Recent efforts to identify marketable alternative crops have focused attention on milkweed. Interest in using milkweed fiber dates back to the mid-eighteenth century. Renewed interest in milkweed fibers centers around the floss, or seed hairs, and its use as an insulative fill material and as an absorbent material in consumer products like disposable diapers and facial tissues. However, there is little published research regarding the moisture and microscopic properties of milkweed and its performance in absorbent products. This study evaluated the moisture characteristics of two species of milkweed, Asclepias speciosa and Asclepias syriaca. Moisture content, moisture regain, absorbency rate, and absorptive capacity were measured on milkweed and cotton fibers in the raw state as well as after two treatments (scouring with an aqueous detergent solution and stripping in an organic solvent). Results showed that A. speciosa and A. syriaca fibers are similar in moisture characteristics, indicating that fibers from these two species of milkweed should perform similarly in absorbent materials. Generally the scoured or stripped milkweed fibers exhibited superior moisture content, moisture regain, and absorptive capacity when compared to the scoured cotton fibers, but could not match the absorbency rate of the scoured cotton.