Send some warm thoughts to Cliff aka The Marmot@Flickr, since he's shared this photograph (original image) with us via the Flickr BPotD Group Pool. Cliff's organized a Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden Flickr set, if you're interested in seeing other images from RSABG. Thanks Cliff!

Calflora.net points out that fascicularis means bundled, referring to the attachment of leaves to the stem. Cliff's photograph gives a sense of this, though it is perhaps more clear in the series of photographs accompanying Burke Museum's page on Asclepias fascicularis. If you browse these photographs, you'll note that more than two leaves are attached at each node of the stem, a leaf arrangement termed whorled. This explains one of the common names of this species, Mexican whorled milkweed, though narrow-leaved milkweed is also used.

To learn more about this western US and northwest Mexico native, visit the photo database at Calphotos (Asclepias fascicularis search) or read a description of the plant on Calflora.net's page on narrow-leaved milkweed.

Photography resource link: The Landscapist is “intended to showcase the landscape photography of photographers who have moved beyond the pretty picture and for whom photography is more than entertainment”. Not your typical photo weblog!