Milkweed (Family Asclepiadaceaeis) another plant native to central Virginia. It’s POISONOUS and edible. How does that work? Well, you have to cook them enough to remove the toxins. WARNING: DO NOT EAT IT RAW!!!
The sap of milkweed is white and milky, hence the name milkweed and has cardenolides that make it poisonous to humans and cause the insects that eat it to be poisonous too! It has broad, smooth, rubbery leaves and forms broccoli-like flower buds that turn into whitish-pinkish flowers.
The boiled young shoots, leaves, unopened flower buds, flowers, and young pods are delicious, but don’t harvest too much because it’s also an essential habitat for four insects (they would go extinct without it) – Monarch butterflies, milkweed leaf beetles, milkweed bugs, and milkweed tiger moths.
However, I highly recommend planting it in your yard to help these animals along and have a food source at the same time for yourself.
To learn more from your central Virginia, wild edible plant experts, attend our next Wild Edible Plants 101 course in September 2017!
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