Showy milkweed
General poisoning notes:
Showy milkweed (Asclepias
speciosa) is a native plant found in dry rangelands in western Canada. The
plant is poisonous to sheep and cattle. However, this plant is so distasteful
to livestock that they ingest it only under extreme circumstances (Fleming et
al. 1920)
Description
A stout, sparingly
branched, pubescent perennial, 1 1/2-3 ft. tall, with large, oval, blue-green
leaves and showy, spherical clusters of rose-colored flowers. Flowers occur at
the top of the stem and on stalks from leaf axils. A grayish, velvety plant
with erect leafy stems and with umbels of star-like pinkish flowers in upper
axils and at top. Sap milky.
Nomenclature:
Scientific Name: Asclepias speciosa Torr.
Vernacular
name(s): showy milkweed
Scientific family
name: Asclepiadaceae
Vernacular family
name: milkweed
Geographic Information
Alberta, British
Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan.
Notes on Poisonous plant parts:
Experimental
feeding tests on sheep showed that leaves are poisonous, but that large amounts
must be ingested: (a 43-kg ewe died after ingesting 1 kg of green leaves. The
pods and seeds are also poisonous (Fleming et al. 1920).
Toxic parts:
Leaves, mature
fruit, seeds.
Toxic plant chemicals:
Desglucosyrioside,
syrioside.
Animals/Human Poisoning:
Note: When an
animal is listed without additional information, the literature (as of 1993)
contained no detailed explanation.
Cattle
Sheep
General symptoms of
poisoning:
appetite,
loss of
breathing,
labored
breathing
with grunts
recumbency.
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