Natural History

Asclepias meadii

Asclepias meadii is a rare species of milkweed known by the common name Mead's milkweed. It is native to the American Midwest, where it was probably once quite widespread in the tallgrass prairie. Today much of the Midwest has been fragmented and claimed for agriculture, and the remaining prairie habitat is degraded. The plant is a federally listed threatened species due to this destruction of its habitat. Factors contributing to its rarity include mowing and plowing, highway expansions, erosion, loss of a natural prairie fire regime, pesticides directly applied or drifting from nearby agricultural operations, invasive plant species, trampling by hikers and off-road vehicles, loss of native insect pollinators, deer herbivory, and predation by a number of insect species, including the non-native oleander aphid.

Also on this shelf

See also

• ▸Cantabrian Mountains
• ▸Clothing technology
• ▸Eastern milk snake

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