Common Name(s):

broadleaf milkweed

broad-leaf milkweed

corn kernel milkweed

 

Scientific Name:

Asclepias latifolia

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Native Range:

AZ, CA, CO, KS, NE, NM, OK, SD, TX, UT

 

USDA Symbol:

ASLA4

Habitat: 

• 500-7,000 feet (150-2130 meters)

• dry washes

• plains

• prairies

• mesas

• canyon bottoms

• open desert

• disturbed areas, especially along roadsides

 

Growing Conditions:

• full sun

 

Plant Height:
• 8-31 inches (20-80 centimeters) tall

 

Stem Description:

• short and stout

• reddish

• woolly, becomes smooth with age

• erect or ascending

• unbranched

 

Leaf Description: 

• broad-elliptic, rarely lanceolate

• mid vein often pinkish

• tip obtuse to truncate or notched

 

Leaf Arrangement:

• opposite

 

Leaf Margin:

• entire

 

Leaf Surface:

• woolly

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Flowering Period:

• May through September

Flower Description: 

• large umbels

• hoods whitish to yellow brown, mostly erect

• horns flat and triangular and curved inward

• horns fused nearly the full length of the hoods

• white, to pale green to yellow, sometimes tinged with purple

 

Pod Description:

• large

• smooth

• ovate

• green to pinkish

• erect on a deflexed pedicel

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Other Information:

• similar species: common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)

• flowers resemble corn kernels when mature, which is how it gets one of its common names "corn kernel milkweed"

• ants are often found on this species, which may be detrimental to monarchs

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