Narrow-leaf Milkweed (Asclepias fascicularis)

Narrow leaf milkweed is a flowering, herbaceous perennial from the Asclepiadoidaea sub-family, native to the western United States. Its distribution extends from Washington, Oregon, California, Utah, Nevada, to Idaho. Like many milkweeds, they prefer drier climates, disturbed areas, roadsides, chaparral, open woodlands, sunny grasslands, meadows, hillsides, and some deserts. Ecologically, narrow-leaf milkweeds form symbiotic relationships with pollinators, specifically Monarch, Queen, and Viceroy butterflies, who lay their eggs on the underside of milkweed leaves, develop into caterpillars, and chrysalize into butterflies. To avoid predation, caterpillars have developed several defense mechanisms. Many milkweeds produce a toxic milky sap in their leaves that deters herbivores, but caterpillars have co-evolved to tolerate the toxicity and consume the sap to avoid predation. They will also drop from the leaves to the ground and act dead to escape predators, then crawl back up the stems for shelter. If the plants are too far apart from one another, the caterpillars have extreme difficultly finding their way back home. Narrow-leaf milkweeds bloom between June-September and produce beautiful umbels of 20+/- pale pink, white flowers. The corona has five white hoods and five long horns that protrude outwards. The corolla flares backwards and varies in color between green and pink-purple. The leaves are deciduous, usually in whorls of 3-5, and lanceolate. The fruits are produced in thin, narrow pods that break open to release its coma (seeds covered in hairs that aid in wind dispersal). The seeds are best collected in July before they dry out and split. Best planted in fall and will remain dormant until they germinates in the spring. I found this plant near El Capitan beach in central California on a roadside and the bugs were absolutely loving it. 🐛