Honeyvine milkweed pods green now but will mature and open to display their mature seeds in coming weeks, so please let them mature before picking

Please click on individual images to ENLARGE views of Cynanchum laeve seed pods.
For scientific description, please see Missouri link.

Monarch caterpillars often eat milkweed seed pods when foliage has already been eaten or when leaves are wilting

Milkweed aphids compete with monarch caterpillars and might have destroyed this pod had I not gently mashed and removed them

Honeyvine milkweed pod turns reddish brown as seeds approach maturity. Caterpillar may have eaten part of this one. The pod will split along the deep line soon. Leaves in photo are those of plant the milkweed vine has climbed. Vine dies back after frost and new vine rises from roots in spring.

A few green leaves of the Honeyvine milkweed still green on October 28, 2011, but may not be green after tonight's frost. After pods mature and are collected for seed, vines may be cut down in winter. They do not damage fences or shrubs or trees or trellises they climb. The clumps of tiny white flowers offer nectar to many species of butterflies, bees and flower flies in summer and foliage feeds monarch caterpillars.