The Value of Milkweed Plants

According to the Peterson Edible Wild Plant Guide, the Common Milkweed plant - which is found in dry soil, fields and roadsides - has good potential food value for human beings.

The young shoots, leaves, unopened flower buds, flowers, and young pods are all edible. While the milky juice of the broken stems and leaves is bitter and mildly toxic, Peterson says "
Fortunately, both of these properties are dispelled upon boiling, and milkweed becomes one of the better wild vegetables". (Consult the book for cooking instructions.)

Another reason to protect and plant milkweeds is that milkweed (also called Asclepias) is the host plant for monarch butterfly caterpillars. It is, therefore, essential to this butterfly's continuing life cycle.

In fact, if you want to explore how interesting the observation of insects is, a milkweed patch is one of the best places to see a wide variety of insects. I have seen an ichneumon, with its long ovipositor, actually laying eggs in a milkweed leaf. Their larvae eat the larvae of other insects which must, therefore, lay their eggs on milkweed plants too. Ichneumons control a lot of harmful insects.

There are also bright orange and black-patterned milkweed bugs and ladybird beetles. Some of the ladybird beetles are native to here, but the ones with seven black spots on their back are from Europe.Where there are insects, there are also fascinating dragonflies. When the milkweed flowers come into bloom, you can enjoy the various, beautiful butterfly species which come to feed on the nectar.

By observing all of the life in a milkweed patch, you get to see first-hand how the food chain works, and you come to appreciate how your own food can come directly from native plants, without having to disturb the land with agriculture.