Milkweeds of the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument True Milkweeds Climbing Milkweeds 1. California Milkweed 8. Fringed Twinevine 2. Desert Milkweed 9. Hairy/Rambling Vine 3. Narrowleaf Milkweed Milkweed 4. Rush Milkweed 10. Utah Vine Milkweed 5. Tropical Milkweed 11. Wavy Leaf Twinevine 6. White-stemmed Milkweed 7. Woollypod Milkweed Apps for Milkweed Identification: South California Wildflowers by Wildflower Search Identification information provided by MonarchWatch.org and Calscape.org California Milkweed (Asclepias californica) • Flower: Umbels are pendulous. 10 +/- flowers per umbel. Color varies from a dull or bright pink to lavender. Wool like hair is everywhere, except on the flower head, but there is hair on the outside of the corolla lobe. No horns present. Corolla reflexes backward. Flower head is 1/3 – 1/2 in (8-10 mm) long. • Foliage: Thick stems and leaves are covered with dense hair. Stands erect to reclining. Leaf arrangement is opposite and attachment is sessile or has a short petiole. Mature plants have multiple stems. • Habitat: Flats, grassy slopes, and open woods. • Height: 36-48 in (91 ½ – 122 cm). Can grow in clumps up to 42 inches in width. • Leaves: Ovate, oblong to lanceolate. Approximately 2-7 in (5-18 cm) long and 1-3 in (2 ½ – 7 ½ cm) wide. Desert Milkweed (Asclepias erosa) • Flower: Color is white to yellow. Horns protrude from the hoods. The corolla folds back from the hoods after blossoming. Umbels stand erect with 20 +/- flowers. Thick peduncle. Flower is 1/8 in (5-6 mm) long. • Foliage: Color is dull if leaves are covered with a fine cream-colored hair, but can also be glabrous. Stands erect. Yellow to green stems, thick at the base narrowing toward the top. Mature plants produce many stems with a width of up to 2 inches at the base. Leaf arrangement is opposite and attachment is sessile. • Habitat: Desert regions, mountain slopes, and roadsides. • Height: 18-47 in (50 – 120 cm). • Leaves: Ovate to laceolate. Color is pale to dark green. Can be hairy to hairless. Edges are wavy and bend upward around main central vein. Whitestem Milkweed (Asclepias albicans) • Flower: The flower cluster is an umbel appearing at the tips of the long branches and sprouting from the sides at nodes. The flower cluster contains many small purple-tinted greenish flowers, each with a central array of bulbous hoods, and corollas reflexed back against the stalk. The plant may https://calscape.org/photos/424?srchcr=sc6033f455b8308 flower in any season except summer. The fruit is a large, long, thick follicle which dangles in bunches from the branch nodes. • Foliage: This is a spindly erect shrub growing usually 3.2-9.8 ft. (1-3 m) tall, but known to approach 13 ft. (4 m). The sticklike branches are mostly naked, the younger ones coated in a waxy residue and a thin layer of woolly hairs. • Habitat: Canyons, washes, gravelly slopes, from 600 to 3,500 feet. • Height: 39-117 in. (99-297 cm). • Leaves: 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 1 in (3 cm) long. https://calscape.org/photos/424?srchcr=sc6033f455b8308 Narrowleaf Milkweed (Asclepias fascicularis) • aka Mexican Whorled Milkweed • Flower: Color is pale pink, purple, white, to greenish. Umbels stand erect. Horns protrude through the hoods. After blooming the corolla https://www.highcountrygardens.com/media/catalog/p extends down under the hoods. Corolla color is roduct/a/s/asclepias-fascicularis-1.jpg white to pinkish in contrast to the hoods and horns being white. Several umbels are born on each stem. 20+/- flowers per umbel. Flowers are 3/16 in (4-5 mm). Pedicels are 3/16 – 7/16 in (6-10 mm). • Foliage: Color is a pale green. Tends to grow in dense patches. Leaf attachment is petiolate and arrangement is scattered or whorled. • Habitat: Dry climates, plains, hill, valleys, roadsides, and disturbed grounds. • Height: 24-36 in (61-91 ½ cm). • Leaves: Narrow to lanceolate, up to 6 in (15 cm) in length and ¾ in (2 cm) in width. