This distinctive milkweed has sprawling stems to 10-inches tall with leaves that are folded, twisted, and wavy-margined. Note the dense clusters of creamy-yellow flowers from the stem tips.

FLOWER: May–June. Rounded clusters on stem tips; flowers with yellowish, petal-like lobes folded back against the stem, tips spreading, open hoods slightly taller than the central column; the narrow, pointed horns arch toward the column. Fruit long, slender, erect pods to 2 3/8-inches long (6 cm) that split open to release a mass of flat seeds attached to silky hairs.

LEAVES: Nearly opposite to irregularly alternate, stemless or on short stems (petioles). Blades oval to lance-shaped, 3/8–2 3/8-inches long (1–6 cm), folded along midrib; margins wavy with woolly, curly hairs, upper surface hairless, lower surface sparsely hairy to densely woolly-hairy.

HABITAT: Sandy, gravelly soils, arroyos, dunes, dry plains; desert scrub and grasslands, pinyon-juniper, pine-oak woodlands.

ELEVATION: 4,260-7,300 feet.

RANGE: AZ, CO, KS, MN, OK, TX, UT.

SIMILAR SPECIES: The short, sprawling stems, wavy, hairy-margined leaves, and rounded flower clusters on the stem tips distinguish this species from the 32 species of Asclepias in NM.

NM COUNTIES: Nearly statewide in low- to mid-elevation dry habitats.