// SPECIES PROFILE · PERENNIAL · NATIVE

Common Milkweed

Asclepias syriaca

Common milkweed is the workhorse monarch host of the central US — round pink umbels of intensely fragrant flowers in midsummer, replaced by warty seed pods that split in fall to release silk-tufted seeds on the wind.

// QUICK FACTS

Family: Apocynaceae
Group: perennial
Native range: E. & C. North America; widespread in OK
USDA hardiness: Zones 3–9
Mature size: 3–5 ft
Sun: Full sun
Water: Average to drought-tolerant
Wildlife value: Monarch butterfly larval host; flowers feed dozens of bee, beetle, butterfly spp.
Ecological role: monarch host · fragrant pink umbels · prairie staple

Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) — *Asclepias syriaca*. Photo via Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons.

Field Notes

[ growing · ecology · siting · care ]

Spreads by both seed and underground rhizomes — give it a back row in a meadow planting, not a perennial border. Critical larval food for monarchs through the entire breeding season; do not cut down stems with caterpillars.

Why it's on this list: monarch host · fragrant pink umbels · prairie staple. Part of Rooted Revival's NE Oklahoma plant catalog — natives, ecologically positive non-invasive cultivars, and food crops worth growing in the Tulsa region.

Companion Planting

[ guild · polyculture · cross-layer pairings ]

In a tallgrass prairie or pollinator meadow, common milkweed pairs naturally with: american persimmon (Diospyros virginiana), american beautyberry (Callicarpa americana), maypop / passionflower (Passiflora incarnata), big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), cowpea / black-eyed pea (Vigna unguiculata), and black-eyed susan (Rudbeckia hirta).

Combine common milkweed with the warm-season grasses listed above for a self-sustaining matrix.

Photo Reference

// Asclepias syriaca — asclépiade commune
Photo: zoe18268 (iNaturalist, CC-BY-NC)

// Asclepias syriaca — common milkweed
Photo: stellastar2021 (iNaturalist, CC-BY-NC)

// Asclepias syriaca — Ваточник сирійський
Photo: alexander_baransky (iNaturalist, CC-BY-NC)