Native Americans used Showy (Asclepias Speciosa) and Indian (Asclepias Eriocarpa) Milkweed for Medicinal Purposes. Especially the leaves and roots have healing benefits. In addition, indigenous tribes used the stems’ fiber for clothes and robes.
MILKWEED IS TOXIC
Milkweed contains toxic alkaloids, which can cause nausea and vomiting in low doses and death in high doses. Animals avoid Milkweed as a food source, the reason why Milkweed is deer resistant. The toxic alkaloids make caterpillars poisonous to predators. The yellow-black color of Monarch caterpillars communicates this fact.
MILKWEED AND MEDICINE
Although Milkweed is toxic, Native American Indians have discovered that special preparation of the Milkweed leaves and roots has medicinal qualities.
Native Americans even ate raw or boiled young shoots and flowers as vegetables.
They used Showy and Indian Milkweed sap to heal sores and cuts and cure warts and ringworms. The ripe seeds were ground and made into a paste to cure sores. In other applications, Native Americans boiled the seeds and used the liquid to draw venom from rattlesnake bites. A special tea was made from the roots as a remedy for measles and coughs. Mashed and mixed with warm water, the rhizomes (roots) can cure rheumatism and reduce swelling.
MILKWEED FIBER FOR ROPES AND CLOTHES
Showy and Indian Milkweed stems are very fibrous, and Native Americans transformed them into strings, ropes, and cords. Some indigenous groups made course clothes with specially prepared fiber.
Some Tribes even spun the silky seed floss (each seed in the seed pods is connected to floss to fly and spread out in the wind) into yarn and then wove it into a unique fabric for ornamental usage.
TODAY’S EXPERIMENTS WITH MILKWEED
Today’s forward-thinking scientists are testing especially Asclepias Speciosa Hybrid Plants for commercial usage. In addition, they are experimenting with using seed floss as a hypo-allergenic substitute for goose down.
Other applications might come from the ongoing testing to reconnect ancient Showy and Indian Milkweed usage with today’s organic requirements.
