The silk-like fluff which causes the tiny Asclepis seeds to be wafted away by the fall winds was experimented with by U.S. Department of Agriculture scientists during World War II to see if it could take the place of kapok, then widely used by the navy and air force in flotation devices. Kapok, also called Java Cotton, which is the silky down that invests the seeds of a silk-cotton tree (kapok tree), Ceiba pentandra, of the East Indies, Africa, and some parts of tropical America was in short supply at the time (6).
The milky sap of the Milkweed plant contains latex that will yield rubber, gutta-percha, blata, and chicle, and was experimented with by government authorities at about the same time during World War II as a possible rubber substitute (6).
Asclepis syrica is also known to produce palmitoleic acid, cis-vaccenic acid, linoleic acid, and nicotine (238).
Known to produce acetylenic alcohols, with 10 carbons (238).
Craig Bremmon
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