Asclepias cordifolia

Purple milkweed, Purple Milkweed

Family: Apocynaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Purple milkweed is a California native perennial found in northwestern California, the Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, Sutter Buttes, central coastal California, northern San Francisco Bay, and the North Coast Ranges in rocky slopes, talus, woodlands, chaparral, and lava flows at elevations of 50 to 2,000 meters. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces striking dark red-purple flowers with spreading to reflexed corollas and elevated purple hoods. Growing with ascending stems reaching moderate heights, it develops opposite leaves with distinctive heart-shaped blades that clasp the stem at their base. Its leaves are cordate with no distinct petiole, creating a unique architectural profile along the stem. The plant produces erect fruits carried on slightly reflexed pedicels, with seeds approximately 7 to 8 millimeters long.

Habitat: Rocky slopes, talus, woodland, chaparral, lava flows

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: 50-2000 m

Bioregions: NW, CaR, SN, ScV (Sutter Buttes), CCo, n SnFrB, MP

California counties: Lake, Fresno, Calaveras, Plumas, Shasta, Madera, Humboldt, Amador, Sacramento, Butte, Kern, Tuolumne, Mariposa, Tulare, Siskiyou, Colusa, Yuba, Modoc, Sutter, Tehama, El Dorado, Nevada, San Mateo, Placer, Orange, Lassen, Trinity, Yolo, San Luis Obispo, Sierra, Contra Costa, Solano, Alpine, Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino, Del Norte, Glenn, Mono, Stanislaus

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.