Participant Info

Species

Asclepias speciosa

Family

Asclepiadaceae

CommonName

common milkweed

Presence

Yes

Status

native

EarliestDate

1934

LatestDate

2022

Ecosystem

basin, shrubland, foothill, montane, ruderal, urban

Geobotanical

SSawatch, Garitas, SSanjuans, NCristos, UBasin, LBasin

Counties

Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Hinsdale, Mineral, Rio Grande, Saguache

Passes

Mosca

WildlifePreserves

Alamosa, Baca, Great Sand Dunes, Russell Lakes

Other Localities

Alamosa (town), Del Norte

PhotoRecords

YES: Rich Haswell: Saguache Co, Russell Lakes SWA 7 Aug 2018; Rio Grande Co, Del Norte strleelt side (seeds dehiscing) 10 Oct 2022

Comments

Despite the relentless herbicide applications of farmers and county agents, common milkweed persists in mildly mesic niches along roads and highways throughout the Watershed. It has also been collected from non-ruderal sites such as stream banks, foothill knobs, and wet meadows. The Watershed is not along any major flyway for Monarch butterflies, but occasionally their caterpillars can be found eating Asclepias speciosa leaves in the Valley. Asclepias speciosa is wide spread in the West and Great Plains, but is not present in the Rio Grande drainage past southern New Mexico.

Annotation