Diamon Naturals

Alaena Charlotte Diamon

alaena@diamon-naturals.us

Common Names: Butterfly Milkweed, Butterfly Plant, Butterfly Flower, Chiggerflower, Milkweed, Pleurisy Root, Tuberous Swallowwort, Orange Swallow-wort, Yanagi-Towata.

Parts Used:  Harvest flowers in bloom,  edible cooked or uncooked, said to taste like sweet peas. Leaves and new buds are edible cooked like spinach. Harvest root in fall and dry for later herb use.

Habitat:   Native to N. America from S. Ontario and New York to Minnesota, south to Florida and Colorado. Found growing in dry open fields, along roadsides and grassy places. 

Cultivation:  Butterfly Weed is easy to grow, and prefers a well-drained light, sandy, humus rich soil in a sunny position. 

Grows With:  Butterfly weed  is a type of milkweed, and as such is automatically a potential host for the monarch's caterpillars (although the common milkweed is perhaps superior in this regard). It is also a favorite nectar-source of a number of butterfly species, including the tiger swallowtail and black swallowtail. It should be immediately apparent, then, why this perennial is widely considered “the butterfly plant.”

Propagation and Reproduction:  Can be transplanted in fall or grown from seed.

Uses:  Butterfly Weed is edible and medicinal, with a long history of use as a valuable alternative medicine and is one of the most important of the indigenous American species. The plant (above ground) is used mainly for food and clothing.  Butterfly Weed is used internally in the treatment of diarrhea, dysentery, chronic rheumatism, and as an expectorant. It has a specific action on the lungs, making it a valuable medicinal herb in all chest complaints and in the treatment of many lung diseases.  A warm infusion of the root exerts a mild tonic effect on the system.  A medicinal poultice of the roots is used in the treatment of swellings, bruises, wounds, and skin ulcers. The bark is used to make a quality fiber and woven into twine or cloth. The seed floss is used for stuffing in pillows and life jackets, candle wicks, and fibers to make cloth. Research indicates the floss is effective at cleaning up oil spills at sea.

Flower Essence:  A remedy for "love addiction"; helps those who cannot commit to long-term relationships; for fear and sadness when initial stages of "being in love" shift.

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