Thanks. I was thinking that was what it might be, but it's a good thing, because when I cut it down it will open up the spot I was looking at for my native butterfly garden!

Thank you both very much for the speedy reply! Yes, I got the photo thing wrong--thanks for the tip. I'm not attached in any way to this seedling--in fact, I want to put in some aronia and ilex verticillata back there but didn't want to dig up an irreplaceable plant. No worries on that front, I guess. Thanks again. . . . PJP

Do birds factor in with these kind of seeds? We have a lot of mockingbirds, crows, and scrub jays around. The closest thing I saw was in another backyard about a block away, looked something like this -- I mean it didn't have the standard triangular form. Most of the cone evergreens I see around here are green, yellow green, or dark green. If it IS like the ones I saw, then it would grow too huge for where I was thinking to plant. :-( This post was edited by melle_sacto on Fri, Nov 14, 14 at 13:23

The plants should grow rather easily from seed. Just collect seed pods that are beginning to break open. In AZ there are 30 native species! Here is the list: A. albicans, A. angustifolia, A. asperula, A. brachystephana, A. cryptoceras, A. cutleri, A. englemanniana, A. erosa, A. glaucescens, A. hallii, A. hyperleuca, A. involucrata, (A. latifolia), A. lemmonii, (A. linaria), A. macrotis, A. nummularia, (A. nyctaginifolia), A. oenotheroides, A. quinquedentata, A. rusbyi, A. scaposa, (A. speciosa), (A. subulata), A. subverticillata, (A. tuberosa) ?? , A. uncialis, A. verticillata, A. viridiflora, A. welshii The names in ( ) are not your plant but A. tuberosa looks very close and may be ?? This info is compiled from the USDA and CalPhoto databases. Here is a link that might be useful: USDA database on Asclepias