Asclepias albicans is a species of milkweed known by the common names whitestem milkweed and wax milkweed. It is native to the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts of California, Arizona, and Baja California. This is a spindly erect shrub usually growing 1 to 3 m tall, but known to approach 4 meters. The sticklike branches are mostly naked, the younger ones coated in a waxy residue and a thin layer of woolly hairs. The leaves are ephemeral, growing in whorls of three on the lower branches and falling off after a short time. They are linear in shape and up to 3 cm long. The inflorescence is an umbel about 5 cm wide which appears at the tips of the long branches and sprouting from the sides at nodes. The inflorescence contains many purple-tinted greenish flowers, each about 1.5 cm wide, with a central array of bulbous hoods, and corollas reflexed back against the stalk. The plant usually blooms from March to May. The fruit is a large, long, thick follicle which dangles in bunches from the branch nodes. The similar A. subulata is found in similar regions.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Compounds documented for Asclepias albicans across natural-product and food-composition databases — not just the ~150 nutrients on a classic label ("nutritional dark matter").
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Asclepias albicans has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens8
Marker genes5
GenBank sequences4
eDNA detections5
Countries1
The DNA barcodea real sequence read deposited for this species
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
★matK★rbcL2★rbcLa★ITS2★ITS2
plant barcodefungal barcode
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type1 638 records
Wild obs. + sensor1 072
Museum / vouchered522
Other44
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO2 548 km²
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy91% within 1 km
≤100 m 442≤1 km 61≤10 km 27>10 km 24
554 georeferenced · 518 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor1 072
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy74% within 1 km
≤100 m 135≤1 km 37≤10 km 50>10 km 9
231 georeferenced · 291 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence522
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions46 of 61 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
San Diego, US
114
Riverside, US
61
Claremont, US
42
ASUlocation not on record
31
Phoenix, US
29
Mexico City, MX
18
La Paz, MX
16
CASlocation not on record
15
Mexico City, MX
13
Flagstaff, US
12
The University of Arizonalocation not on record
11
Ensenada, MX
10
Austin, US
8
Arizona State University Biocollectionslocation not on record
7
Saint Louis, US
7
Arcata, US
7
Bronx, US
6
Davis, US
5
Arizona Western Collegelocation not on record
5
EL PASO, US
5
Severin-McDaniel Insect Collectionlocation not on record
4
Wuzhou, CN
4
San Jose, US
4
Durango, MX
4
Canadian Department of Agriculturelocation not on record
4
Chicago, US
4
Pullman, US
4
Philadelphia, US
3
St. Paul, US
3
Logan, US
3
Santa Barbara, US
3
Henderson, US
3
Los Angeles, US
3
Tampa, US
2
San Juan College School of Science Math & Engineeringlocation not on record
2
Denver, US
2
US
2
Provo, US
2
Oklahoma State Universitylocation not on record
2
DOI/NPS, Little Rock Central High School National Historic Sitelocation not on record
2
Columbia, US
1
San Luis Obispo, US
1
Moscow, US
1
Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record
1
Austin, US
1
Dekalb, US
1
Boise, US
1
San Jose State University, Museum of Birds and Mammalslocation not on record
1
University of Stellenboschlocation not on record
1
Pocatello, US
1
Angwin, US
1
DOI/NPS, Colonial National Historical Parklocation not on record
1
Long Beach, US
1
Calabar, NG
1
San Diego Natural History Museum, Herbariumlocation not on record
1
Northridge, US
1
Hermosillo, MX
1
Irvine, US
1
Madison, US
1
Juriquilla, MX
1
Fort Worth, US
1
61 institutions · 503 of 522 vouchered records shown · 19 without an institution code
09Environmental DNA5 detections
Where the DNA of Asclepias albicans was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Detections DNA found5
Studies independent surveys1
Countries1
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 5 detections have coordinates
Open the map1 country0
Sparse Creosote Bush scrub on sandy outwash;…
How strong is each trace?
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
Modelled climatemodelled
−15°Ctemperature across detection sites+40°C
Temperature median15.4 °C 15.4–15.4
Seasonal swing summer↔winter17.5 °C
Max temp (day)21.9 °C
Min temp (night)9.40 °C
Precipitation40.9 mm/mo
Air humidity50.1 %
Moisture balance-87.0 mm/mo
Vapour deficit878 Pa
Wind speed2.60 m/s
Cloud cover34.5 %
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 1 detection point · median with p10–p90 · reflects where sampling happened, not only the true niche
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation4 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility1 638 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI5 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics8 specimens↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinesequences↗
LOTUSNatural Products (Wikidata)compounds↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