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ECOLOGY | GARDENING
Milkweed Is a World
A modest plant supports a microcosm
A few years ago, I planted Common Milkweed (Asclepius syriaca) to attract Monarch butterflies and their caterpillars, who depend on it for their lives. And, as they say in the clickbait mills, you won’t believe what happened next.
At the time, I only knew about the symbiosis of milkweed and the charismatic Monarch. What I didn’t know was how abundantly this wild plant feeds other small wildlife.
Milkweed multiverse
Milkweed is not just one plant, but many. So, so many.
Common Milkweed is the one that most of us can relate to, but there is also — just in my planting region on the East Coast alone — Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa), Whorled Milkweed (Asclepias verticillata), Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata), Honeyvine (Ampelamus albidus or Cynanchum laeve), and Poke Milkweed (Asclepias exaltata).
That’s not even a comprehensive list for the East Coast of Turtle Island/North America. The West also has 44 species, including Showy Milkweed (Asclepias speciosa) and Narrow-Leaved Milkweed (Asclepias fascicularis).
In the 1800s, milkweed even found its way to Australia and the Pacific, and so did Monarchs.
