''Asclepias californica'' is a species of

milkweed ''Asclepias'' is a genus of herbaceous, perennial, flowering plants known as milkweeds, named for their latex, a milky substance containing cardiac glycosides termed cardenolides, exuded where cells are damaged. Most species are toxic to humans ...

known by the common name California milkweed. It grows throughout lower northern, central and southern

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Description

''Asclepias californica'' is native to California and northern Baja California. It is a flowering perennial with thick, white, woolly stems which bend or run along the ground. The plentiful, hanging flowers are rounded structures with reflexed corollas and starlike arrays of bulbous anthers. The flowers are dark purple. It grows on dry slopes.

Uses

This plant was eaten as candy by the

Kawaiisu The Kawaiisu (pronounced: ″ka-wai-ah-soo″) are a Native Californian ethnic group in the United States who live in the Tehachapi Valley and to the north across the Tehachapi Pass in the southern Sierra Nevada, toward Lake Isabella and Walker P ...

tribes of indigenous California; the milky sap within the leaves is flavorful and chewy when cooked, but can be poisonous when raw.

Butterflies

''Asclepias californica'' is an important

monarch butterfly The monarch butterfly or simply monarch (''Danaus plexippus'') is a milkweed butterfly (subfamily Danainae) in the family Nymphalidae. Other common names, depending on region, include milkweed, common tiger, wanderer, and black-veined brown. It ...

caterpillar host plant, and chrysalis habitat plant. The

cardiac glycoside Cardiac glycosides are a class of organic compounds that increase the output force of the heart and decrease its rate of contractions by inhibiting the cellular sodium-potassium ATPase pump. Their beneficial medical uses are as treatments for co ...

s caterpillars ingest from the plant are retained in the butterfly, making it unpalatable to predators.

References

External links

Calflora Database: ''Asclepias californica'' (California milkweed)

Jepson Manual Treatment: ''Asclepias californica''

University of Michigan, Dearborn: Ethnobotany: ''Asclepias californica''

''Asclepias californica'' Photo gallery
californica Flora of California Flora of Baja California Flora of the Sonoran Deserts Flora of the California desert regions Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the Colorado Desert Natural history of the Mojave Desert Natural history of the Peninsular Ranges Natural history of the Santa Monica Mountains Natural history of the Transverse Ranges Garden plants of North America Butterfly food plants Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Apocynaceae-stub