Other common names include bloodflower or blood flower,[3] cotton bush,[6] hierba de la cucaracha,[3] Mexican butterfly weed, redhead,[6] scarlet milkweed,[3] and wild ipecacuanha.

[7] Though public concern for the rapidly declining monarch population increased the demand and commercial availability of milkweed among nurseries in the US, the results have been mixed.

[8] Use of the tropical milkweed in gardens has disrupted monarch migrations notably in California, Texas, Florida, and South Carolina.

Typical plants are evergreen perennial subshrubs that grow up to 1 m (3.3 ft) tall and have pale gray stems.

[14] It has been introduced and naturalized in the Chinese provinces of Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Qinghai, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan, and Zhejiang, as well as in Taiwan.

[16] Asclepias curassavica contains several cardiac glycosides,[17] including asclepin,[18] calotropin, uzarin and their free genins, calactin, coroglucigenin and uzarigenin.