Asclepias fascicularis
Narrowleaf milkweed or Mexican whorled milkweed is a flowering perennial sending up many thin, erect stems and bearing distinctive long pointed leaves which are very narrow and often whorled about the stem, giving the plant its common names. It blooms in clusters of lavender or lavender-tinted white flowers which have five reflexed lobes that extend down away from the blossom. The fruits are smooth milkweed pods which split open to spill seeds along with plentiful silky hairs. This plant is common in the western United States and has the potential to become weedy.
Milkweeds in general are the larval host plants for Monarch butterflies, and this species is probably the single most important host plant for Monarch butterflies in California. Milkweed gardeners should be prepared for the plant to be eaten by Monarch caterpillars, but will be rewarded by the presence of beautiful Monarch Butterflies. The plant is deciduous in winter and will sometimes die back to the ground before reviving in the Spring, and is often covered with aphids, so often best to plant in less prominent spots in a garden.
It’s very easy to grow in soils with with good drainage, even with no summer water.