Plant
Common milkweed
Asclepias syriaca
A native perennial wildflower of eastern North America and the principal larval host plant for the monarch butterfly. Milky white sap (the source of both common name and Latin name *Asclepias*, after the Greek god of healing). Once considered a weed and aggressively eliminated from agricultural margins; now recognized as a keystone native plant whose preservation is foundational to monarch population recovery.
Scientific
Asclepias syriaca is a 3–6 ft perennial with broad opposite leaves and clusters of pink-purple fragrant flowers. The plant produces milky latex sap as a defense; it’s mildly toxic and the cardenolide compounds that make it toxic are sequestered by monarch caterpillars to make the adult butterflies unpalatable to predators.
Common milkweed reproduces aggressively by both seed (windborne, with silk-like fibers) and rhizomes. In agricultural margins and roadside habitat across the eastern U.S., the species was once abundant; industrial-scale glyphosate use has eliminated it from millions of acres. Population restoration in residential and parks settings is one of the most-important conservation actions a property holder can take for the monarch.
On Staten Island
Present in the borough’s meadows, abandoned lots, parks, and gardens — but populations are far below what would support a robust monarch population. GreenThumb-supported community gardens are well-positioned to host milkweed plantings; many already do. Native nurseries supply seed and plants. The borough’s role in monarch recovery is meaningfully tied to how much milkweed gets planted.
Three native milkweed species fit SI conditions: A. syriaca (common, vigorous), A. tuberosa ([[butterfly-weed|butterfly weed]], drought-tolerant, orange-flowered), A. incarnata (swamp milkweed, prefers moist soil).
See also
Auto-generated from this entry’s typed relations: frontmatter, grouped by relation type so the editorial signal isn’t flattened.
- Substrate of: [[monarch-butterfly]]
- Member of: [[plants]]
- Contained by: [[staten-island]]
Sources
- Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation milkweed and pollinator resources
- USDA NRCS native-plant species accounts
- Monarch Joint Venture milkweed-recovery documentation
Rooted in life.
What links here, and how
Inbound connections from across the wiki, grouped by lens and by relationship. These appear automatically — every entity page declares what it links to, and that data populates here on the targets.
Scientific
counterpart to
- Butterfly weed the borough's two principal native milkweeds — common milkweed for moister meadows, butterfly weed for drier sunny sites
substrate of
- Common eastern bumblebee principal pollinators of milkweed, switchgrass-meadow flowers, and many native plant communities the borough's gardens host
2 inbound links · 3 outbound