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.
|
Climbing Milkweed |
Funastrum cyanchoides |
Needle-leaf Milkweed |
Asclepias linaria |
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 |
||
|
Desert Milkweed |
Asclepias subulata |
White-stemmed Milkweed |
Asclepias albicans |
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. |
||
|
Mojave Milkweed |
Asclepias nyctaginifolia |
Arizona Swallowwort |
Cynanchum arizonicum |
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. |
||
|
Spearleaf |
Matalea parvifolia |
Desert Milkweed |
Asclepias erosa |
Easily goes unnoticed with very small dark flowers on a vine with slender stems and small arrow-shaped leaves. Pods elongate. Detailed Description. |
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. |
||
|
Palmer's Bluestar |
Amsonia palmeri |
Hairy Climbing Milkweed |
Funastrum hirtellum |
The pale blue flowers are arranged into a spherical cluster and have a long tubular throat. Pods elongate. Detailed Description. |
Similar to the common milkweed vine, but leaves and flower clusters noticeably hairy/fuzzy. Detailed Description. |
||