Common Name(s):

Cutler's milkweed

 

Scientific Name:

Asclepias cutleri

 

Native Range:

AZ, CO, UT

 

USDA Symbol:

ASCU9

 

Habitat: 

• sand dunes with weakly stabilized sand

• found at elevations between 4,000-5,000 feet

  (1,220-1,675 meters)

 

Growing Conditions:

• full sun

• sand or gravel substrate

 

Plant Height:

• 4-8 inches (10-20) centimeters tall

Stem Description:

• low growing

• slender and delicate, usually leans

• short straight hairs to loosely spreading hairs

• sparingly branched

 

Leaf Description: 

• narrowly linear

• 1-3 inches (2.54-7.62 centimeters) long

• 1-3 mm wide

• sessile

• tip is acute

 

Leaf Arrangement:

• irregularly alternate 

 

Leaf Margin:

• entire

 

Leaf Surface:

• upper surface may have short, stiff hairs 

• bottom surface is typically hairless

 

Flowering Period: 

• April through June

​

Flower Description: 

• terminal umbels

• few-flowered umbels

• entire umbel is one inch (2.54 centimeters) or less

• with white or cream colored hoods and horns

• horns are flat, curved inward and attached near the middle of the hoods

• hoods sit below the stigmatic disc

• horns extend beyond the hoods

 

Flower Color:

• white

• pink

• purple

 

Pod Description:

• small, drooping (pendulous) pods

• 2-3 inches (5.08-7.62 centimeters) long

• 1/2 inch (1.27 centimeters) wide

​
 

Other Information:

• endemic to the Colorado Plateau

• threatened by urban expansion, mineral exploration and industrial development

• state-listed as vulnerable in Arizona and imperiled in Utah