Fluffy Parachutes of Silk, the milkweed plant contain thousands of seeds, each attached to a silky thread. In late autumn as the plant is beginning to desiccate, these pods split open and release the seeds, each attached to a fluffy parachute.

I planted Milkweed in my garden 2 years ago and this year they finally produced seed pods. It is that time of year where the pods split open and the silks will shine with a soft tremulous light in the morning light.

But milkweed is best known for being a host plant to monarch butterflies—the only plant, in fact, that feeds monarch caterpillars and on which monarch butterflies lay their eggs.

Consuming milkweed has a particular benefit for the caterpillar: The plant contains a toxin poisonous to most vertebrates, but not to monarchs; eating it makes the monarch caterpillar poisonous to potential predators.

I was taking photographs of a sunrise the other day and I glanced over at these milkweed plants just shinning in the morning light.

Fluffy Parachutes of Silk

by Sandra J