milkweed

2 definitions found

milkweed - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Milkweed \Milk"weed`\, n. (Bot.)
     Any plant of the genera Asclepias and Acerates, abounding
     in a milky juice, and having its seed attached to a long
     silky down; silkweed. The name is also applied to several
     other plants with a milky juice, as to several kinds of
     spurge. Its leaves are a favorite food source for the larvae
     of the monarch butterfly.
     [1913 Webster]

milkweed - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  milkweed
      n 1: any of numerous plants of the genus Asclepias having milky
           juice and pods that split open releasing seeds with downy
           tufts [syn: milkweed, silkweed]
      2: annual Eurasian sow thistle with soft spiny leaves and rayed
         yellow flower heads [syn: milkweed, Sonchus oleraceus]