Plantae > Tracheophyta > Magnoliopsida > Gentianales > Apocynaceae > Leptadenia > Leptadenia reticulata

Leptadenia reticulata (butterflyweed; butterfly milkweed)

Synonyms:

Attributes

Allergen Potential [1]  Medium-Low
Screening - Summer [2]  Moderate
Screening - Winter [2]  Porous
Bloom Period [2]  Mid Summer
Drought Tolerance [2]  High
Edible [3]  May be edible. See the Plants For A Future link below for details.
Fire Tolerance [2]  High
Flower Type [3]  Hermaphrodite
Frost Free Days [2]  4 months 15 days
Fruit/Seed Abundance [2]  Medium
Fruit/Seed Begin [2]  Summer
Fruit/Seed End [2]  Fall
Growth Form [2]  Multiple Stem
Growth Period [2]  Spring, Summer
Growth Rate [2]  Slow
Hazards [3]  Although no specific reports have been seen for this species, many, if not all, members of this genus contain toxic resinoids, alkaloids and cardiac glycosides; They are usually avoided by grazing animals; The plant is poisonous if eaten in large quantities; Very large doses can cause diarrhoea and vomiting;
Leaf Type [2]  Deciduous
Lifespan [3]  Perennial
Pollinators [3]  Bees, Insects, Lepidoptera, Lepidoptera
Propagation [2]  Container, Seed
Regrowth Rate [2]  Slow
Root Depth [2]  16 inches (41 cm)
Seed Spread Rate [2]  Slow
Seed Vigor [2]  Low
Seeds Per [2]  70000 / lb (154323 / kg)
Shape/Orientation [2]  Erect
Structure [4]  Herb
Usage [3]  A good quality fibre is obtained from the bark and is used in making twine, cloth etc; It is easily harvested in late autumn after the plant has died down by simply pulling the fibres off the dried stems; The seed floss is used to stuff pillows etc or is mixed with other fibres to make cloth; It is a kapok substitute, used in life jackets or as a stuffing material; Very water repellent. The floss has also been used to mop up oil spills at sea. The plant is a potential source of latex, used for making rubber; This species is the only member of the genus that does not have latex in its sap; The seedpods contain an oil and a wax which are of potential importance. Candle wicks are made from the seed floss. The seed contains up to 21% of a semi-drying oil;
Vegetative Spread Rate [2]  None
Flower Color [2]  Orange
Foliage Color [2]  Green
Fruit Color [2]  Brown
Flower Conspicuous [2]  Yes
Fruit Conspicuous [2]  Yes
Height [3]  30 inches (0.75 m)
Width [3]  18 inches (0.45 m)
Hardiness Zone Minimum [2]  USDA Zone: 3 Low Temperature: -40 F° (-40 C°) → -30 F° (-34.4 C°)
Light Preference [2]  Full Sun
Soil Acidity [2]  Moderate Acid
Soil Fertility [2]  Infertile
Water Use [2]  Low
View Plants For A Future Record : Leptadenia reticulata

Protected Areas

Predators

Danaus plexippus (Monarch Butterfly)[5]
Frankliniella williamsi[6]

Providers

External References

USDA Plant Profile

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Derived from Allergy-Free Gardening OPALS™, Thomas Leo Ogren (2000)
♦ 2USDA Plants Database, U. S. Department of Agriculture
♦ 3Plants For A Future licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
♦ 4Kattge, J. et al. (2011b) TRY - a global database of plant traits Global Change Biology 17:2905-2935
♦ 5Biological Records Centre Database of Insects and their Food Plants
♦ 6Species of Frankliniella Trybom (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) from the Asian-Pacific Area, Chin-Ling Wang, Feng-Chyi Lin, Yi-Chung Chiu, and Hsien-Tzung Shih, Zoological Studies 49(6): 824-838 (2010)
♦ 7Robertson, C. Flowers and insects lists of visitors of four hundred and fifty three flowers. 1929. The Science Press Printing Company Lancaster, PA.
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0