Description

The Kotolo milkweed grows in dry areas in California’s coastal mountains from Mendocino County south into Baja. It also occurs in the lower foothills surrounding the Central Valley. It is one of those plants which surrounds the SF Bay Area without being native to it. It generally grows as an open set of upright (sometimes sprawling) stocks with successive whorls of two to four large, fuzzy, gray leaves. In late spring or early summer the dramatic flowers emerge atop the stalks. The flowers are creamy white and may have magenta details which contrast nicely with the predominant silver gray of the plant. They attract a range of pollinators at a time of the year when nectar sources become scarce. In the late fall, kotolo milkweed goes entirely dormant, with no above ground foliage whatsoever. The plant emerges from dormancy in the spring. Kotolo milkweed, like all milkweed, supports the caterpillars of the monarch butterfly.