Asclepias subulata
Asclepias subulata is a species of milkweed known commonly as the rush milkweed, desert milkweed[1] or ajamete. This is an erect perennial herb which loses its leaves early in the season and stands as a cluster of naked stalks. Atop the stems are inflorescences of distinctive flowers. Each cream-white flower has a reflexed corolla that reveals the inner parts, a network of five shiny columns, each topped with a tiny hook. The fruit is a pouchlike follicle that contains many flat, oval seeds with long, silky hairlike plumes. This milkweed is native to the desert southwest of the United States and northern Mexico.
| Asclepias subulata | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Gentianales |
| Family: | Apocynaceae |
| Genus: | Asclepias |
| Species: | A. subulata |
| Binomial name | |
| Asclepias subulata | |
Researchers in Bard, California tested the plant as a potential source of natural rubber in 1935.[2]
Asclepias subulata is a larval host for the monarch butterfly. [3]
References
- Kirti Mathura. "The Master Gardner Journal". Cooperative Extension Maricopa County. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
- Beckett, R. E.; Stitt, R.S. (May 1935). "The Desert Milkweed (Asclepias subulata) as a possible source of natural rubber". United States Department of Agriculture. Technical Bulletin no. 472.
- Morris, Gail M.; Kline, Christopher; Morris, Scott M. (2015). "Status of Danaus plexippus in Arizona" (PDF). Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society. Southwest Monarch Study. 69 (2): 91–107. doi:10.18473/lepi.69i2.a10. S2CID 87653856.