Scrub Milkweed (Butterflyweed)

Asclepias tuberosa

Size: 1g availability

Flower
Max size: 2’ tall x 1.5 ft’ wide
Avg Size: 1.5′ tall x 1′ wide

Moist to Dry, Very dry
Loam, Sand
Sun
No salt tolerance

This summer blooming flower looks best in wildflower gardens or meadows. It attracts hummingbirds and is a larval host to the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus), queen butterfly (Danaus gilippus) and soldier butterfly, (Danaus eresimus). It is not monarchs’ preferred milkweed, but it will still attract many butterflies. It blooms in mid to late summer with bright orange flowers and is winter dormant. No deadheading is needed.

The stem fibers can be used for weaving, and we know that at least the Cherokee and Iroquois used it to make belts from. Its flowers also make a nice dye or paint pigment, as well as used to make crude sugar. We’ve seen with the Delaware and Dakota tribes in particular, that the tubers and seed pods can be boiled and eaten, historically paired with buffalo meat. The medicinal properties are vast, but unexplored by modern scientific methods, but it was one of the most important medicines for the Menomini people, who would pulverize the roots to use on bruises, cuts, lameness, swelling, and wounds. It would also be taken as a tonic (made of the roots or leaves) to treat general health and issues associated with internal swelling. Many tribes used the roots and leaves as a poison antidote, pleurisy treatment, a treatment for bronchial/pulmonary issues, dysentery, ulcers, and more.