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Asclepias viridis
Also called Antelope Horns, Green Antelope Horn, Green Milkweed, Spider Milkweed, Green Antelopehorns
Green antelopehorn is a native North American milkweed with a taproot, green-white umbels of flowers, and value as a monarch butterfly host plant. It is difficult to cultivate and does not grow well in containers, so grow it in open ground in a sunny spot.
Asclepias viridis is a species of milkweed, a plant in the dogbane family known by the common names green milkweed, green antelopehorn and spider milkweed. The Latin word viridis means green. The plant is native to the midwestern, south central and southeastern United States, as well as to the southeastern portion of the western United States.
A. viridis is a perennial forb with alternately arranged leaves. The inflorescence is an umbel of white flowers with purplish centers. Its root system is a taproot, like that of butterfly weed (A. tuberosa).
The plant is difficult to cultivate and does not grow well in containers. The seeds of some milkweeds need periods of cold treatment (cold stratification) before they will germinate. To protect seeds from washing away during heavy rains and from seed–eating birds, one can cover the seeds with a light fabric or with an 0.5 in (13 mm) layer of straw mulch. However, mulch acts as an insulator. Thicker layers of mulch can prevent seeds from germinating if they prevent soil temperatures from rising enough when winter ends. Further, few seedlings can push through a thick layer of mulch.
Like some other milkweed species, A. viridis is a host plant for the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus). It is one of the most important host plants in the southern United States for the generation of monarch butterflies that develop from eggs that monarchs have laid after spending the winter in Mexico.
Cartwheels · Cartwheels · Whitestem milkweed · Asclepias alpestris · Asclepias amabilis · Asclepias ameliae · Clasping milkweed · Arizona milkweed · Asclepias apocynifolia · Sand milkweed · Spider milkweed · Asclepias atroviolacea
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Asclepias viridis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
