Most folks associate monarch (Danaus plexippus) and queen (Danaus gilippus) butterflies with milkweeds.Florida is home to 21 native milkweeds, Asclepias sp. and one weedy, non-native, tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica). Like milkweed, white twinevine (Funastrum clausum) is a member of the…
Category: butterfly larval plant
Great Southern White
As a few of us lingered at the end of our walk at Coastal Oaks Preserve, a somewhat tattered great southern white butterfly (Ascia monuste) was sipping nectar from two nearby native plants, oakleaf fleabane (Erigeron quercifoliius) ... ... and…
Orange Julia
When the Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory began its Volunteer Nature Stewardship Program for the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area (ORCA) in 1998, julia butterflies (Dryas iulia) did not range as far north as Indian River County. The first sighting at ORCA…
White Twinevine: Butterfly Food
White twinevine (Funastrum clausum) grows in moist places including the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area, Captain Forster Preserve, and Toni Robinson Waterfront Trail. This fast-growing twining and clambering perennial vine is now available at some native plant nurseries mostly because it…