Milkweed Database
| Species | Common Name(s) | Flower/Height |
| Range | Habitat | |
| Asclepias amplexicaulis | Bluntleaf Milkweed | Green and purple tinged |
| Great Plains to Central TX, NM | Sandy soils of prairies and roadsides | |
| Images: 1 | Articles: 1 | |
| Asclepias arenaria | Sand Milkweed | Pale green/white or cream |
| SD to TX to NM and CO | Sandy soils to roadsides | |
| Images: 1 | Articles: 1 | |
| Asclepias asperula | Antelope Horn | green and pink 1 - 2 ft |
| NV CO AZ NM TX | Flats and desert swales, sandy and rocky hillsides | |
| Images: 1 | Articles: 1 | |
| Asclepias californica | California Milkweed; Sierra Milkweed | maroon and white 4 ft |
| CA | ||
| Images: | Articles: 1 | |
| Asclepias cordifolia | Purple Milkweed | Purple 2 - 3 ft |
| Images: | Articles: | |
| Asclepias curassavica | Bloodflower, Tropical Milkweed | Reddish orange and yellow 2 - 3 ft |
| Neotropics and subtropics | Roadsides and pastures | |
| Images: 1 2 | Articles: | |
| Asclepias engelmanniana | Engelmann's Milkweed | |
| Great Plains to UT to northern Mexico | Sandy or rocky calcareous soils of prairies, breaks, or flood plains | |
| Images: | Articles: 1 | |
| Asclepias eriocarpa | Indian Milkweed | Yellow 3 - 5 ft |
| Images: | Articles: | |
| Asclepias erosa | Desert Milkweed | 1.5 - 3 ft |
| Images: 1 | Articles: 1 | |
| Asclepias exaltata | Poke Milkweed | White 2 - 4 ft |
| Images: | Articles: | |
| Asclepias fascicularis | Narrowleaf Milkweed | Grayish pink 2 - 5 ft |
| ID, UT, NV to Pacific Coast | ||
| Images: 1 | Articles: 1 | |
| Asclepias fruticosa | Swan Plant | White 4 - 6 ft |
| South Africa, Australia | ||
| Images: | Articles: | |
| Asclepias glaucescens | Pink and white 2 - 3 ft | |
| Mexico, Central America | ||
| Images: | Articles: | |
| Asclepias hirtella | Tall Green Milkweed, Prairie Milkweed | Pale green tinged with purple |
| Images: 1 | Articles: 1 | |
| Asclepias incarnata | Swamp Milkweed | Bright pink |
| Wet areas of prairies | ||
| Images: 1 2 | Articles: 1 2 | |
| Asclepias latifolia | Broadleaf Milkweed | Greenish |
| Sandy, clayey, or rocky soils of prairies | ||
| Images: 1 2 | Articles: 1 2 | |
| A robust, very leafy perennial with milky juice, which reproduces by seeds and by horizontal roots. There is 1 stout, erect stem, often hollow, unbranched or few branched, 1 1/2 to 3 1/2 feet high. There are 5 or more pairs of large thick oval leaves, conspicuously veined, almost stalkless, often as broad as long, and rarely more than 1 1/2 times as long as broad, the tip broadly rounded and often indented. | ||
| Asclepias linaria | Pineleaf Milkweed | |
| Images: | Articles: | |
| Asclepias meadii | Mead's Milkweed | Greenish cream tinged with purple |
| Dry upland prairies | ||
| Images: 1 | Articles: 1 | |
| Asclepias oenotheroides | Texas Milkweed | |
| Images: | Articles: | |
| Asclepias ovalifolia | Ovalleaf Milkweed | Greenish white tinged with purple |
| Images: 1 | Articles: 1 | |
| Asclepias physocarpa | Goose Plant | |
| Images: | Articles: | |
| Asclepias pumila | Plains Milkweed | White |
| Sandy, clayey, or rocky soils of prairies | ||
| Images: 1 | Articles: 1 | |
| Asclepias purpurascens | Purple Milkweed | Deep purple-red |
| Images: 1 | Articles: 1 | |
| Asclepias quadrifolia | Four-Leaf Milkweed | Pale pink or cream |
| Images: | Articles: 1 | |
| Asclepias sp. 'Davis, CA' | Davis Milkweed | 5 rose-purple petals and 5 pinkish-cream hoods |
