Toxic Latex Protects From Herbivores

small white and soft pink flowers of a common milkweed plant form a globe shape

Biological Strategy

Milkweed

AskNature Team

Image: Eleanord43 / Flickr / Some rights reserved

Protect From Animals

Animals–organisms that range from microscopic to larger than a bus–embody a wide variety of harms to living systems, including other animals. They threaten through predation, herbivory, defense, and parasitism, and they compete for resources such as water, nutrients, and space. Any given living organism commonly faces threats from a variety of animals, requiring strategies that effectively defend from each. Trout and other bony fish, for example, escape predators by having scales made of very thin, flake-like pieces of bone covered with slippery mucus. They also have behavioral strategies such as camouflage, fast swimming, and twisting and turning to achieve release from a predator’s grip.

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Flowering Plants

Clade Angiosperms (“receptacle seed”): Dandelions, oaks, grasses, cacti, apples

With 416 families containing some 300,000 known species, angiosperms are the most diverse group of plants, and they can be found around the globe in a wide variety of habitats. They are characterized by seeds that grow enclosed in ovaries, which are enclosed in flowers. The floral organs then develop into fruits of myriad kinds and dimensions, from simple seed casings on maples to elaborate fleshy growths like papayas. The oldest flower known from fossils, Montsechia vidalii, appeared during the Jurassic Period 130 million years ago. They are the primary food source for herbivorous animals, which in turn makes them the indirect food source for carnivores as well.

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Any broken part of milkweeds wards off herbivores via a poisonous latex that it exudes.

Image: Derek Ramsey / Wikipedia /

Photograph of a flower head on the Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa en ) plant. These flowers are the typical fully orange-colored flowers that are most typical of the species.

Image: Hardyplants / Wikipedia /

Flowers and sap of Common Milkweed, self made picture taken summer of 2008.

“Milkweed gets its name from a poisonous latex that exudes from its broken stem. This is so toxic that it can give a small animal a heart attack.” (Attenborough 1995:70-71)