Common Milkweed Monarchs. Monarchs lay eggs specifically on milkweed the eggs hatch into caterpillars and the caterpillars eat the foliage. They can defoliate the milkweed and they happened to be on the common milkweed plants where monarchs had been laying eggs.
Other common names depending on region include milkweed common tiger wanderer and black veined brown. Arizona california colorado idaho kansas nebraska new mexico nevada oklahoma texas utah. It is found in the western half of the us and up into canada.
Common milkweed plants grow to about 2 to 4 feet in height with a thin vertical growth habit.
The leaves contain cardiac glycosides compounds that affect heart function making them toxic to most species of birds and mammals. Common milkweed asclepias syriaca is a native herbaceous perennial whose main virtue is its appeal to butterflies especially the monarch which deposits its eggs on the milkweed when the caterpillars hatch they feed on the leaves of milkweed. Arizona california colorado idaho kansas nebraska new mexico nevada oklahoma texas utah. The monarch butterfly or simply monarch danaus plexippus is a milkweed butterfly subfamily danainae in the family nymphalidae.