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Asclepias subulata is a species of milkweed known commonly as the rush milkweed, desert milkweed[1] or ajamete. This is an erect perennial herb which loses its leaves early in the season and stands as a cluster of naked stalks. Atop the stems are inflorescences of distinctive flowers. Each cream-white flower has a reflexed corolla that reveals the inner parts, a network of five shiny columns, each topped with a tiny hook. The fruit is a pouchlike follicle that contains many flat, oval seeds with long, silky hairlike plumes. This milkweed is native to the desert southwest of the United States and northern Mexico. It grows in dry slopes, mesas, plains and desert washes.[2]
| Asclepias subulata | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Gentianales |
| Family: | Apocynaceae |
| Genus: | Asclepias |
| Species: | A. subulata
|
| Binomial name | |
| Asclepias subulata | |
Researchers in Bard, California, tested the plant as a potential source of natural rubber in 1935.[3]
Asclepias subulata is a larval host for the monarch butterfly.[4]
References
edit- ^ Kirti Mathura. "The Master Gardner Journal". Cooperative Extension Maricopa County. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
- ^ "Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center - The University of Texas at Austin". www.wildflower.org. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
- ^ Beckett, R. E.; Stitt, R.S. (May 1935). "The Desert Milkweed (Asclepias subulata) as a possible source of natural rubber". United States Department of Agriculture. Technical Bulletin no. 472.
- ^ 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.
External links
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