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Asclepias_subulata_f lowers.jpg Rush Milkweed (Asclepias subulata) • Also known as Desert Milkweed • Flower: Umbels stand erect with 10 +/- flowers per umbel located at top part of stem. Flower is glabrous, approximately ½ inch (1.5 cm) long by ¼ inch (.5 cm) wide. Corolla, hoods, and horns are cream, white, or yellow color. Corolla folds back to expose hoods and horns. • Foliage: Leaves are indistinct (small) and tend to be maintained only when moisture is adequate. Photosynthesis appears to be accomplished via greenish-white tissues that cover numerous erect stems. Leaf arrangement is opposite. Grows as numerous stems off a common root crown. Color is a grayish green. • Habitat: Desert areas on dry slopes and plains. • Growth habit: Non-clonal, non-invasive. Slow to become established under natural conditions. • Height: 24 – 48 in (61-122 cm). • Leaves: Remains leafless until after rainfalls. Leave shape is linear, 1-2 in (2 ½-5 cm) long by up to 1/8 in (3 cm) wide. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b2/8f/86/b28f864960a6cc2c58412690c474200b.jpg Woolly Milkweed (Asclepias vestita) • Flower: Corolla is usually a cream to yellow color with purple or brown tinge. Hoods and horns are a cream to yellow color. Corolla reflexes backward to expose hoods. Umbels directly attach to the main stem with 10 +/- flowers per umbel. Corolla outer surface is covered with fine hairs, but the hoods, horns, and inside of corollas are hairless. 1-3 umbels per stem. • Foliage: Stands erect to ascending. Covered in fine white-colored hairs. Due to the fine white hairs, its overall color appears to be a grayish green. Leaf arrangement is opposite and attachment is petiolate sometimes sessile. • Growth Period: Spring and Summer. • Habitat: Dry desert slopes and plains. • Height: 1 ½- 3 ft (0.5 – 1 m). • Leaves: Oval to narrow lanceolate with tips typically pointing upward. Leaves are thick and covered with fine white hairs. 2 ¾ – 6 ¾ in (7-17 cm) long. Fringed Twinevine (Funastrum cynanchoides) • Flower: Flowers are pink to purplish and are produced in umbrella-like heads (umbels). It has a fruit that is 3" to 4" long, with tufted seeds about 1. 4" long. • Foliage: A trailing or twining vine growing up to 10 feet long on trees and shrubs. When damaged, can emit a milky sap which gives this species its common name. Has a woody root. • Habitat: Desert washes and slopes, canyons, floodplains, disturbed sites. Climbs over bushes along streams and washes. 1500 - 4500 feet. • Height: Vining stems up to 6 feet. • Leaves: Its narrow, arrowhead shaped leaves are opposite and 1" to 1 1/2" long. Hairy/Rambling Vine Milkweed (Funastrum hirtellum) • Flower: corolla 3--6 mm, white to green-white, ring of tissue at base fused to filament column appendages, lobes +- spreading to +- erect. • Foliage: Plant gray-green, generally with dense, short, erect hairs. • Habitat: Hard desert pavement, washes • Leaves: Petiole 1-15 mm, blade 10-36 mm, linear to narrow-lanceolate, base obtuse (truncate). Wavy Leaf Twinevine (Funastrum crispum) • Flower: Red, purple, or green in flat-topped clusters of 4 to 10 at the top of short hairy stalks. • Foliage: A twining milkweed vine with long, narrow, wavy leaves; flowers in umbel-like clusters. When the stems and leaves are damaged, they exude a milky-white sap. • Habitat: Found in open dry rocky canyons and often among shrubs in chaparral and pinyon juniper woodlands. 3000 - 5500 feet. • Leaves: The narrow green arrowhead- shaped leaves are 1 to 4 inches long and the margins are wavy. Utah Vine Milkweed (Funastrum utahense) • Flower: Bright yellow and orange umbel. Fruit is a grooved follicle several centimeters long. • Foliage: Small vine with highly branched, twining stem rarely exceeding a meter in length. Uses other plants as support. • Habitat: Open, dry, sandy or gravelly areas • Leaves: Blade 1.5-4 cm, thread-like.