Semi-desert, foothills. Woodlands, openings, washes. Spring.
Canyonlands National Park, Confluence Trail, May 20, 2004.

This Milkweed, one of about a dozen species in our area and 120 species in the Western Hemisphere, is found in Pinyon-Juniper forests in sandy washes and gravelly and rocky scattered openings and in open Ponderosa woods.  In Canyonlands National Park it is almost always found just a few inches up the bank from sandy wash bottoms.  Its airy open network of narrow leaves topped by a very large spherical flower cluster make it easy to identify -- even from a distance.

Linnaeus named this genus in 1753.  "Asclepias" was a legendary Greek physician and the Greek god of medicine and "asperula" is Latin for 'rough".

Semi-desert, foothills. Woodlands, openings, washes. Spring.
Canyonlands National Park, Confluence Trail, May 20, 2004.

Semi-desert, foothills. Woodlands, openings, washes. Spring.
Canyonlands National Park, Confluence Trail, May 20, 2004.