Photo by Linda Evans
Most butterfliers know that the Bartram's Scrub-Hairstreak is an unusual, scarce butterfly limited to disappearing pinelands in South Florida. Its host plant, Pineland Croton (Croton linearis), often has this small butterfly nectaring on its small, frilly flowers.
Pineland Croton
Photo by Linda Evans
Photo by Linda Evans
The Bartram's also uses nectar plants that are close to its host plant. Several of them can be:
Spanish Needles, Bidens alba var radiata
False Buttonweed, Spermacoce verticillata
Photo by Hank Poor
Snow squarestem, Melanthera nivea
Florida Whitetop, Rhychospora floridensis
Photo by Hank Poor
Blodgett's Swallowwort, Cynachum blodgettii
Photo by Hank Poor
Florida Privet, Forestiera segregata
Photo by Linda Evans
Sometimes you have to look closely just as Dr. Robert M. Pyle is doing. He will be our keynote speaker for Butterfly Days at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in September 2010.
For more information on these pineland plants, read Roger M. Hammer's book, Florida Keys Wildflowers.
What plants have you seen the Bartram's nectaring on? Let us know.
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