Common names Common milkweed, silkweed, cotton-weed, Virginia silk, wild cotton, silky milkweed, common silkweed, showy milkweed, swallow wort. Latin name Asclepias syriaca. “Asclepias” from Asklepios, the Ancient Greek god of medicine and healing. “syriaca” is Latin for the country of Syria and was so named because Linnaeus mistakenly thought this plant came from Syria. Family[Read More…]