Need info on this plant
- Thread starter Megatron's Mom
- Start date
Wow, It seems to be a native food for Monarch butterflies and a milk weed relative.
It can be toxic to mammals, that doesn't tell us anything about reptiles though. It tastes pretty bad so not interesting to most animals.
Monarchs are so threatened these days, I'd struggle with removing a native food source. My Russian tasted our milkweed briefly when she crashed our place and has avoided it since. Maybe you could at least check to see if Bumblebee finds it interesting before yanking it all out?
Disclaimer. I am typing this sitting next the screened milkweed "cage" we stick our teenage Monarch caterpillars into, in the hope of increasing the number that make it to the chrysalis stage. We had two successful transformations this morning! Naturally occurring food sources are increasingly few for these guys, as well as many other butterflies; we'd cage our Milkweed off rather than remove it. You might not have the option with a vine. :/
It can be toxic to mammals, that doesn't tell us anything about reptiles though. It tastes pretty bad so not interesting to most animals.
Monarchs are so threatened these days, I'd struggle with removing a native food source. My Russian tasted our milkweed briefly when she crashed our place and has avoided it since. Maybe you could at least check to see if Bumblebee finds it interesting before yanking it all out?
Disclaimer. I am typing this sitting next the screened milkweed "cage" we stick our teenage Monarch caterpillars into, in the hope of increasing the number that make it to the chrysalis stage. We had two successful transformations this morning! Naturally occurring food sources are increasingly few for these guys, as well as many other butterflies; we'd cage our Milkweed off rather than remove it. You might not have the option with a vine. :/
Megatron's Mom
Well-Known Member
I'm going to Google this more. When I looked it up it didn't say anything about it being food for Monarchs. I will definitely be making sure.
I don't know it would have jumped out at me if I were not purchasing new milkweed plants every Saturday.
Honeyvine seems like a name that could be applied to multiple plants so you might find out something entirely different when you search further.
