# Milkweed question



## Galapoheros (Jun 7, 2019)

Does anybody here have an idea of an average lifespan, specifically, Asclepias asperula.  I have a few in my yard and I collected seeds.   I couldn't find the answer on the internet, maybe I didn't look hard enough.  I found one answer to that question, "It's a perennial."  It looked like a dodge to me, they didn't know.  I know it's a perennial, I want to know how long the plant may live, roots and all until the whole thing gives up the ghost.  I think it's an interesting plant and I want to see more caterpillars so I'm going to grow several if it works out.


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## The Snark (Jun 7, 2019)

3 years to maturity - flowering. I get the feeling it's extremely variable. Here's a place to start research: https://plants.usda.gov/java/reference?symbol=ASAS

You might have more luck checking cattle ranchers web sites. They keep a pretty extensive database on what they call nuisance plants.


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## schmiggle (Jun 7, 2019)

Galapoheros said:


> It looked like a dodge to me, they didn't know


LOL this is extremely common. What you really want to know is "how long to maturity, and how long until it dies?" There's a big difference between a venus flytrap, which takes about eight years to fully mature and start dividing, and a tomato, which dies after three four years.


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## Galapoheros (Jun 7, 2019)

schmiggle said:


> LOL this is extremely common. What you really want to know is "how long to maturity, and how long until it dies?" There's a big difference between a venus flytrap, which takes about eight years to fully mature and start dividing, and a tomato, which dies after three four years.


I simply want to know how long the average lifespan is, from germination to when the plant completely dies.  Kind of strange to me that I have a hard time finding that info on the internet.  One of my fav range plants right now is Silphium albiflorum aka, White Rosin weed.  It's in the sunflower family, what I thought was pretty cool is that there is info that says they can live 100 years, never would've thunk it, don't know if it's true or not.  I have some of those I germinated in the yard.


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## schmiggle (Jun 7, 2019)

Galapoheros said:


> I simply want to know how long the average lifespan is, from germination to when the plant completely dies.  Kind of strange to me that I have a hard time finding that info on the internet.  One of my fav range plants right now is Silphium albiflorum aka, White Rosin weed.  It's in the sunflower family, what I thought was pretty cool is that there is info that says they can live 100 years, never would've thunk it, don't know if it's true or not.  I have some of those I germinated in the yard.


The truth is many of those can go indefinitely, because they clonally propagate.

Reactions: Informative 1


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## Galapoheros (Jun 7, 2019)

schmiggle said:


> The truth is many of those can go indefinitely, because they clonally propagate.


You'd think somebody else would have said that on the internet, guess this will pop up in internet searches now.  Then I ask, "Well what stops them from living in the wild, disease, severe drought?"


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## schmiggle (Jun 7, 2019)

Galapoheros said:


> Then I ask, "Well what stops them from living in the wild, disease, severe drought?"


Yes and yes. Since the whole colony is genetically identical (likely with exceptions past a certain size I can get into if you want), I would bet it collapses pretty quickly when something it can't handle comes along.


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## The Snark (Jun 7, 2019)

Galapoheros said:


> "Well what stops them from living in the wild, disease, severe drought?"


We have a bamboo clump in our back yard meeting that demise now. @schmiggle Is rooting propagation a form of cloning? Anyway, the entire clump is diseased and on it's way out from a fungus. Happens quite often with bamboo which is nice since nothing else on the planet can stop them besides a backhoe.

I just can't remember. A club or garden organization approached I think LA County arboretum, Santa Anita. They cooperatively put in a butterfly garden. The club had very extensive documentation of the various plants that attract them. That's where I learned asperula took three years to mature. There must be other butterfly fanciers out there with the info on these plants.


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## Galapoheros (Jun 7, 2019)

The Snark said:


> We have a bamboo clump in our back yard meeting that demise now. @schmiggle Is rooting propagation a form of cloning? Anyway, the entire clump is diseased and on it's way out from a fungus. Happens quite often with bamboo which is nice since nothing else on the planet can stop them besides a backhoe.
> 
> I just can't remember. A club or garden organization approached I think LA County arboretum, Santa Anita. They cooperatively put in a butterfly garden. The club had very extensive documentation of the various plants that attract them. That's where I learned asperula took three years to mature. There must be other butterfly fanciers out there with the info on these plants.


I used to be interested in bamboo, I remember reading, depending on the species, the whole plants seeds and dies after some years.  One I was interested in seemed to be at around 50 years.


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## The Snark (Jun 7, 2019)

Galapoheros said:


> I used to be interested in bamboo, I remember reading, depending on the species, the whole plants seeds and dies after some years. One I was interested in seemed to be at around 50 years.


I think you nailed the local green stripe die offs. Entire clumps are dying alongside the river. Just too much for coincidence. I'll bet when they put the dam in and corralled the river into it's present banks and course up until now would give a pretty accurate life span of them. Opportunity propagation from a stabilized river bank with weirs. At a guess, ~30-40 years. Before the dam the land our property is on was a foot under water for a few weeks every year.


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## schmiggle (Jun 7, 2019)

The Snark said:


> Is rooting propagation a form of cloning?


Yes. Any thing that originates from the somatic line, i.e. anything not from pollen or ovaries, is cloning.


Galapoheros said:


> I used to be interested in bamboo, I remember reading, depending on the species, the whole plants seeds and dies after some years.  One I was interested in seemed to be at around 50 years.





The Snark said:


> I think you nailed the local green stripe die offs. Entire clumps are dying alongside the river. Just too much for coincidence. I'll bet when they put the dam in and corralled the river into it's present banks and course up until now would give a pretty accurate life span of them. Opportunity propagation from a stabilized river bank with weirs. At a guess, ~30-40 years. Before the dam the land our property is on was a foot under water for a few weeks every year.


Many bamboo species reproduce just once. It's a pretty common strategy in a variety of plant groups, whenever the plant can't get big enough to flower in one or two seasons but still invests all it's energy in one big flowering and fruiting. Flowerings can be spectacular, and I think it allows plants to overwhelm seed mortality.

Reactions: Informative 1


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## The Snark (Jun 7, 2019)

schmiggle said:


> Many bamboo species reproduce just once. It's a pretty common strategy in a variety of plant groups, whenever the plant can't get big enough to flower in one or two seasons but still invests all it's energy in one big flowering and fruiting. Flowerings can be spectacular, and I think it allows plants to overwhelm seed mortality.


I've been wondering about this. Also wondering how they work it all out. Deep botanical science. One plant is a one shot deal, the next goes off once every 10 or 50 years. Some flower every year but rely on root propagation. Plants are so much more complex than most people realize.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## schmiggle (Jun 8, 2019)

The Snark said:


> Plants are so much more complex than most people realize.


That's for sure. Just like most things lol.


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## The Snark (Jun 8, 2019)

I just put in a request for Asclepias asperula info to aggravation central. A man I grew up with my brother still keeps up with. Always struck me as being one foot in dementia guy, green thumb to the max, worked 20 years at an LA County arboretum then another 20 at a private estate as the plant curator. Like prying limpets off a rock with your tongue to get information out of, getting him on the same planet, but with one small benefit worth the effort. He has amassed a huge library on botany. Essentially anything and everything about common plants grown in the western hemisphere today. With a little luck and a tail wind we might find out the longevity of that plant before we all become senile. Cross fingers.

Reactions: Like 1


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