Host an Event Volunteer Join Tickets

Support the plant database you love!

Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?

A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.

Help us grow by giving to the Plant Database Fund or by becoming a member

Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?

Share

Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

Search Smarty Plants
See a list of all Smarty Plants questions

Please forgive us, but Mr. Smarty Plants has been overwhelmed by a flood of mail and must take a break for awhile to catch up. We hope to be accepting new questions again soon. Thank you!

Need help with plant identification, visit the plant identification page.

 
rate this answer
3 ratings

Wednesday - June 13, 2012

From: Devon, PA
Region: Mid-Atlantic
Topic: Poisonous Plants
Title: Is Asclepias incarnata poisonous to dogs?
Answered by: Anne Ruggles

QUESTION:

Is Asclepias incarnata safe in a farm/yard with plenty of dogs running around? What happens if a dog eats the leaves or seeds or pods? Is eating any of these fatal to dogs?

ANSWER:

Butterfly weed, milkweed, chigger-plant these are all common names for the plants of the genus Aesclepias which includes A. incarnata  which you ask about. In short, yes, the genus is poisonous. All parts of the plant are poisonous.

According to many sources including North Carolina State University, the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, the ASPCA, and the Wildflower Center, all parts of the plant are poisonous in “large quantities.” It appears that livestock are most likely to ingest the plant.

Clinical signs of poisoning include profuse salivation, incoordination, and violent seizures. Early signs of poisoning are followed by bradycardia or tachycardia, arrhythmias, hypotension and hypothermia.  Death may occur from 1-3 days after ingestion.

However, the plants are premier food sources for butterflies, especially for Monarch butterflies. In the mid 1800s, naturalists observed that birds avoided eating butterflies whose larvae fed primarily on milkweed. It was later shown that the feeding larvae accumulated emetic cardiac glycosides that were retained and even concentrated in adult butterflies. Birds that ate the butterflies containing these glycosides vomited shortly after feeding and learned to avoid butterflies having the pattern typical of Monarch butterflies. Viceroy butterflies have evolved the ability to mimic the monarch’s appearance thus avoiding predation by birds who mistake the mimic for the distasteful monarch. 

 

From the Image Gallery


Swamp milkweed
Asclepias incarnata

More Poisonous Plants Questions

Eliminating skunk cabbage in Troy, NY
May 19, 2009 - My yard is overgrown with skunk cabbage. My question is how do I get rid of it?
view the full question and answer

Are Carolina Cherry Laurel seeds poisonous from Asheville NC
August 14, 2012 - I have a Carolina cherry laurel in my back yard that is dropping berries into my vegetable garden beds. May be a silly question, but will the berries poison the plants (and me) when I eat them?
view the full question and answer

Are leatherleaf viburnum or Carolina Sapphire toxic to horses?
October 03, 2009 - Are Leather-leaf Viburnum or Carolina Saphire toxic to equine? I would like to plant them near the fence line.
view the full question and answer

Identification of plant with red berries toxic to dogs
August 29, 2011 - I recently retrieved my poor doggy from the Vet. He had eaten a berry from an invasive-commonly seen brushy plant growing along my neighbors fence line. We try to keep our side clear-but the small lar...
view the full question and answer

Sturdiness of non- native poisonous oleanders
August 16, 2011 - We've seen a dozen different types of non-native plants in our yard perish in last winter's brutal freezes and this summer's record drought..which is good..except for the Oleanders, which nature ca...
view the full question and answer

Support the Wildflower Center by Donating Online or Becoming a Member today.