milkweed

milk·weed  (mlkwd)

n.

Any of numerous plants of the genus Asclepias, having milky juice, usually opposite leaves, variously colored flowers grouped in umbels, and pods that split open to release seeds with downy tufts. Also called silkweed.

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	milkweed - any of numerous plants of the genus Asclepias having milky juice and pods that split open releasing seeds with downy tufts silkweed herb, herbaceous plant - a plant lacking a permanent woody stem; many are flowering garden plants or potherbs; some having medicinal properties; some are pests Asclepias, genus Asclepias - genus of chiefly North American perennial herbs: silkweed; milkweed Asclepias albicans, white milkweed - tall herb with leafless white waxy stems and whitish starlike flowers; southwestern United States Asclepias curassavica, blood flower, swallowwort - tropical herb having orange-red flowers followed by pods suggesting a swallow with outspread wings; a weed throughout the tropics Asclepias exaltata, poke milkweed - milkweed of the eastern United States with leaves resembling those of pokeweed Asclepias incarnata, swamp milkweed - densely branching perennial of the eastern United States with white to crimson or purple flowers Asclepia meadii, Asclepias meadii, Mead's milkweed - milkweed of central North America; a threatened species Asclepias purpurascens, purple silkweed - perennial of eastern North America having pink-purple flowers Asclepias speciosa, showy milkweed - milkweed of southern North America having large starry purple and pink flowers Asclepias subverticillata, horsetail milkweed, poison milkweed - milkweed of southwestern United States and Mexico; poisonous to livestock Asclepias tuberosa, butterfly weed, chigger flower, chiggerflower, Indian paintbrush, orange milkweed, pleurisy root, tuber root - erect perennial of eastern and southern United States having showy orange flowers Asclepias verticillata, whorled milkweed - milkweed of the eastern United States with narrow leaves in whorls and greenish-white flowers
	2.	milkweed - annual Eurasian sow thistle with soft spiny leaves and rayed yellow flower heads Sonchus oleraceus milk thistle, sow thistle - any of several Old World coarse prickly-leaved shrubs and subshrubs having milky juice and yellow flowers; widely naturalized; often noxious weeds in cultivated soil