Milkweed
[milk-weed] /ˈmɪlkˌwid/
noun
1.
any of several plants that secrete a milky juice or latex, especially those of the genus Asclepias, as A. syriaca.
Compare .
2.
any of various other plants having a milky juice, as certain spurges.
/ˈmɪlkˌwiːd/
noun
1.
Also called silkweed. any plant of the mostly North American genus Asclepias, having milky sap and pointed pods that split open to release tufted seeds: family Asclepiadaceae See also asclepias
2.
any of various other plants having milky sap
3.
orange milkweed, another name for butterfly weed
4.
another name for monarch (sense 3)
n.
1590s, from milk (n.) + weed (n.); used in reference to various plants whose juice resembles milk.
Read Also:
- Milkweed-bug
noun 1. any of several red and black lygaeid bugs, as Oncopeltus fasciatus, that feed on the juice of the milkweed.
- Milkweed-beetle
noun 1. any of several small red, black-spotted elongated beetles of the genus Tetraopes, common in eastern North America, that inhabit the milkweed.
- Milkweed-butterfly
noun 1. .
- Milkweed-family
noun 1. the plant family Asclepiadaceae, characterized by herbaceous plants, shrubs, and vines having simple, opposite or whorled leaves, usually milky juice, umbellike clusters of small flowers, and long pods that split open to release tufted, airborne seeds, and including the anglepod, butterfly weed, milkweed, stephanotis, and wax plant.
- Milkweed-tortoise-beetle
noun 1. See under . noun 1. any of several turtle-shaped leaf beetles, as Chelymorpha cassidea (argus tortoise beetle or milkweed tortoise beetle) which resembles the ladybird beetle and feeds primarily on bindweed and milkweed. noun 1. a metallic-coloured leaf beetle of the genus Cassida, in which the elytra and terga cover the body like […]