Red Milkweed
Asclepias rubra L.
A rare bog and seepage-slope milkweed with dusky rose-red flowers and stiff, sharply pointed leaves, scattered thinly down the Atlantic coastal plain and listed as endangered in most northern states where it survives.
Also called Bog Milkweed.
- Height
- 2 ft–4 ft
- Spread
- 1 ft–1.7 ft
- Flowers
- red, pink
- Bloom
- June to July
- Light
- Full sun, Part shade
- Soil moisture
- Wet
- USDA zones
- 6–9
- Leaves
- Opposite, lanceolate
- Sap
- Milky latex
- Roots
- Fibrous, clump-forming and easy to move
- Stratification
- 30 days cold-moist
- Range
- 18 states
When it flowers
Red Milkweed blooms June to July, peaking in June and July.
How to identify it
- Flowers dull red to rose, in one or a few upright clusters.
- Leaves lance-shaped with a long tapering point and rounded base, held stiffly.
- Acid bogs, seepage slopes and pitcher plant savannas.
Ecology and wildlife value
Highly habitat-restricted; declining wherever coastal plain wetlands are drained.
Growing red milkweed
Difficult, needing acidic, permanently moist, low-nutrient conditions.
Seed needs about 30 days of cold-moist stratification. Fibrous, clump-forming and easy to move. See how to plant milkweed seed for the full method.
Cautions
Rare and legally protected in several states. Never collect from the wild. More on milkweed toxicity.
Where red milkweed grows
Recorded in 18 states: Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia.
Distribution is generalized to state level. For county-level maps see USDA PLANTS and BONAP.
References and further reading
Names, ranges and conservation status here are drawn from the databases below. Where those disagree with a regional flora, trust the flora.
- Plants of the World Online 94615-1. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Accepted name, authorship and global distribution.
- GBIF 3170334. Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Aggregated occurrence records.
- iNaturalist 143553. Community observations, photographs and phenology.
- Wikipedia. General-audience article on this species.
- BONAP county distribution map. Biota of North America Program. County-level range map.
- NatureServe Explorer. Conservation status ranks at global and state level.
- World Flora Online. Nomenclature and synonymy.
- Woodson, R. E. (1954). The North American species of Asclepias L.. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 41(1): 1–211. The monograph the modern taxonomy of the genus still rests on. View
- Flora of North America Editorial Committee (eds.) (2026). Flora of North America North of Mexico. Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford. Accepted names, keys and descriptions for the North American flora. View
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (2026). Plants of the World Online. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Nomenclature and global distribution, keyed to IPNI name identifiers. View
- Kartesz, J. T. (Biota of North America Program) (2026). North American Plant Atlas. BONAP, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. County-level distribution maps, the basis for the ranges generalized here. View
- USDA, NRCS (2026). The PLANTS Database. National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, North Carolina. State-level distribution, wetland status and nomenclature. View
- Agrawal, A. A. (2017). Monarchs and Milkweed: A Migrating Butterfly, a Poisonous Plant, and Their Remarkable Story of Coevolution. Princeton University Press. The standard general account of the milkweed and monarch relationship. View
Cite this page
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Milkweed USA. (2026). Red Milkweed (Asclepias rubra). Retrieved DATE, from https://milkweedusa.com/species/red-milkweed/
"Red Milkweed (Asclepias rubra)." Milkweed USA, 2026, https://milkweedusa.com/species/red-milkweed/. Accessed DATE.
Milkweed USA. "Red Milkweed (Asclepias rubra)." Last modified 2026-08-01. Accessed DATE. https://milkweedusa.com/species/red-milkweed/.
@misc{milkweedusa_speciesredmilkweed,
title = {Red Milkweed (Asclepias rubra)},
author = {{Milkweed USA}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://milkweedusa.com/species/red-milkweed/},
note = {Accessed DATE}
}