Scientific Family
Asclepiadaceae
Other common names
four o'clock-leafed milkweed
Plant type
Forbs and Subshrubs
Origin
Native
Lifecycle
Perennial
Height
To 1-1/2 feet
Riparian
Yes
Low growing plant with erect to spreading stems, dark green, wavy edged leaves and pale green flowers. The rounded flower clusters are found along the plant's stem. It is one of the food plants for the queen butterfly caterpillars.
Several erect to spreading stems from a cluster of slender rhizomes. Leaves mostly opposite or whorled, seldom more than 1/2 inch wide, often less than 3 times as long as wide. Horn yellow, winglike, tapering to a slender, exserted point; hood stalked.
Habitat
Washes, slopes, roadsides of deserts, grasslands, and open woodlands and at springs.
Plant Community
Riparian
Pinyon Juniper Woodlands
Montane Conifer Forest
Interior Chaparral
Grasslands
Disturbed Areas
Desert Scrub
Low elevation
1600
High elevation
6500
Flower Characteristics
The pink-tinted pale green flowers are in rounded, terminal clusters. Each flower has 5 reflexed petals and 5 upright yellowish hoods. The flower hoods are slightly shorter than the petals and have only slightly protruding horns.
Flower color
Pale green
Flower shape
Regular
Tubular
No
First bloom month
May
Last bloom month
June
Flower clusters
Rounded
Leaf and Stem Characteristics
The thick leaves are large, dark green, wavy-edged and oval to lance-shaped, opposite and stemmed.
Leaf type
Simple
Leaf color
Dark green
Leaf shape
Round or oval
Leaf margin
Smooth
Leaves clasp
No
Leaf hairs
Leaves & stems
Spines
No
Fruit and Seed Characteristics
Seed pods are erect. Seed pods are on bent, curving downward or curving backward stems.
Fruit type
Pod
Flat seeds have a tuft of silky hairs.