milkweed family: Meaning and Definition of

milk'weed fam"ily

Pronunciation: [key]
  1. the plant family Asclepiadaceae, characterized by herbaceous plants, shrubs, and vines having simple, opposite or whorled leaves, usually milky juice, umbellike clusters of small flowers, and long pods that split open to release tufted, airborne seeds, and including the anglepod, butterfly weed, milkweed, stephanotis, and wax plant.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.