Dwarf Milkweed, Asclepias involucrate, Dogbane Family (Apocynaceae)

Found in sandy washes and canyons
Seen blooming in May on Espinosa Trail, Santa Fe NF

Unlike the more familiar Showy Milkweed which grows 3 feet tall, Dwarf Milkweed grows sprawling on the ground up to 10 inches. Leaves are long and folded with woolly edges. Milkweed flowers are both beautiful and structurally complex. Dwarf Milkweed flowers are yellowish-white and produce fat, erect seed pods 1½ to 2½ inches long which split open to allow the large brown seeds with silky plumes to escape. Milkweeds contain various amounts of poisonous glycosides and in some species these compounds are potent enough to cause the death of cattle and horses if consumed in large quantities. Such events are rare. Most grazing animals learn to avoid milkweeds due to the bitterness and toxicity of the leaves and pods. The Monarch butterfly larvae eat only milkweed and retain this poison without harm, so they become distasteful to potential predators who soon learn to avoid these species after attempting to eat them. Nevertheless, Native Americans traditionally used an infusion of the plant as a stomach medicine; a poultice of heated roots was applied for toothaches and a dry powdered root was mixed with saliva and used for unspecified illness. Source.

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