Occasional on Swamp Trail and on the west paddock of the Alkali Meadow. 
Summer bloom.
Growing 3 to 4 feet tall.

Milkweed is the host plant for the beautiful Monarch Butterflies. 

see milkweed bug -below

Pollinated flowers quickly transform into long slender seed pods. When matured these pods explode revealing the purest white silk attached to seeds, ready to catch the wind.


Milkweed bugs
(Oncopeltus fasciatus ) 
Phylum: Arthropoda; Class: Insecta; Order: Hemiptera

Adults are 9/16 to 10/16 inch long, black, and colorfully marked with reddish-orange on the head, sides of the pronotum (part of the thorax), and the wing covers. They have a Y-shaped head marking and two wide crossing orange bands across the wings. They are common on milkweed plants. Milkweed bugs eat the seeds of the milkweed. Their red or red-orange color is a warning to would-be predators that they are very bad tasting food. So they have few enemies. Spiders do prey on them, however.
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