Stems are erect, branching, reddish-brown, tough-fibrous. Plants reach 1–5 feet tall with shiny, oval, light-green leaves and clusters of small white flowers. Note the slightly spreading petals on the fragrant, white, bell-shaped flowers, ascending (not drooping) leaves, and milky sap. The flowers are magnets for bees, butterflies, flies, and beetles.

FLOWER: May–September. Loose clusters grow from branch tips and leaf axils; white to greenish flowers are bell shaped with 5 erect to slightly spreading petals, each 1/8 inch long (3 mm). Fruit is a 4–8 inch long (1–40 cm) slender, cylindrical pod.

LEAVES: Opposite, spreading to ascending. Blades oval to elliptic, 2–4 1/2 inches long (5–11.4 cm), top surface smooth, edges smooth, tip with a spiny point, veins prominent.

HABITAT: Gravelly, sandy soils, riparian areas, forest openings, roadsides, disturbed areas: cottonwood-willow, pinyon–juniper woodlands.

ELEVATION: 3,500–7,500 feet.

RANGE: Widespread in every state; Canada.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Spreading Dogbane, A. androsaemifolium, has flowers with white, pink-striped petals that curl backwards, drooping (not ascending) leaves, and occurs at mid- to high elevations.

NM COUNTIES: Widespread and common in NM foothills in mid-elevation habitats: nearly statewide (not reported in Cibola, Lea, Luna, Quay cos.)