Asclepias albicans is a species of milkweed known by the common names whitestem milkweed and wax milkweed. It is native to the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts of California, Arizona, and Baja California. This is a spindly erect shrub usually growing 1 to 3 meters (3+1⁄2 to 10 feet) tall,[1] but known to approach 4 metres (13 feet). The sticklike branches are mostly naked, the younger ones coated in a waxy residue and a thin layer of woolly hairs. The leaves are ephemeral, growing in whorls of three on the lower branches and falling off after a short time. They are linear in shape and up to 3 centimeters (1+1⁄4 inches) long. The inflorescence is an umbel about 5 cm (2 in) wide[1] which appears at the tips of the long branches and sprouting from the sides at nodes. The inflorescence contains many purple-tinted greenish flowers, each about 1.5 cm (1⁄2 in) wide,[1] with a central array of bulbous hoods, and corollas reflexed back against the stalk. In its native range it is an evergreen perennial. The plant usually blooms all year long.[1] The fruit is a large, long, thick follicle which dangles from the branch nodes. It grows in dry, rocky places in the desert.[2]
| Asclepias albicans | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Gentianales |
| Family: | Apocynaceae |
| Genus: | Asclepias |
| Species: | A. albicans
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| Binomial name | |
| Asclepias albicans | |
Asclepias albicans is a larval host for the monarch butterfly and the queen butterfly.[3][4]
The similar A. subulata is found in similar regions.[1]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e Spellenberg, Richard (2001) [1979]. National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers: Western Region (rev ed.). Knopf. pp. 347–348. ISBN 978-0-375-40233-3.
- ^ "Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center - The University of Texas at Austin". www.wildflower.org. Retrieved 2024-06-05.
- ^ Morris, Gail M.; Kline, Christopher; Morris, Scott M. (2015). "Status of Danaus plexippus in Arizona" (PDF). Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society. 69 (2). Southwest Monarch Study: 91–107. doi:10.18473/lepi.69i2.a10. S2CID 87653856.
- ^ "great milkweed grow out". Desert Botanical Garden. Retrieved Nov 20, 2022.
External links
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