NativeTech: Native American Technology and Art
Indigenous Plants & Native Uses in the Northeast
MILKWEED MILKWEED
(Asclepias Syriaca)
MILKWEED

MILKWEED

Food: Young shoots, flowers and pods are edible only if boiled in three or four different batches of water to remove toxins.

Medicine: An extract from the boiled roots is used to treat bowel and kidney disorders. The sap is applied to warts and to relieve poison ivy.

Technology: Like the relative Indian Hemp, the inner bark of milkweed can also be twisted into string or rope. The fluff of milkweed makes excellent tinder in fire starting.

Note: Also called Wild Cotton.

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© 1994 - Tara Prindle
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