Wild milkweed grows along roadsides and in fields in the eastern U.S. as far south as Georgia.
Industry has known the value of its fiber, but is now learning the value of its meal and oil. Milkweed fiber has become the mainstay of a small company, Natural Fibers Corp. of Ogallala, Neb., which began marketing milkweed floss as a filler for comforters in 1989. ARS textile engineers in New Orleans, La., aided the entrepreneurs in blending the floss with cotton to produce a non-woven product. It contains compounds called cardenolides that produce heart palpitations in people and animals. So the meal can't be used in animal feed.