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Asclepias sullivantii
Also called Sullivant's Milkweed, Smooth Milkweed
Prairie milkweed is a native North American perennial herb that spreads by deep rhizomes and grows in tall grass prairies and moist meadows. It is grown in gardens for its pinkish purple flower clusters and as a host plant for monarch butterflies.
Asclepias sullivantii is a species of flowering plant in the milkweed genus, Asclepias. Common names include prairie milkweed, Sullivant's milkweed, and smooth milkweed. It is native to North America, where it occurs in the central United States and Ontario in Canada.
Most Asclepias are toxic if consumed in large quantities due to cardiac glycoside content.
The native habitat of the plant includes prairie and meadows. It grows in moist areas, such as river bottomland. The original range of Asclepias sullivantii was the tall grass prairie, but very little of that habitat remains because of wide spread conversion to farming. In Minnesota it is listed as threatened species, mainly because of habitat loss, and the remaining plants are found on old railroad right ways that preserve small prairie remnants. It is restricted to mesic tall grass prairies and seems to have little ability to survive degraded habitats.
Cartwheels · Cartwheels · Whitestem milkweed · Asclepias alpestris · Asclepias amabilis · Asclepias ameliae · Clasping milkweed · Arizona milkweed · Asclepias apocynifolia · Sand milkweed · Spider milkweed · Asclepias atroviolacea
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Asclepias sullivantii by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
