Clasping Milkweed
Asclepias amplexicaulis Sm.
Unmistakable once you have seen it: wavy-edged blue-green leaves clasping directly around the stem, and a single long bare stalk lifting one rounded cluster of dusty pink-green flowers well clear of the foliage.
Also called Blunt-leaved Milkweed, Sand Milkweed.
- Height
- 1.5 ft–3 ft
- Spread
- 1 ft–2 ft
- Flowers
- pink, green, mauve
- Bloom
- May to July
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil moisture
- Dry
- USDA zones
- 3–9
- Leaves
- Opposite, clasping
- Sap
- Milky latex
- Roots
- Deep taproot, resents transplanting
- Stratification
- 30 days cold-moist
- Range
- 34 states
When it flowers
Clasping Milkweed blooms May to July, peaking in May and June.
How to identify it
- Leaf bases wrap around the stem with no stalk at all.
- Leaf margins are strongly wavy and the surface is smooth and waxy.
- One flower cluster per stem on a long naked peduncle.
- Almost always in dry sand or sandy loam.
Ecology and wildlife value
A sandy-soil specialist of pine barrens, old fields and oak savanna. Blooms early, giving returning monarchs a host before common milkweed is ready.
Growing clasping milkweed
Needs sand and sun; will not tolerate rich, moist beds. Handsome foliage all season.
Seed needs about 30 days of cold-moist stratification. Deep taproot, resents transplanting. See how to plant milkweed seed for the full method.
Cautions
Standard milkweed cautions. More on milkweed toxicity.
Where clasping milkweed grows
Recorded in 34 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin, West Virginia.
Distribution is generalized to state level. For county-level maps see USDA PLANTS and BONAP.
References and further reading
Names, ranges and conservation status here are drawn from the databases below. Where those disagree with a regional flora, trust the flora.
- Plants of the World Online 60445583-2. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Accepted name, authorship and global distribution.
- GBIF 3170332. Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Aggregated occurrence records.
- iNaturalist 47910. Community observations, photographs and phenology.
- Wikipedia. General-audience article on this species.
- BONAP county distribution map. Biota of North America Program. County-level range map.
- NatureServe Explorer. Conservation status ranks at global and state level.
- World Flora Online. Nomenclature and synonymy.
- Woodson, R. E. (1954). The North American species of Asclepias L.. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 41(1): 1–211. The monograph the modern taxonomy of the genus still rests on. View
- Flora of North America Editorial Committee (eds.) (2026). Flora of North America North of Mexico. Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford. Accepted names, keys and descriptions for the North American flora. View
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (2026). Plants of the World Online. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Nomenclature and global distribution, keyed to IPNI name identifiers. View
- Kartesz, J. T. (Biota of North America Program) (2026). North American Plant Atlas. BONAP, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. County-level distribution maps, the basis for the ranges generalized here. View
- USDA, NRCS (2026). The PLANTS Database. National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, North Carolina. State-level distribution, wetland status and nomenclature. View
- Agrawal, A. A. (2017). Monarchs and Milkweed: A Migrating Butterfly, a Poisonous Plant, and Their Remarkable Story of Coevolution. Princeton University Press. The standard general account of the milkweed and monarch relationship. View
Cite this page
This page is licensed CC BY 4.0. Quote it, adapt it and reuse it, including commercially, as long as you credit Milkweed USA and link back.
Milkweed USA. (2026). Clasping Milkweed (Asclepias amplexicaulis). Retrieved DATE, from https://milkweedusa.com/species/clasping-milkweed/
"Clasping Milkweed (Asclepias amplexicaulis)." Milkweed USA, 2026, https://milkweedusa.com/species/clasping-milkweed/. Accessed DATE.
Milkweed USA. "Clasping Milkweed (Asclepias amplexicaulis)." Last modified 2026-08-01. Accessed DATE. https://milkweedusa.com/species/clasping-milkweed/.
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title = {Clasping Milkweed (Asclepias amplexicaulis)},
author = {{Milkweed USA}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://milkweedusa.com/species/clasping-milkweed/},
note = {Accessed DATE}
}