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Slimpod Milkweed

Asclepias quinquedentata A. Gray

A slight, wiry milkweed of Arizona and New Mexico mountain woodland with very narrow leaves and small cream-green flowers, producing the exceptionally slim pods that give it its name.

Also called Fivetooth Milkweed.

Slimpod Milkweed (Asclepias quinquedentata) in flower, showing cream and green blooms in rounded clusters above opposite narrow leaves. Slimpod Milkweed photographed in Grant County, NM, USA — Andrew Tree · CC BY 4.0 · iNaturalist

Height: 1 ft–2.5 ft
Spread: 8 in–1.3 ft
Flowers: cream, green
Bloom: July to September
Light: Part shade, Full sun
Soil moisture: Dry
USDA zones: 6–9
Leaves: Opposite, narrow
Sap: Milky latex
Roots: Deep taproot, resents transplanting
Stratification: 30 days cold-moist
Range: 2 states

When it flowers

Slimpod Milkweed blooms July to September, peaking in August.

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How to identify it

Very narrow opposite leaves on thin, often leaning stems.
Small cream to greenish flowers in sparse clusters.
Pods notably slender and pencil-thin.

Unfamiliar words are in the glossary, and the identification key will narrow a plant down from what you can see.

Diagram of Slimpod Milkweed showing opposite narrow leaves and cream flower clusters — **Diagnostic plate** Drawn from this species' own characters: **opposite** leaves, **narrow** in shape, a single upright stem, with cream to green umbels. Sap is milky.

The parts that identify it

Pod and seed of Slimpod Milkweed (Asclepias quinquedentata) — **Pod and seed.** Andrew Tree · CC BY 4.0 · iNaturalist

Slimpod Milkweed (Asclepias quinquedentata). Slimpod Milkweed photographed in Sierra Vista Southeast, AZ, USA — Sue Carnahan · CC BY 4.0 · iNaturalist

Slimpod Milkweed (Asclepias quinquedentata). Slimpod Milkweed photographed in San Simon, AZ 85632, USA — botanygirl · CC BY 4.0 · iNaturalist

Slimpod Milkweed (Asclepias quinquedentata). Slimpod Milkweed photographed in Grant County, NM, USA — Andrew Tree · CC BY 4.0 · iNaturalist

Ecology and wildlife value

A minor but genuine monsoon-season host in southwestern mountain woodland.

Monarchs are not the only thing that will find it. Expect large milkweed bugs on ripening pods, oleander aphids on the stems, red milkweed beetles at the flowers and, in late summer, milkweed tussock moths. Everything that lives on milkweed.

Growing slimpod milkweed

Not in cultivation.

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 slimpod milkweed grows

Recorded in 2 states: Arizona, New Mexico.

Map of the United States with the 6 counties where Slimpod Milkweed has been recorded shaded in green — Every county with a USDA PLANTS record: **6 counties** across 2 states. An unshaded county means no record, which is not the same as absence: collection effort is uneven, and a great deal of the country has never been surveyed properly.

County records from USDA PLANTS, public domain. Cross-check against BONAP and your regional flora before making management decisions.

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 94582-1. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Accepted name, authorship and global distribution.
GBIF 3170234. Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Aggregated occurrence records.
iNaturalist 158757. Community observations, photographs and phenology.
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

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APA

Milkweed USA. (2026). Slimpod Milkweed (Asclepias quinquedentata). Retrieved DATE, from https://milkweedusa.com/species/slimpod-milkweed/

MLA

"Slimpod Milkweed (Asclepias quinquedentata)." Milkweed USA, 2026, https://milkweedusa.com/species/slimpod-milkweed/. Accessed DATE.

Chicago

Milkweed USA. "Slimpod Milkweed (Asclepias quinquedentata)." Last modified 2026-08-01. Accessed DATE. https://milkweedusa.com/species/slimpod-milkweed/.

BibTeX

@misc{milkweedusa_speciesslimpodmilkweed,
  title  = {Slimpod Milkweed (Asclepias quinquedentata)},
  author = {{Milkweed USA}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://milkweedusa.com/species/slimpod-milkweed/},
  note   = {Accessed DATE}
}