Asclepias albicans | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Gentianales |
Family: | Apocynaceae |
Genus: | Asclepias |
Species: | A. albicans
|
Binomial name | |
Asclepias albicans |
Asclepias albicans is a species of milkweed known by the common names whitestem milkweed and wax milkweed. It is native to the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts of California, Arizona, and Baja California. This is a spindly erect shrub usually growing 1 to 3 meters (3+1⁄2 to 10 feet) tall, [1] but known to approach 4 metres (13 feet). The sticklike branches are mostly naked, the younger ones coated in a waxy residue and a thin layer of woolly hairs. The leaves are ephemeral, growing in whorls of three on the lower branches and falling off after a short time. They are linear in shape and up to 3 centimeters (1+1⁄4 inches) long. The inflorescence is an umbel about 5 cm (2 in) wide [1] which appears at the tips of the long branches and sprouting from the sides at nodes. The inflorescence contains many purple-tinted greenish flowers, each about 1.5 cm (1⁄2 in) wide, [1] with a central array of bulbous hoods, and corollas reflexed back against the stalk. In its native range it is an evergreen perennial. The plant usually blooms all year long. [1] The fruit is a large, long, thick follicle which dangles from the branch nodes. It grows in dry, rocky places in the desert. [2]
Asclepias albicans is a larval host for the monarch butterfly and the queen butterfly. [3] [4]
The similar A. subulata is found in similar regions. [1]
Asclepias albicans | |
---|---|
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Gentianales |
Family: | Apocynaceae |
Genus: | Asclepias |
Species: | A. albicans
|
Binomial name | |
Asclepias albicans |
Asclepias albicans is a species of milkweed known by the common names whitestem milkweed and wax milkweed. It is native to the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts of California, Arizona, and Baja California. This is a spindly erect shrub usually growing 1 to 3 meters (3+1⁄2 to 10 feet) tall, [1] but known to approach 4 metres (13 feet). The sticklike branches are mostly naked, the younger ones coated in a waxy residue and a thin layer of woolly hairs. The leaves are ephemeral, growing in whorls of three on the lower branches and falling off after a short time. They are linear in shape and up to 3 centimeters (1+1⁄4 inches) long. The inflorescence is an umbel about 5 cm (2 in) wide [1] which appears at the tips of the long branches and sprouting from the sides at nodes. The inflorescence contains many purple-tinted greenish flowers, each about 1.5 cm (1⁄2 in) wide, [1] with a central array of bulbous hoods, and corollas reflexed back against the stalk. In its native range it is an evergreen perennial. The plant usually blooms all year long. [1] The fruit is a large, long, thick follicle which dangles from the branch nodes. It grows in dry, rocky places in the desert. [2]
Asclepias albicans is a larval host for the monarch butterfly and the queen butterfly. [3] [4]
The similar A. subulata is found in similar regions. [1]