Hello all,

Thank you so much for providing your observations of milkweeds and monarchs in Texas over the past few months. As of today we have surpassed 500 observations, 29 species observed, and 104 participants. Dr. Ben Hutchins (TPWD Invertebrate Biologist), Dr. Walter Holmes (Botanist, Baylor University), and I just published a guide to Identification of Milkweeds (Asclepias, Family Apocynaceae) in Texas. We will have a PDF version of this document uploaded on the Wildlife Diversity Program at Texas Parks and Wildlife web site very soon and I will send out the link as soon as it’s posted.

My family and I were in Kansas last week and common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) was flowering in mesic to wet areas in many prairie hay meadows. If anyone is up around Gene Howe Wildlife Management Area or Marvin Lake in wet swales along the Canadian River in Hemphill County, this would be a great potential place to re-discover common milkweed in Texas.

Keep on iNat’n milkweeds and monarchs!

Best of regards, Jason Singhurst, TPWD-Botanist