“It’s exciting to see things coming up again, plants that you’ve had twenty or thirty years. It’s like seeing an old friend.”
― Tasha Tudor, The Private World of Tasha Tudor
Tropical Milkweed Pod
Tropical Milkweed Flowers and Leaves
Milkweed, a host plant for the Monarch butterfly is considered by some to be a friend and others a pest. The pod releases an abundance of seeds with attached “parachutes” which carry the seeds upon the wind. New plants emerge from the sprouts. The sap produced by the plant is toxic. However, Monarch caterpillars consume the leaves and transfer the toxicity to its predators. Predators avoid the caterpillars. Butterfly enthusiasts find pulling unwanted milkweed sprouts a minor inconvenience and avoid the toxic sap.
Learn more about tropical milkweed at the following link. Tropical Milkweed
Learn more about Monarch butterflies at the following link. Monarch Butterfly