||As*cle"pi*as, n. [L., fr. Gr. &?;, named from Asclepios or Aesculapius.] (Bot.) A genus of plants including the milkweed, swallowwort, and some other species having medicinal properties.

Asclepias butterfly(Zoöl.), a large, handsome, red and black butterfly (Danais Archippus), found in both hemispheres. It feeds on plants of the genus Asclepias.