Asclepias erosa

Desert milkweed

Family: Apocynaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Desert milkweed is a California native perennial found in southern Sierra Nevada, San Joaquin Valley, southwestern California, White and Inyo Mountains, and desert regions on dry slopes and washes at elevations of 150 to 1,900 meters. Flowering from April to October, this plant produces pale cream or green-white flowers with distinctive elevated cream-colored hoods that extend above the corolla base. Growing with ascending to erect stems that range from very hairy to nearly smooth, it develops a robust habit typically 30 to 60 centimeters tall. Its opposite leaves have elliptic to lanceolate blades with wavy or slightly jagged margins, ranging from 5 to 15 centimeters long and varying from clasping to non-clasping at the stem base. The fruit develops erect on slightly reflexed pedicels, with seeds approximately 10 to 13 millimeters long.

Habitat: dry slopes, washes

Bloom period: Apr-Oct

Elevation: 150-1900 m

Bioregions: s SN, SnJV, SW, W&ampI, D

California counties: San Bernardino, Kern, Riverside, San Diego, Inyo, Tulare, Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo, Imperial, Mono, San Joaquin, Santa Barbara, Ventura

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