asclepias

asclepias [əˈskliːpɪəs]

n

(Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Plants) (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Botany) any plant of the perennial mostly tuberous genus Asclepias; some are grown as garden or greenhouse plants for their showy orange-scarlet or purple flowers: family Asclepiadaceae Sometimes called milkweed

[Greek asklēpias swallowwort]

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

Asclepias - genus of chiefly North American perennial herbs: silkweed; milkweed genus Asclepias dicot genus, magnoliopsid genus - genus of flowering plants having two cotyledons (embryonic leaves) in the seed which usually appear at germination Asclepiadaceae, family Asclepiadaceae, milkweed family - widely distributed family of herbs and shrubs of the order Gentianales; most with milky juice milkweed, silkweed - any of numerous plants of the genus Asclepias having milky juice and pods that split open releasing seeds with downy tufts