2007-03-09 15:04:38 · 6 answers · asked by pattycakes 2 in Health ➔ General Health Care ➔ Other - General Health Care
It is a plant that grew in the midwest, indiana, a weed. It is tall has pods about three inches long and about an inch and a half thick. When it splits it has seeds with silk hairs that blow in the wind. If you cut the plant it oozes stuff that looks like milk. I don't think it is poisonous. just a musiance.
When I was a kid during WW2 the govt. had us kids bring the pods to school and they paid us for them. They said they used the silk in the pods.for parachutes, maybe it was the milk that could make some serious glue or plastic, maybe it was the cellulose to make guncotton for explosives.
I was only in like the second grade at the time.
2007-03-09 15:17:20 · answer #1 · answered by jekin 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Milkweed is certainly a plant that grows in many rural areas in Canada and the US. If you break any part of the plant like the stem a thick, sticky, white, distasteful liquid emerges.
Herbalists and holistic medicine practioners use parts of this plant for various purposes. Since the liquid is probably alkaline, it gets its reputation for being harmful. And, because it has some medicinal purpose in alternative medicine, many government agencies and pharmaceutical companies would like to see it gone. There are a number of herbs and plants on the eradication list in Canada for this reason alone.
Usually, if such a plant has some risk, the part used is the root. For Milkweed, the root also "bleeds" when cut. To make it easier to understand, this sap is the way the plan tries to heal itself.
If anyone offers you some for any reason other than holistic medicine, they don't know what they are doing...and refuse the offer.
2007-03-10 01:44:18 · answer #2 · answered by gone fishing 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's a poisonous weed.
Most US states have tried to eradicate it as a Noxious plant. It grows little pea like pods that when broken open contain an amount of "milk" that is poisonous. Children sometimes get into them and get hurt.
2007-03-09 23:06:35 · answer #3 · answered by special-chemical-x 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The milky sap is highly toxic to humans...don't be a dummy. Cocaine comes from the coca plant and doesn't grow in the continental US., and is highly illegal to humans...don't be a dummy.
2007-03-11 22:03:18 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
its a food item normally given to cattle say cow
2007-03-13 08:55:14 · answer #5 · answered by star 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It really is a weed, and a common allergen.
2007-03-09 23:08:12 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