Milkweed fiber

Common milkweed Asclepias syriaca

Description

Fibers obtained from the seeds of any of several milkweed plants of the genus Asclepias. Milkweeds are a native perennial in North America. The seed pods produce a silky lightweight fuzz, called silk or floss. The lustrous, soft fibers are yellowish white in color. Milkweed fibers are too brittle to spin and are used for upholstery padding. They also have good buoyancy and were used as substitutes for Kapok in lifebuoys during World War II.

Common milkweed seed Asclepias syriaca

For milkweed fiber identification, see http://cameo.mfa.org/wiki/Category:FRIL:_Plant_Fibers

Synonyms and Related Terms

Asclepias; vegetable silk; milkweed floss; milkweed fibre (Br.); asclépiade (Fr.); zijdeplant (Asclepias syriaca) (Ned);

Risks

The sap and leaves of the plant are toxic to all mammals.

Physical and Chemical Properties

Fiber length = ~ 2 cm

Additional Images

Milkweed fibers at 200x polarized light
Milkweed fibers at 200x transmitted light
Milkweed fiber

Resources and Citations

R.King, E.Hartley, "Unusual Fibers Used in Northwest Coast Ethnographic Textiles, Their Preparation & Their Structure", Technology & Conservation, 1/79.

J.Gordon Cook, Handbook of Textile Fibres:I Natural Fibres, Merrow Publishing Co. , Durham, England, 1984

Poisonous Plants at http://cal.vet.upenn.edu/poison/plants/ppmilkw.htm (Accessed Nov. 9, 2005)

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milkweed (Accessed Nov. 9, 2005)

Random House, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Grammercy Book, New York, 1997

The American Heritage Dictionary or Encarta, via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998