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Host trees for zebra swallowtail1/23/2024 The butterflies are black and white vertically-striped with proportionally the longest tails of the swallowtail clan. I rarely see the shy, night-feeding caterpillars, but the chewed leaves and adults in mid-spring and again in July are clear proof. It’s a simple rule: no Pawpaws, no Zebras. And, Pawpaws are the obligate host of that most tropical-looking member of the swallowtail butterfly family, the elegant Zebra Swallowtail, Eurytides marcellus. The mango-size fruits continue the tropical connection with texture reminiscent of papaya and a flavor like banana. Indeed, the rest of its relatives, the Annonaceae, Custard Tree family, live in the tropics. This small tree demonstrates its tropical heritage with large glossy leaves and dramatic purple flowers. Amazingly, there is a native Kansan that can join in the tropical romp, Asimina triloba, the Pawpaw tree. My zone six heart longs for the heat of the tropical twelve so I create my “Tropics of Kansas” each summer with Cannas, Caladiums, and Castor Beans. Zone envy is a common affliction among northern gardeners. NABA member Lenora Larson has graciously allowed us to reprint it here. It originally appeared in Vol 13: No.1, Spring 2008. They like low growing wildflowers for their nectar sources.The following article originally appeared in Butterfly Gardener, a NABA publication for members. Canada toadflax (Linaria canadensis) comes up in various places on my property and if I don’t mow it until the summer I can always find buckeyes in abundance. Spermolepis divaricata (roughfruit scaleseed)Ī medium sized butterfly with blue and black eyespots with an orange border. Sanicula canadensis (Canadian blacksnakeroot) Ptilimnium capillaceum (mock Bishop’s weed) Lilaeopsis carolinensis (Carolina grasswort) If you start growing some of the native perennials they use as host plants you won’t have to keep going to the big box store to buy more dill to feed the caterpillars!Ī black swallowtail’s native host plants are in the ApiaceaeĬhaerophyllum tainturieri (hairyfruit chervil)Ĭryptotaenia canadensis (Canadian honewort)Įryngium yuccifolium (button rattlesnakemaster) Orthosia scoparia (leafless swallow-wort)Ī dark swallowtail that loves the herb garden because it uses dill & fennel as host plants. Matelea floridana (Florida milkvine) ✤ 20 Pre-treated Seeds The plants in this family that occur naturally in central Florida are:Īsclepias amplexicaulis (clasping milkweed)Īsclepias connivens (large flower milkweed)Īsclepias humistrata (pinewoods milkweed)Īsclepias lanceolata (few-flower milkweed)Īsclepias longifolia (long-leaf milkweed)Īsclepias pedicellata (savannah milkweed)Īsclepias tomentosa (velvet-leaf milkweed)Īsclepias verticillata (whorled milkweed)Ĭynanchum northropiae (fragrant swallow-wort) Locate plants in as many areas as possible in order to spread out their food source and have enough to provide for hungry caterpillars.Ī monarch’s native host plants are in the Apocynaceae If you plant milkweed, their host plants, the females will lay their eggs on it, and devour it so plant as much as you can. Monarch butterflies are beautiful, majestic, flyers.
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