Word Study
milkweed
WORDNET DICTIONARY
Noun milkweed has 2 senses
- milkweed(n = noun.plant) silkweed - any of numerous plants of the genus Asclepias having milky juice and pods that split open releasing seeds with downy tufts; Array is a kind of herb, herbaceous plant
- milkweed(n = noun.plant) sonchus oleraceus - annual Eurasian sow thistle with soft spiny leaves and rayed yellow flower heads; Array is a kind of milk thistle, sow thistle
is a member of asclepias, genus asclepias
has particulars: asclepias albicans, white milkweed, asclepias curassavica, blood flower, swallowwort, asclepias exaltata, poke milkweed, asclepias incarnata, swamp milkweed, asclepia meadii, asclepias meadii, mead's milkweed, asclepias purpurascens, purple silkweed, asclepias speciosa, showy milkweed, asclepias subverticillata, horsetail milkweed, poison milkweed, asclepias tuberosa, butterfly weed, chigger flower, chiggerflower, indian paintbrush, orange milkweed, pleurisy root, tuber root, asclepias verticillata, whorled milkweed
CIDE DICTIONARY
milkweed, n.
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. [1913 Webster]
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