- Description:
Stems are spreading. Leaves are ovate, 2-5 inches long and ½-2 inches wide. Large,
fiveparted, green flowers with purple centers are grouped at the tips of the stems.
- Comments:
Milkweeds get their name from the thick, white sap that oozes from the plant when broken.
Most crawling or chewing insects have difficulty eating or living in the plants because
even small punctures on the leaves or stem produce a gummy sap that hardens like glue.
Soft, strong, bast fibers can be made into string, rope and nets, woven into fabric or
made into paper. Milkweeds are the monarch butterfly larva’s only food source. There
are 22 species of milkweed in Kansas, and 11 occur in the Flint Hills. Green Antelopehorn
is found on open prairies in the eastern two-thirds of the state.
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