Sonoran Desert Naturalist >>> Field Guide >>> Sonoran Desert Flora >>> Asclepiadaceae

Sonoran Desert Milkweeds

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

Watercolor by Michael Plagens

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

Pen & Ink by Mike Plagens

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

Desert Milkweed

Asclepias erosa

Watercolor © by Michael Plagens

Leafless green to white stems a meter tall. Very popular in xeriscapes. Detailed Description

Photo by Mike Plagens

Large, thick leaves and rather succulent main stems. Perennial or shrub. The photograph is hosted at the Wikimedia Project. Detailed Description.

Mojave Milkweed

Asclepias nyctaginifolia

Arizona Swallowwort

Cynanchum arizonicum

Photo by Mike Plagens

Wedge-shaped to elyptic, opposite, tough leaves. Clusters of large, green-hued flowers. Upper elevations of Sonoran Desert. The photograph is hosted at the Wikimedia Project. Detailed Description.

Photo by Mike Plagens

Not-so-common vine with small white-yellow flowers appearing mostly singly in leaf axils. Pods elongate. Detailed Description.

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Copyright Michael J. Plagens, 1999-07