| Images: | Articles: | |
| Asclepias speciosa | Showy Milkweed | 3 - 6 ft |
| Manitoba to Minnesota, south to Texas and westward to British Columbia and California. | ||
| Images: 1 2 3 | Articles: 1 2 | |
| Showy milkweeds have a stout stem and grow up 3 to 6 feet tall. The stem and undersides of the leaves may be coveredwith dense white hairs. Leaves are opposite and oval in shape, 1-6" across and 2-8" long. | ||
| Asclepias stenophylla | Narrow-Leaf Milkweed | Greenish white |
| Sandy, clayey, or rocky soils of prairies | ||
| Images: 1 | Articles: 1 | |
| Asclepias subverticillata | Western Whorled Milkweed; Horsetail Milkweed; Poison Milkweed | Greenish white 1 - 4 ft |
| Western US and Mexico | Dryish soil along roadsides, edges of fields | |
| Images: 1 | Articles: 1 | |
| An erect bushy, hairless perennial with milky juice, which reproduces by seeds and by wiry, creeping roots. There are many slender unbranched stems 1 to 4 feet high, arising close together from the horizontal roots, giving large plants a shrubby appearance. Three (sometimes 2 or 4) long narrow leaves are found in whorls at each stem joint. These are 3 to 5 inches long, nearly stalkless, not over 1/3 inch broad and usually less, with the edges slightly rolled backwards. | ||
| Asclepias sullivantii | Prairie Milkweed, Sullivant's Milkweed | Pinkish rose to purple |
| Images: 1 | Articles: 1 | |
| Asclepias syriaca | Common Milkweed | Pinkish purple |
| Images: 1 2 3 | Articles: 1 2 | |
| Small pinkish-purple flowers are produced in clusters at the top of the unbranched stem. Flowering occurs in June and July. Seeds are borne in pods and are attached to a silky fiber. When the pods open in September and October seeds are readily carried by the wind. Seeds float, so runoff and irrigation water spread the seed. The seed can survive three years of burial in the soil. New plants readily become established from seed in areas free of other plant competition. Common milkweed becomes a perennial (capable of reproducing from its root system) approximately three weeks after seedling emergence. | ||
| Asclepias tuberosa | Butterfly Weed, Butterfly Milkweed | |
| Images: 1 | Articles: 1 | |
| Asclepias variegata | White Milkweed | |
| CT to FL to MO to TX | Thickets and open woods | |
| Images: | Articles: | |
| Asclepias verticillata | Whorled Milkweed | White to greenish-white |
| Images: 1 | Articles: 1 | |
| Asclepias vestita | Woolly Milkweed | |
| Images: | Articles: | |
| Asclepias viridiflora | Green Milkweed | Pale green 2 ft |
| CT to MT south to GA and northeastern Mexico | ||
| Images: 1 | Articles: 1 | |
| Green milkweed is perennial from a vertical rootstock. Stems are mostly solitary or in pairs, and are up to two feet tall. Leaves are usually opposite, up to four inches long, and extremely variable in shape. Plants from dry sites tend to have long narrow leaves, whereas those from moist sites are nearly round. About 20-80 pale green flowers occur in clusters. These are about two inches in diameter and are found in the upper leaf axils. | ||
| Look for green milkweed on dry hills or slopes in sandy or rocky native prairie or dry upland woods. The plant has been found under all grazing regimes. | ||
| Asclepias viridis | Oblong-Leaved Milkweed; Spider Milkweed | Greenish white and reddish purple |
| Images: 1 | Articles: 1 | |
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