Great Southern Whites by Linda Evans, Photos by Hank Poor

A newly emerged adult Great Southern White.

Often, when driving down to Everglades National Park or driving through south Miami-Dade County's agricultural area, the Redlands, you will see beautiful, white butterflies dancing in the air. 

In these areas, the Great Southern White uses the weed, Peppergrass (Lepidium virginicum) as its host plant. 

Great Southern White eggs
are laid in batches.

They also use Saltwort (Batis Maritima), Coastal Searocket (Cakile lanceolata), Limber Caper (Capparis flexuosa), Arugula (Eruca sativa), Nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus), and Collard Greens (Brassica oleracea var. acephala).

Caterpillars feed communally
- here feeding on Collard Greens.

When recently doing a NABA count at the Kampong, David Fairchild’s former home in Coconut Grove, we noticed that these beautiful butterflies were using a vine which had been growing there for more than 30 years according to Larry Schockman, the former director.

A caterpillar & a chrysalis
side by side on a Collard

Ritchiea reflexa from W. Tropical Africa was hosting more than 50 caterpillars and 67 butterflies which were added to the count. Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden is planning to get cuttings of this vine in the Caper family from the Kampong to add to their Butterfly Garden.

Ritchiea reflexa at the Kampong
attracts Great Southern Whites

Hank and Mary Ann Poor attracted the Great Southern White by growing Collard Greens in their garden. Hank’s expert photography documented the life cycle from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly with his magnificent photos. 

A handsome male nectaring
on the all-time favorite, Bidens alba,
or Spanish Needle.

Whether you choose weeds, flowers or vegetables, you too can have this magnificent butterfly in your yard.

Nectar Plants for Bartram's Scrub-Hairstreak, by Linda Evans, with photos by Hank Poor

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

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.

How Could It Be? Someone Raises Doubt About Butterfly Gardening? by Elane Nuehring

Above, Mikania scandens attracts many butterflies, bees, wasps and other insects.

All in one week-end, I visited an extraordinary new butterfly garden in Kendall (check miamiblue.org/calendar for a garden visit there in August) AND read a think-piece questioning butterfly gardening. Now, butterfly gardening is a little like "Mom and apple pie" -- right? Who would question its essential worth? Well...on the web of the Florida Native Plant Society, Steve Woodmansee, one of our own favorite Butterfly Days speakers, asks about the value of butterfly gardens. He points out their benefits -- but he also asks us to consider their limitations -- and think bigger. Think beyond big, macro butterflies....think beyond butterflies for that matter. Read it and see what you think: go to http://fnpsblog.blogspot.com/ and scroll down to see Steve's article (it is in two parts).

Chilly winds blew no harm, it seems! by Elane Nuehring

Dingy Purplewing

In 2009's winter and 2010's early spring, we saw unusual dips in temperature and we worried about the butterflies and their host plants. In a few cases, in natural areas, wild fires created even more damage to butterflies and plants. Then the rains came and summer's steamy heat ensured ... and WOW, the butterflies are back! Our butterfly gardens are buzzing. Rarities like Bartram's Scrub Hairstreak, which were nowhere to be found in April, are, for them, out and about in in good numbers. The NABA summer counts, held in June and July, have so far produced exceptionally good numbers of species. On June 26, 2010, the Deering Estate at Cutler was hopping with specialties such as Dina Yellows, Ruddy Daggerwings, and Dingy Purplewings. Earlier in the month, on June 19, Loop Road was great. Our Miami Blue Chapter monthly survey of Tamiami Pineland Addition has produced swarms of Southern Skipperlings and Ceraunus Blues, along with Variegated Fritillaries (not usual in heavily developed areas) and an American Lady.

So why all this abundance of butterflies after the severest winter in many a year in South Florida? Maybe the cold inhibited some problem predators and/or parasitoids? Maybe the cold somehow boosted plant production and lots of new growth once rain and heat returned. Whatever the reasons, 2010 seems to have been a banner year for many species....although the Atalas are still among the missing or near-missing in many of their usual haunts, Miami Blues at Bahia Honda State Park are not being seen, and the Florida Leafwing, holding out at Everglades National Park, continues to be scarce.

