Asclepias subverticillata

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Asclepias subverticillata
Asclepias subverticillata.jpg
Status TNC G4.svg
Apparently Secure  (NatureServe)
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Gentianales
Family: Apocynaceae
Genus: Asclepias
Species:
A. subverticillata
Binomial name
Asclepias subverticillata

Asclepias subverticillata is a plant found in the southwestern United States and Mexico. Common names include horsetail milkweed, poison milkweed [1] and whorled milkweed.

Contents

Description

Horsetail milkweed Asclepias subverticillata AZ.jpg
Horsetail milkweed

Growing to 1.2 metres (4 feet) in height, short branches support leaves ranging from 2–12.5 centimeters (1–5 inches) in length. Blooming from May to September, the umbel is 2–3 cm (341+14 in) wide, with individual flowers up to 1.5 cm (12 in) across; each has five petals and five sepals. The fruit pod is smooth and 5–10 cm (2–4 in) long; the seeds inside have long hairs. [1]

Distribution and habitat

It is indigenous to New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah and parts of some nearby states, [2] in addition to Mexico. [1]

Toxicity

The species is unpalatable and very toxic to livestock. [1]

Uses

Among the Zuni people the buds are eaten by young boys. [3] The pods are also gathered when two-thirds ripe and the fibers are used for weaving clothing. [4] The coma is made into cords and used for fastening plumes to the prayer sticks. [5]

Related Research Articles

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Asclepias tuberosa, commonly known as butterfly weed, is a species of milkweed native to eastern and southwestern North America. It is commonly known as butterfly weed because of the butterflies that are attracted to the plant by its color and its copious production of nectar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monarch butterfly</span> Milkweed butterfly in the family Nymphalidae

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<i>Asclepias syriaca</i> Species of flowering plant

Asclepias syriaca, commonly called common milkweed, butterfly flower, silkweed, silky swallow-wort, and Virginia silkweed, is a species of flowering plant. It is native to southern Canada and much of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, excluding the drier parts of the prairies. It is in the genus Asclepias, the milkweeds. It grows in sandy soils as well as other kinds of soils in sunny areas.

<i>Asclepias incarnata</i> Species of flowering plant

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<i>Asclepias asperula</i> Species of flowering plant

Asclepias asperula, commonly called antelope horns milkweed or spider milkweed, is a species of milkweed native to the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico.

<i>Asclepias curassavica</i> Species of flowering plant

Asclepias curassavica, commonly known as tropical milkweed, is a flowering plant species of the milkweed genus, Asclepias. It is native to the American tropics and has a pantropical distribution as an introduced species. Other common names include bloodflower or blood flower, cotton bush, hierba de la cucaracha, Mexican butterfly weed, redhead, scarlet milkweed, and wild ipecacuanha.

<i>Asclepias verticillata</i> Species of flowering plant

Asclepias verticillata, the whorled milkweed, eastern whorled milkweed, or horsetail milkweed, is a species of milkweed native to most of eastern North America and parts of western Canada and the United States.

<i>Asclepias fascicularis</i> Species of flowering plant

Asclepias fascicularis is a species of milkweed known by the common names narrowleaf milkweed and Mexican whorled milkweed. It is a perennial herb that grows in a variety of habitats.

<i>Asclepias speciosa</i> Species of flowering plant

Asclepias speciosa is a milky-sapped perennial plant in the dogbane family (Apocynaceae), known commonly as the showy milkweed and is found in the western half of North America.

<i>Asclepias quadrifolia</i> Species of flowering plant

Asclepias quadrifolia, commonly called four-leaved milkweed or fourleaf milkweed, is a species of milkweed in the Apocynaceae (dogbane) family. It is sometimes referred to as whorled milkweed, but it should not be confused with Asclepias verticillata. A. quadrifolia occurs in the eastern United States and Canada.

<i>Asclepias lanceolata</i> Species of plant

Asclepias lanceolata, the fewflower milkweed, is a species of milkweed that is native to the coastal plain of the United States from New Jersey to Florida and Southeast Texas. A. lanceolata is an upright, perennial plant that can grow between 3 and 5 feet tall, with red-orange flowers blooming in the summer months. It can also be referred to as Cedar Hill milkweed, as it was first described by Dr. Eli Ives in the neighborhood of Cedar Hill in New Haven, Connecticut.

This is a list of plants and how they are used in Zuni culture.

<i>Asclepias viridiflora</i> Species of plant

Asclepias viridiflora, is commonly known as green comet milkweed, green-flower milkweed, and green milkweed. It is a widely distributed species of milkweed (Asclepias), known from much of the eastern and central United States from Connecticut to Georgia to Arizona to Montana, as well as southern Canada and northern Mexico. The Latin specific epithet viridiflora means green-flowered.

<i>Asclepias involucrata</i> Species of plant

Asclepias involucrata, synonym Asclepias macrosperma, is a perennial plant in the family Apocynaceae native from the west and south central United States to north Mexico. In the southwestern United States, it is found in the Colorado Plateau and Canyonlands region.

Asclepias connivens is a species of milkweed, commonly called Baldwin's milkweed or the largeflower milkweed. It is an obligate wetland species, native to the southeastern United States.

<i>Asclepias stenophylla</i> Species of plant

Asclepias stenophylla is a species of flowering plant in the dogbane family (Apocynaceae) commonly called slimleaf milkweed and narrow-leaved green milkweed.

<i>Asclepias angustifolia</i> Species of plant

Asclepias angustifolia, commonly called the Arizona milkweed, is an endemic species of milkweed native only to Arizona.

<i>Asclepias perennis</i> Species of plant

Asclepias perennis, also known as aquatic milkweed or white swamp milkweed, is a North American species of milkweed that is found throughout the Coastal Plain from eastern Texas to southern South Carolina, northward along the Mississippi River, and into the Ohio Valley of Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky. There seems to be a few disjunct populations in Arkansas, Texas, and Indiana.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Spellenberg, Richard (2001) [1979]. National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers: Western Region (rev ed.). Knopf. pp. 348–349. ISBN   978-0-375-40233-3.
  2. "Plants Profile for Asclepias subverticillata (horsetail milkweed)". plants.usda.gov. Retrieved 2019-10-26.
  3. Stevenson, Matilda Coxe 1915 Ethnobotany of the Zuni Indians. SI-BAE Annual Report #30 p.65
  4. Stevenson p.77
  5. Stevenson p.85