Monarch Butterfly Milkweed Plant. Common milkweed plants grow to about 2 to 4 feet in height with a thin vertical growth habit. It also produces a chemical that makes monarchs toxic and.
Monarchs favor a variety of milkweeds and in fact with variety they ll lay more eggs. Milkweed asclepias spp is a family of perennial flowering plants that are native to africa and north and south america they are called milkweed because the plants contain latex a milky white fluid. It may be the most familiar north american butterfly and is considered an iconic pollinator species.
The winner is the asclepias incarnata common name.
Monarch caterpillars feed exclusively on the leaves of milkweed the only host plant for this iconic butterfly species. Why grow milkweed plants. Some insects such as monarch butterflies have evolved a resistance to the poison and can safely consume the plants. Planting milkweed is the most effective way to help because it is the only plant that sustains a monarch through each of its life stages.