Let us know what you're seeing in your gardens and on your rambles!

Milkweeds in Your Garden by Linda Evans

Above: Mexican Milkweed (Asclepias curassavica)

Many butterflies choose toxic host plants. When Monarchs, Queens, and Soldiers eat the leaves of milkweeds, they eat some of the toxins as well. If a bird eats, for example, a Monarch caterpillar or butterfly, it spits it out and avoids the Monarch and similar looking butterflies as their tasty treat. This is one of the protective mechanisms nature has given the butterflies. It is also the reason that, in our gardens, if we plant milkweeds, we can enjoy Monarch caterpillars from their first instar to adulthood.

Here are a few thoughts on gardening with milkweeds. Although there are many different native milkweed plants, many require specific soil conditions and are not readily available for purchase. The most common milkweed used in butterfly gardening today is the form from Mexico, Asclepias curassavica. It grows year round and is suitable for both the caterpillars to eat and the butterflies for nectaring.

Right: a native milkweed, Butterfly Weed (A. tuberosa)

If you would like to try growing natives and can find them, a few are:

• Asclepias verticillata, Horsetail milkweed. It is an erect, slender perennial that grows in dry, rocky soil with beautiful white flowers. The seeds look similar to the Mexican form.
  
  
• A. lanceolata – Fewflower milkweed. The flowers are red to tangerine and grow in damp soil.
  
  
• A. tuberosa – Butterfly weed. This is a pineland form of milkweed that requires acidic, well drained soil.
  
  
• A longifolia – Florida milkweed - Found in wet flatwoods.

Let us hear from you fellow gardeners. Tell us which native milkweed plants you have had luck with.

Have you ever seen a Schaus' Swallowtail? by Linda Evans

Have you ever seen a Schaus’ Swallowtail? One of Florida’s rarest butterflies emerges from mid May to mid June in Upper Key Largo and on the offshore keys of Biscayne National Park,  in the few remnant tropical hardwood hammocks left. Although once found in Miami and the Keys, this rare butterfly is limited to only a few sites today. Beautiful and graceful, the Schaus’ lives about two weeks in the wild. It was listed on the federal threatened list in April, 1976 and was moved to the endangered list in August of 1984. Droughts, hurricanes, loss of habitat and occasional freezes, among other possible threats, have reduced the population. Although it does have a flight range of 300 miles, it is seen only in tropical hardwood hammocks, much of which have been developed with the Schaus’ native habitat destroyed in the process. Mosquito spraying has been thought to reduce the population further in developed areas and some observers suspect exotic ant predators and possible parasitoids.

Left: Schaus' Swallowtail.
Right: Giant Swallowtail

The adult Schaus’ looks very similar to the Giant Swallowtail; smaller in size, more brown in color and with slight variation in its markings. One of the most obvious differences is the shape and markings on the tail.

The Schaus’ tail is bordered with pale yellow with no yellow spot in the center, whereas the Giant Swallowtail has a yellow center on the tail. Another obvious way to tell the difference is that the Schaus’ has a large orange patch on the underside (ventral side). Males have yellow tips on their antennae.

The primary host plant is torchwood (Amyris elemifera) found in tropical hardwood hammocks. Also used for food is wild lime (Zanthoxylum fagara). Listed nectar plants include cheese shrub (Morinda royoc), guava (Psidium guajava), wild sage (Lantana involcrata), wild tamarind (Lysiloma latisiliquum), blue porterweed (Stachytarpheta jamaicensis) sea grape (Coccoloba uvifera), wild coffee (Psychotria nervosa), and snow squarestem (Melanthera nivea).

Eggs are laid on the tips of the leaves of host plants usually in April. The eggs hatch in April- May. The butterfly can stay in the pupal stage from one to two years, wait for ideal conditions, then emerge. Predators include birds, ants, wasps, and lizards.

