File:Danaus_plexippus_on_Asclepias_incarnata_4999.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Asclepias
Sign in to saveAlso known as milkweed, milkweeds, milkweed genus
Asclepias is a genus of herbaceous, perennial, flowering plants known as milkweeds, named for their latex, a milky substance containing cardiac glycosides termed cardenolides, exuded where cells are damaged. Most species are toxic to humans and many other species, primarily due to the presence of cardenolides. However, as with many such plants, some species feed upon milkweed leaves or the nectar from their flowers. A noteworthy feeder on milkweeds is the monarch butterfly, which uses and requires certain milkweeds as host plants for its larvae.
OverviewAI-generated
Asclepias is a genus of plants within the family Apocynaceae. It belongs to the order Gentianales, class Magnoliopsida, and phylum Tracheophyta in the kingdom Plantae. The genus was described by Linnaeus in 1753 and is currently accepted. One common name associated with the group is common milkweed, while the Swedish common name is sidenörtsläktet.
Records for Asclepias are held by several institutions, including the University of Alberta Museums, ECOSUR, CIIDIR-IPN, FCB-BUAP, and GH. These records originate from Canada, Mexico, and the United States. The genus has 573,807 occurrences and 2,146 records in iDigBio, which includes 1,515 media files. Additionally, there are 677 related entries in PubMed and 170,309 observations on iNaturalist.
Synthesized by Vinony from 38 facts across 9 sources: Wikidata, GBIF, PubMed, Plants of the World, iNaturalist, Gbif Occ, WoRMS, iDigBio, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Species
sidenörtsläktet
GENUS
- KingdomPlantae
- PhylumTracheophyta
- ClassMagnoliopsida
- OrderGentianales
- FamilyApocynaceae
General: recognised in the Old World. In the broad sense the Asclepias Flower: (but long-rostrate in Asclepias longirostra)
via GBIF · Kew POWO
Museum specimens
- Specimen records
- 2,146
- With media
- 1,515
- Family
- Apocynaceae
- Collections
- UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA MUSEUMS, ECOSUR, CIIDIR-IPN, FCB-BUAP, GH, FC-UNAM
- Recorded in
- Canada, Mexico, United States
Research
677 papers- Asclepias Tuberosa.The North-Western medical and surgical journal · 1848
- Antiproliferative activity of standardized herbal phytopreparation from Asclepias subulata.F1000Research · 2022
- Pharmacological activities of Asclepias curassavica L. (Apocynaceae) aerial parts.Journal of ethnopharmacology · 2021
- Asclepias Syriaca (Common Milkweed) flowering date shift in response to climate change.Scientific reports · 2018
- Cardenolides in Asclepias syriaca Seeds: Exploring the Legacy of Tadeus Reichstein.Journal of natural products · 2025
via PubMed
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- taxon
- Image
- Asclepiascommon.JPG
Show 10 more facts
- taxon name
- Asclepias
- taxon rank
- genus
- topic's main category
- Category:Asclepias
- Commons category
- Asclepias
- taxon common name
- svilnica
- taxonomic type
- Asclepias syriaca
- described by source
- Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary
- PAEnflowered taxon URL
- www.paenflowered.org/apgii/gentianales/apocynaceae/asclepias
- Flora of the Hawaiian Islands URL
- naturalhistory2.si.edu/botany/hawaiianflora/genusdescr.cfm?genus=Asclepias
via Wikidata · CC0
~17 min read
Encyclopedic overview
8 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- Flowers
- Selected species
- Ecology
- Monarch butterfly conservation and milkweeds
- Uses
- References
- External links
Asclepias is a genus of herbaceous, perennial, flowering plants known as milkweeds, named for their latex, a milky substance containing cardiac glycosides termed cardenolides, exuded where cells are damaged. Most species are toxic to humans and many other species, primarily due to the presence of cardenolides. However, as with many such plants, some species feed upon milkweed leaves or the nectar from their flowers. A noteworthy feeder on milkweeds is the monarch butterfly, which uses and requires certain milkweeds as host plants for its larvae.
The Asclepias genus contains over 200 species distributed broadly across Africa, North America, and South America. It previously belonged to the family Asclepiadaceae, which is now classified as the subfamily Asclepiadoideae of the dogbane family, Apocynaceae.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Asclepias” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.