Wildflower (forb) · Asclepiadaceae
Butterfly milkweed
Asclepias tuberosa · includes its varieties and subspecies
Butterfly milkweed is recorded as native to 40 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,594 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Butterfly milkweed at a glance
- Native in
- 1,594 counties, across 40 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a PLANTS minimum temperature −33°F
- Mature height
- 2 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) Low water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 4a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −33°F; zone 4a winters bottom out at −30°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Butterfly milkweed is recorded as native to 40 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,594 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 1,594 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 50 counties
- Arizona 11 counties
- Arkansas 60 counties
- Colorado 6 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 3 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 55 counties
- Georgia 57 counties
- Illinois 86 counties
- Indiana 65 counties
- Iowa 17 counties
- Kansas 69 counties
- Kentucky 84 counties
- Louisiana 34 counties
- Maine 1 county
- Massachusetts 13 counties
- Michigan 51 counties
- Minnesota 41 counties
- Mississippi 45 counties
- Missouri 106 counties
- Nebraska 23 counties
- New Hampshire 3 counties
- New Jersey 19 counties
- New Mexico 10 counties
- New York 30 counties
- North Carolina 93 counties
- Ohio 73 counties
- Oklahoma 60 counties
- Pennsylvania 51 counties
- Rhode Island 2 counties
- South Carolina 44 counties
- South Dakota 5 counties
- Tennessee 54 counties
- Texas 75 counties
- Utah 5 counties
- Vermont 1 county
- Virginia 100 counties
- West Virginia 44 counties
- Wisconsin 47 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 2 ft
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Growth form
- Multiple Stem
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- Low water use
- Drought tolerance
- High
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- None
- Precipitation range
- 28 to 45 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse and medium
- pH range
- 4.8 to 6.8
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 16 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −33°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 135
- Fire tolerance
- High
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Orange
- Showy flowers
- Yes
- Bloom period
- Mid Summer
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Asclepiadaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- ASTU
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Asclepias tuberosa (PLANTS symbol ASTU), including 2 varieties and subspecies folded into the species.
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources