tiger Moth
  • Hyalophora cecropiaCecropia Silkmoth, Cecropia Moth
  • Papaipema nebrisStalk Borer
  • Platynota flavedanaBlack-Shaded Platynota
  • Pygarctia spragueiSprague's Pygarctia Moth
Show all 14
  • Pyrrharctia isabellaIsabella Tiger Moth, Banded Woolybear
  • Spodoptera frugiperdaFall Armyworm Moth
  • Strymon melinusGray Hairstreak
  • Pygarctia eglenensis
Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
59BeesSoutheastern regional records

Southeastern regional records · Asclepias

Individual names are not available yet.

Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
0Specialist beesPollen specialists
1BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim

Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Asclepias

  • Ortalis vetulaPlain Chachalaca
Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)

Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening

Beetles 2
  • Photinus pyralis
  • Trichius piger

Flower visits · Carlinville, Illinois, USA

Flies 13
  • Anthrax sinuosa
  • Archytas analis
  • Belvosia bifasciata
  • Belvosia unifasciata
  • Cistogaster occidua
  • Culex stimulans
  • Mallota illinoensis
  • Odontomyia cincta
  • Physocephala texana
  • Scepsis fulvicollis
Show all 13
  • Spallanzania hesperidarum
  • Stomoxys calcitrans
  • Tropidia quadrata

Flower visits · Carlinville, Illinois, USA

Adult butterflies / moths 13
  • Achalarus lycidas
  • Agrotis ypsilon
  • Anosia plexippus
  • Argynnis cybele
  • Drasteria erechtea
  • Limochores taumas
  • Loxostege similalis
  • Papilio asterias
  • Pholisora catullus
  • Polygonia interrogationis
Show all 13
  • Speyeria idalia
  • Thecla calanus
  • Vanessa atalanta

Flower visits · Carlinville, Illinois, USA

Other wasps 7
  • Ammobia ichneumonea
  • Bembix nubillipennis
  • Cerceris clypeata
  • Leionotus arvensis
  • Priononyx atrata
  • Priononyx thomae
  • Tachytes mandibularis

Flower visits · Carlinville, Illinois, USA

Other insects 5
  • Euschistus variolarius
  • Lygaeus turcicus
  • Lygus pratensis
  • Podisus spinosus
  • Sinea diadema

Flower visits · Carlinville, Illinois, USA

No records yet · Ants

Growing and identification

Plant details

Family
Apocynaceae
Hardiness
Zones 3a–9b
Flower color
Green, pink, purple or white
Fruit begins
July
Fruit ends
September

Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.

Give spreading roots room in a meadow or naturalized patch. All parts are poisonous if eaten. NC State Extension

Growing sources and scope

Recognizing it

Opposite, broad leaves with downy undersides; warty seed pods and milky sap. Identification source

Conservation status

Louisiana rankSNR
Global rankG5
LA statusNot verified
Federal statusNot verified

Conservation source Global and federal source

In your garden

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Growing cautions

For planning only; these do not change the score or Fit.

Sources