Round clusters of creamy flowers tip the stems of this 8–24 inch tall (20–61 cm), clump-forming to spreading plant with milky sap. Note the slender leaves, the smooth seed pods, and the erect to spreading (not curled back) petal-like lobes at the base of each flower.

FLOWERS: March–October. Greenish-creamy flowers in round clusters (umbels) 2–3 inches (5–7.6 cm) diameter; 5 erect, petal-like lobes cup around 5 arching reddish to greenish hoods that surround the anther column; no horns present. The slender, smooth (no pointed bumps), horn-shaped seed pods, 2–5-inches long (5–13 cm), with S-shaped stems give the plant its name; dry pods split open to release a mass of flat seeds attached to fluffy hairs.

LEAVES: Irregularly alternate, clustered, blades narrow, lance-shaped, 2–7 1/2-inches (5–19 cm) long, 1/4–1-inch (6–27 mm) wide, often folded lengthwise along midrib. The leaves contain a high concentration of cardiac glycosides, which Monarch butterfly caterpillars concentrate to protect the adult butterfly from bird predators.

HABITAT: Sandy, gravelly, loam soils, roadsides; desert grasslands and scrub, pinion-juniper, pine-oak woodlands.

ELEVATION: 4,500–8,200 feet.

RANGE: AZ, CA, CO, ID, KS, NE, NV, NM, OK, TX, UT.

SIMILAR SPECIES: The erect to spreading (not folded backwards) petals, reddish hoods with no horns, smooth pods, and slender leaves help separate this milkweed from the 32 species of Asclepias in NM.

NM COUNTIES: Low- to mid-elevation, dry habitats: statewide (except Chaves, De Baca, Guadalupe, Lea, Roosevelt).