General: Spreading Dogbane (Apocynum androsaemifolium) is a large perennial forb that looks more like a mounded shrub. The stems become red, and the leaves are opposite and about 3 inches long. Flowers are produced in clusters at the end of the stems. The flowers are white, bell shaped, and with reddish streaks inside.

Spreading Dogbane is an uncommon component of mountain vegetation communities in the Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub and Pinyon-Juniper Woodland), and Transition (Yellow Pine Forest), life zones. Around Las Vegas, look for this species up in the mountains, such as on Mt. Charleston in the Spring Mountains and in the Sheep Range in the Desert National Wildlife Range.

Family: Dogbane (Apocynaceae).

Other Names: bitterroot, flytrap dogbane.

Plant Form: Bushy perennial forb.

Height: To a couple of feet high.

Stems: Ascending to erect, diffusely branched, reddish.

Leaves: Blade to about 3 inches, veins prominent; petiole short.

Flowers: Blooms during spring and early summer. Inflorescence: cyme with many flowers. Flowers bell-shaped to about 1/3 inch.

Seeds:

Habitat: Mountains; open woodlands, rocky hillsides.

Elevation: About 600 to 8,000 feet.

Distribution: Throughout the US and Canada.

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