Arizona Naturalists >>> Sonoran Desert Naturalist >>> Field Guide >>> Sonoran Desert Flora >>> Asclepiadaceae
Shrubs, vines and perennial herbs. Bright white latex sap rapidly oozes from breaks in tissue. Distinctive, five-pointed flowers often in an umbel. Fruit a follicle containing usu. comose seeds.
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Climbing Milkweed |
Funastrum cyanchoides |
Needle-leaf Milkweed |
Asclepias linaria |
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Twining, twisting vine that may ascend high into wash bank trees or cling in-mass to fences. Leaves slightly hairy, mostly linear or somewhat arrow-shaped. V. common. Detailed Description |
Woody shrub at upper elevations of the Sonoran Desert. Uncommon. Ten to thirty stems from base usu. less than 1 meter tall with crowded pine needle-like leaves. Detailed Description |
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Desert Milkweed |
Asclepias subulata |
White-stemmed Milkweed |
Asclepias albicans |
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Leafless green to white stems a meter tall. Very popular in xeriscapes. Detailed Description |
Large, long smooth-green wands reaching a 1 to 2 meters tall. Woody stems below. Far southwestern portions of Sonoran Desert. Detailed Description. |
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Mojave Milkweed |
Asclepias nyctaginifolia |
Arizona Swallowwort |
Cynanchum arizonicum |
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Wedge-shaped to elyptic, opposite, tough leaves. Clusters of large, green-hued flowers. Upper elevations of Sonoran Desert. Detailed Description. |
Not-so-common vine with small white-yellow flowers appearing mostly singly in leaf axils. Pods elongate. Detailed Description. |
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Desert Milkweed |
Asclepias erosa |
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Robust, erect milkweed found mostly in deep sandy washes in far western Sonoran Desert and the Mojave Desert. Umbels of cream flowers large and nearly spherical. Detailed Description. |
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