During WWII the silky part attached to the seeds was used for life jackets.123 Milkweed is more bouyant then cork by 5 or 6 fold.123
1 Native Plant Society of Texas
3 “Your Country’s Armed Services Need Milkweed Floss: How You Can Help” :https://archive.org/stream/YourCountrysArmedServicesNeedMilkweedFlossHowYouCanHelp/YourCountrysArmedServicesNeedMilkweedFlossHowYouCanHelp_djvu.txt