Whitestem Milkweed
Asclepias albicans S. Watson
The tallest milkweed in North America: chalk-white, essentially leafless stems rising to ten feet from rocky desert slopes in the Sonoran Desert, tipped with clusters of cream flowers in late winter.
Also called White-stemmed Milkweed, Wax Milkweed.
- Height
- 3 ft–10 ft
- Spread
- 2 ft–4 ft
- Flowers
- cream, white
- Bloom
- January to May and November to December
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil moisture
- Dry
- USDA zones
- 9–11
- Leaves
- Opposite, threadlike
- Sap
- Milky latex
- Roots
- Deep taproot, resents transplanting
- Stratification
- 30 days cold-moist
- Range
- 3 states
When it flowers
Whitestem Milkweed blooms January to May and November to December, peaking in February and March and April.
How to identify it
- Very tall, wand-like, waxy white stems in a clump.
- Leaves tiny and quickly deciduous, so the plant looks leafless.
- Blooms in winter and early spring, unusually for the genus.
Ecology and wildlife value
A winter-flowering desert nectar source of real value when almost nothing else is in bloom.
Growing whitestem milkweed
A dramatic specimen for frost-free desert gardens; needs rocky drainage and full exposure.
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 whitestem milkweed grows
Recorded in 3 states: Arizona, California, Nevada.
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 21135-2. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Accepted name, authorship and global distribution.
- GBIF 3170348. Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Aggregated occurrence records.
- iNaturalist 62299. 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
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Milkweed USA. (2026). Whitestem Milkweed (Asclepias albicans). Retrieved DATE, from https://milkweedusa.com/species/whitestem-milkweed/
"Whitestem Milkweed (Asclepias albicans)." Milkweed USA, 2026, https://milkweedusa.com/species/whitestem-milkweed/. Accessed DATE.
Milkweed USA. "Whitestem Milkweed (Asclepias albicans)." Last modified 2026-08-01. Accessed DATE. https://milkweedusa.com/species/whitestem-milkweed/.
@misc{milkweedusa_specieswhitestemmilkweed,
title = {Whitestem Milkweed (Asclepias albicans)},
author = {{Milkweed USA}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://milkweedusa.com/species/whitestem-milkweed/},
note = {Accessed DATE}
}