Asclepias subulata
species of plant
Asclepias subulata is a species of milkweed known commonly as the rush milkweed, desert milkweed or ajamete. This is an erect perennial herb which loses its leaves early in the season and stands as a cluster of naked stalks. Atop the stems are inflorescences of distinctive flowers. Each cream-white flower has a reflexed corolla that reveals the inner parts, a network of five shiny columns, each topped with a tiny hook. The fruit is a pouchlike follicle that contains many flat, oval seeds with long, silky hairlike plumes. This milkweed is native to the desert southwest of the United States and northern Mexico. It grows in dry slopes, mesas, plains and desert washes.
Researchers in Bard, California, tested the plant as a potential source of natural rubber in 1935.
Asclepias subulata is a larval host for the monarch butterfly and the queen butterfly.
The public source identifies “Asclepias subulata” as species of plant. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Asclepias, subulata and species.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 21, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q292359. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1935.
Current terminology should not be projected backward without checking the classification used when the underlying evidence was created. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Asclepias subulata” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.