LEAVES: lanceolate to mostly narrowly lanceolate or linear, more than 3-4 times as long as broad, sagittate to hastate, truncate or rarely obtuse at the base, the petioles mostly to 1 cm long; flowers purplish; follicles 7-10(-12) cm long. NOTES: See also parent taxon. Desert washes and slopes, canyons, floodplains, disturbed sites: nearly throughout the state, unrecorded only from Apache and Greenlee cos.; 150-1700(-2050) m (500-5500(-6800) ft); Mar-Dec; s CA and s UT to s NM, sw TX; s in Mex. to Baja C. Sur, Jal. and Qro. REFERENCES: Sundell, Eric. 1994. Asclepiadaceae. J. Ariz. - Nev. Acad. Sci. Volume 27, 169-187.

Wiggins 1964

Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Stems numerous, from woody root, slender, herbaceous above, 1-3 m long or more, somewhat glaucescent. Leaves: Linear to lanceolate, sometimes auriculate-lobed or even cordate-hastate at base, 1-5 mm wide, 2.5-6 cm long, short-petiolate, glabrous to puberulent. Flowers: Peduncles slender, 1-5 cm long, few to many flowered, pedicels 5-12 mm long, sparsely puberulent with spreading hairs; calyx lobes ovate, 1-1.5 mm long, puberulent, corollas purplish, 8-10 mm broad, lobes acute to slightly acuminate, sparsely puberulent to subglabrous without, ciliate on margins, glabrous within, corona ring rectanguloid, widest below middle, .5-.8 mm high, free from vesicles. Fruits: Follicles slender 6-9 mm in diameter, attenuate at each end, 7-11 cm long. Ecology: Found along arroyos and in arid valleys below 5,500 ft (1676 m); flowers February-September. Notes: Leaves can be diagnostic for this species, as can its drier habitat. Ethnobotany: Plant was eaten raw, the sap secretions were heated over coals and eaten like gum by the Papago. Etymology: Funastrum is from funis, a rope, cord, or sheet and astrum, incomplete resemblance, while cynanchoides refers to being like the genus Cynanchum. Synonyms: Sarcostemma cynanchoides var. hartwegii, Funastrum heterophyllum, Funastrum lineare, Philibertia heterophylla, Sarcostemma cynanchoides subsp. hartwegii, Sarcostemma cynanchoides var. hartwegii Editor: SBuckley, 2010