Whorled Milkweed

Asclepias verticillata

Found in glades, barrens and outcrops on limestone; glades, barrens and outcrops on mafic or serpentine rock; prairies and grasslands; forests and woodlands; sandhills; pine flatwoods; roadsides, fields and disturbed ground. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you

Strong

Native to Alabama. How scores work Is it native here?

Profile 94%

Height: 1–2.5 feet
Spread: 1–2 feet
Light: Full sun, Partial shade
Soil moisture: Somewhat dry to moist

Space about 1.5 ft apart from its recorded spread, about 44 per 100 sq ft. Enter your bed size for a count

Will it fit your yard?

Asclepias verticillata — bloom photograph — George F Mayfield · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Original photograph

At a glance

Life cycle: Perennial
Bloom: July to September

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Not yet recorded · Leaves

Recorded in 48 Alabama counties.

Natural habitats

Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

1 of 7

Limestone cedar glade. Shown: Cedar Glade Number 5, Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, Catoosa County, Georgia, a neighboring state.Cedar Glade Number 5, Chickamauga and Chattanooga NMP, Catoosa County, Alan M. Cressler / U.S. Geological Survey, undated. Public domain. Source record.

Limestone prairie. Shown: Grand Prairie, Coosa Valley Prairies, Floyd County, Georgia, a neighboring state.Grand Prairie, Coosa Valley Prairies, Floyd County, Alan M. Cressler / U.S. Geological Survey, undated. Public domain. Source record.

Named place / source context. Shown: Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, Georgia, a neighboring state.Trail on Little Kennesaw Mountain., Unidentified in HFC record, undated. Public domain. Source record.

Glades, barrens and outcrops on mafic or serpentine rock

Open, thin-soil openings, outcrops and cliffs on dark, magnesium- or iron-rich rock such as serpentine, diabase or gabbro.

Sandhills

Dry, deep-sand ridges with longleaf pine and turkey oak, kept open by fire.

Pine flatwoods

Flat, sandy Coastal Plain pine woodlands, wetter than sandhills and denser than savannas.

Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground

Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.

All habitats

Ecological relationships

Who uses this plant?

What these records mean

13CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including AL

Genus host records with ranges including AL · Asclepias

Danaus plexippusMonarch
Agathodes monstralisSky-Pointing Moth
Cycnia collarisUnexpected Cycnia
Cycnia teneraDelicate Cycnia, Dogbane Tiger Moth
Danaus gilippusQueen
Euchaetes egleMilkweed Tussock Moth or Milkweed Tiger Moth
Hyalophora cecropiaCecropia Silkmoth, Cecropia Moth
Papaipema nebrisStalk Borer
Platynota flavedanaBlack-Shaded Platynota
Pyrrharctia isabellaIsabella Tiger Moth, Banded Woolybear

Show all 13

Spodoptera frugiperdaFall Armyworm Moth
Strymon melinusGray Hairstreak
Pygarctia eglenensis

Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)

59BeesSoutheastern regional records

Southeastern regional records · Asclepias

Individual names are not available yet.

Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0

0Specialist beesPollen specialists

1BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim

Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Asclepias

Ortalis vetulaPlain Chachalaca

Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)

Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening

1AntsRecorded seed interactions

Formica rufibarbis

Beetles 2

Trichius piger
Typocerus sinuatus