- Description:
Coarsely-hairy stems are upright and stout. Leaves are alternate and lance-shaped with
coarse hairs. Yellow, orange or red-orange flowers are individually hour-glass shaped and
clustered in showy heads.
- Comments:
Butterfly Milkweed has become a popular ornamental plant. Butterflies of all kinds perch
on the flowers to sip nectar. The milkweed flower is highly specialized and unique. A
vertical slit in the flower allows an insect’s foot to slip inside. When the insect
pulls its foot loose, it dislodges a saddlebag-like structure with two pollen sacs
attached. The pollen, still attached to the insect’s leg, is carried to the next
plant and deposited when one of the pollen sacs slips inside the flower crevice. Butterfly
Milkweed is found on prairies in the eastern two-thirds of Kansas.
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