Dwarf Milkweed
Asclepias involucrata Engelm. ex Torr.
A tiny, ground-hugging desert milkweed with wavy narrow leaves and pale green flowers held almost at soil level, found on sand and gravel across the Southwest.
Also called Involucrate Milkweed.
- Height
- 4 in–10 in
- Spread
- 10 in–1.7 ft
- Flowers
- green, cream
- Bloom
- April to June
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil moisture
- Dry
- USDA zones
- 5–9
- Leaves
- Opposite, narrow
- Sap
- Milky latex
- Roots
- Deep taproot, resents transplanting
- Stratification
- 60 days cold-moist
- Range
- 8 states
When it flowers
Dwarf Milkweed blooms April to June, peaking in May.
How to identify it
- Under a foot tall, with stems spreading flat from a central crown.
- Leaf margins conspicuously wavy or crisped.
- Flowers greenish-cream in clusters nestled among the leaves.
Ecology and wildlife value
A minor but genuine early-season host in desert grassland.
Growing dwarf milkweed
Effectively never cultivated.
Seed needs about 60 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 dwarf milkweed grows
Recorded in 8 states: Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah.
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 94357-1. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Accepted name, authorship and global distribution.
- GBIF 3170243. Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Aggregated occurrence records.
- iNaturalist 158743. 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). Dwarf Milkweed (Asclepias involucrata). Retrieved DATE, from https://milkweedusa.com/species/dwarf-milkweed/
"Dwarf Milkweed (Asclepias involucrata)." Milkweed USA, 2026, https://milkweedusa.com/species/dwarf-milkweed/. Accessed DATE.
Milkweed USA. "Dwarf Milkweed (Asclepias involucrata)." Last modified 2026-08-01. Accessed DATE. https://milkweedusa.com/species/dwarf-milkweed/.
@misc{milkweedusa_speciesdwarfmilkweed,
title = {Dwarf Milkweed (Asclepias involucrata)},
author = {{Milkweed USA}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://milkweedusa.com/species/dwarf-milkweed/},
note = {Accessed DATE}
}