Scrub Milkweed

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, Clay
Sun
No salt tolerance

Also known as: Butterfly Weed, Indian paintbrush, Orange Milkweed, Common Butterfly-weed

This mid-to-late summer blooming flower looks best in wildflower gardens or meadows. It is a larval host to the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus), queen butterfly (Danaus gilippus), and soldier butterfly (Danaus eresimus). Also a popular nectar source for a variety of butterflies. It will go dormant in winter but returns from rootstock in mid-to-late spring. No deadheading is needed. They have deep taproots, and don’t typically tolerate being transplanted.

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 particularthat 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. They were 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. (1) (2) (3)