The Miami Blue Chapter of the North American Butterfly Association annually joins Tropical Audubon Society on a Saturday in May for a joint field trip to permitted areas not accessible to most people. Included is a walk into the Key Largo Hammocks State Botanical Site and areas along State road 905. It is an opportunity for you to try and catch a sighting of this rare butterfly. See the Miami Blue web site calendar (www.miamiblue.org)  for details of our annual visit to North Key Largo with Tropical Audubon Society. Come join us.

We also participate in annual surveys for the Schaus' Swallowtail co-conducted by Florida's Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, Biscayne National Park, and our South Florida NABA chapters.  Traveling NABA members might want to join us; if so, email us at miamiblue@bellsouth.net. 



Photos courtesy of Jaret Daniels, Ph.D., and Jerry Butler, Ph.D., the University of Florida.

What Can One Person Do to Conserve Butterflies? by Elane Nuehring

Bartram's Scrub-Hairstreak -- imperiled butterfly of pine rocklands
Photo by Michelle Wisniewski

Members of the North American Butterfly Association and its local chapters, such as our Miami Blue Chapter, are sometimes hesitant to "do conservation work." Some reasons include not being sure they know the issues, not being comfortable with adversarial and political situations, and simply preferring to spend their "butterfly time" on learning about and enjoying butterflies in the wild and at home in the garden. If you see yourself in the foregoing description, then you might be surprised to know that you are already a conservation activist, by simply belonging to environmental organizations such as NABA, the Audubon Society, the Nature Conservancy and hosts of others. Your membership and your dues are a vital resource in NABA's conservation work on behalf of butterflies and their habitats.

But, there's more you can do...and it should feel like fun, not stress. For example, NABA chapters, ours included, are involved in a number of partnerships with butterfly researchers and land managers with parks and natural areas. Members contribute time to butterfly surveys and butterfly observation, helping to advance knowledge that can protect butterflies and their habitats. Our Miami Blue Chapter is about to receive training and interesting assignments monitoring Miami Blue butterflies about to be released in a local park, to determine what factors play a part in successful re-establishment of endangered species. This is butterfly watching (yes, structured) in a beautiful place, but it is also a vital contribution to conservation knowledge. This year, our chapter is also doing monthly surveys of three Miami-Dade County pinelands about the presence (or absence) of certain imperiled butterflies of the pinelands -- for purposes of informing land management strategies that can enhance habitat for certain species. If you like to go butterflying in the outdoors, this kind of conservation work could be for you!

If you are someone who can dash off a clear, short letter (or email, although the old fashioned letter is thought to be most effective) if you have the necessary information easily available, consider this mode of conservation work. Letters aimed to influence pro-conservation political or administrative decisions do not have to be, and should not be, long and detailed; a statement of your opinion or preference is what counts and a detailed rationale will largely go unread. If you are willing to write an occasional letter to a legislator or agency administrator, please email us at miamiblue@bellsouth.net. We will get you on our list of correspondents and occasionally supply you with information sufficient to let you craft a brief letter.

Public education is another vital way to contribute to butterfly conservation. If you are someone who likes to give informal talks to community groups, including youth groups, garden clubs, and the like, our chapter can provide you with existing materials and help you hone one or more programs suitable for the audience or audiences for whom you would like to present. We can accompany you on your first one or two ventures, as your support system. This is a way to meet a lot of people and raise a lot of awareness about butterflies and the threats to their habitats. Since everyone loves butterflies, you are certain to have enthusiastic, curious participants. Let us know if this is a direction that interests you by emailing us at miamiblue@bellsouth.net.

Then there is the home butterfly garden! By providing butterfly plants, you return a small piece of habitat to butterflies. If you encourage your neighbors, together you may be able to develop what urban horticulturists call "wildlife corridors" -- that is, linked pieces of productive habitat enabling small wildlife, such as butterflies and birds, to move from place to place, yard to yard, block to block, supplied with food and cover.

There are many ways to contribute to butterfly conservation, without being a forceful debater, an environmental litigator, or a political lobbyist. Of course, if you have these skills and/or credentials, and wish to offer them to butterfly conservation work, we want to hear from you NOW! But we want to persuade you that there are other avenues to conservation outcomes, and we invite you to explore these avenues with us.

Share your thoughts on how to help butterflies persist in both our communities and our wild areas and what individuals can do.