Asclepias oenotheroides

Woodson 1954, Nabhan et al 2015

Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Low herbaceous perennials, the stems clustered from the rootstalk, ascending 5-45 cm tall. Leaves: Opposite, long petiolate, ovate to oblong lanceolate, the base is abruptly cuneate to the petiole, 4-12 cm long, 1-6 cm across, pale green, minutely puberulent especially below, petioles 1-2 cm long. Flowers: Lateral and solitary from the upper nodes, shortly pedunculate, several-flowered, the peduncle 1-2 cm long, minutely puberulent. Calyx lobes 3-4 mm, minutely puberulent, the corolla reflexed-rotate, greenish white or yellow lobes less than 1.5 mm, horn adnate to near tip of hood. Fruits: Follicles erect on deflexed pedicels, fusiform to ovoid, shortly apiculate 7-9 cm long, 1.5-2 cm across, smooth to minutely pilosulose to glabrate. Ecology: Found in rocky and clayey soils along mesas and llanos, along hills and in fields and thickets often in disturbed areas from llllll; flowers February to October. Distribution: Reaches its northern limit in southeastern Arizona and east to south Texas, south to Chipas and ultimately all the way to Costa Rica. Notes: Woodson 1954 described this species this way, -The flowers of A. oneotheroides are structurally about the most elegantly contrived of all milkweeds, but the color is very dingy and the whole aspect of the plant is extrordinarily weedy. This is a known monarch host plant. Etymology: Asclepias is named for the Greek god of healing Asklepios, while oenotheroides means like the genus Oenothera. Synonyms: Asclepias brevicornu Editor: SBuckley 2014, AHazelton 2015