In today’s product profile you get to know all about our brightest orange star: asclepia! Did you know that during world war 2 this flower played an important role in keeping people warm? Read along to learn more!
 

ORIGIN

The asclepia flower is known as one of the most complicated flowers in the plant kingdom. Firstly because of the unusual shape of the flowers and secondly due to the interesting manner in which the pollination is accomplished. Asclepia is ‘made’ for bigger insects such as bees, wasps and butterflies. When these larger insects come to pollinate, they must go down into the hidden heart of the flower in order to get to the nectar. When they touch the bottom, they sink into the pollen bags which end up get stuck to their legs. When the insects fly up again, the pull these pollen bags loose, so the flower is able to pollinate. Lighter insects do not have enough power to fly up again, causing them to get stuck inside of it and eventually die.

MYTHOLOGY

The genus is named after Asclepius, which is the Greek god of medicine and healing. Although aslecpia tuberosa within our assortment doesn’t possess any medical properties, many other plants within the asclepia genus (there are over 100) do. A nickname for asclepia is ‘milkweed’.

Asclepia has another useful quality: when the flowers have bloomed, asclepia (just like a dandelion for example) produces ‘floss’. The seeds are attached to the floss and are spread by the wind. When processed, this floss can be used as a filling for various products. During the second world war, there was a shortage of kapok in America. Asclepia floss was used to replace kapok. The sleeping bags, jackets and pillows of the army were then filled with asclepia floss instead of kapok. And to this day, asclepia floss is still used as a hypoallergenic filling for pillows for example. But that’s not all: during the second world war as well, both America as Nazi Germany tried to make rubber with the white milk juice that the stem of the asclepia produces, but this hasn’t been proven to be successful.
 

CARE

Cut the flowers diagonally and fill the vase with tap water at room temperature. Cut off all the leaves that will fall below the water line. Do not place the flowers near a draft, heater or (rotting) fruit.
 

AVAILABILITY

Please check the current Asclepia availability here or contact your product specialist.