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Webster 1913 Edition
Milkweed
Milk′weedˊ
,Noun.
(Bot.)
Any plant of the genera
Asclepias
and Acerates
, abounding in a milky juice, and having its seed attached to a long silky down; silkweed. The name is also applied to several other plants with a milky juice, as to several kinds of spurge. Its leaves are a favorite food source for the larvae of the monarch butterfly. Definition 2025
milkweed
milkweed
English
Tropical milkweed (plant), Asclepias curassavica
Noun
milkweed (plural milkweeds)
- Any of several plants that have a milky sap and have pods that split to release seeds with silky tufts.
- Principally of the genus Asclepias in order Gentianales, family Apocynaceae
- Also of the genus Calotropis in order Gentianales, family Apocynaceae
- Euphorbia peplus and Euphorbia heterophylla, in order Malpighiales.
- A monarch butterfly.
Synonyms
Hyponyms
- (plants in genus Asclepias): common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), clasping milkweed (Asclepias amplexicaulis), butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa), fourleaf milkweed (Asclepias quadrifolia), green comet milkweed (Asclepias viridiflora), poke milkweed (Asclepias exaltata), purple milkweed (Asclepias purpurascens), red milkweed (Asclepias rubra), redring milkweed (Asclepias variegata), swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata), whorled milkweed (Asclepias verticillata)
Translations
a plant
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