The Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) is one of the most common butterflies in my backyard, and it’s one of the most impressive as well. Large and brightly colored, it’s attracted to the nectar provided by the abundant flowers of the butterfly sage (Cordia globosa) that I have growing in several places, as well as to its larval host plant, any of several vines in the passionflower family. I have a couple of them; one is a cultivar of Passiflora incarnata, with very showy flowers:
Another is the true native, Passiflora suberosa. The flowers of this second vine are much less showy but the plant is no less attractive to the butterflies for that reason: the attraction is the chemicals contained in the vine, not the nectar or the beauty of the flowers. The larvae eat the leaves and incorporate the toxic chemicals (cyanogenic glycosides) they contain. Here are some of the fruits and foliage of this “maypop” vine:
The other day I found yet another species of passionvine that I didn’t plant and haven’t seen before, with intriguing red three-petaled flowers:
When I first saw the flowers, they looked so much like the bougainvillea that’s growing nearby (right down to the three stamens in the middle) that I simply assumed one of those flowers had somehow fallen off that plant and onto this volunteer passionvine that’s growing up between the cracks on my patio. But closer inspection revealed the flower to be part of the passionvine itself, so I’m stumped. And unfortunately, since it’s a volunteer vine in a bad location, it probably won’t survive long. And on top of that, because it’s growing up between paver cracks, it’s situated too tightly for me to be able to dig it up and put it somewhere nicer; I just have to hope that it sprouts again in a more favorable location.
If you look at the leaves in the picture above, you’ll notice that someone’s been eating them; here’s a picture of the culprit:
They sure look, um, interesting, when they’re young, don’t they?
When they grow up, they look much more attractive:
I believe I found one of these in my backyard, on my passion vine yesterday. I was very excited about it, as this is a first for me. I was aware the passion vine may draw different butterflies. I consider this a success. I am going to keep an eye out for the little guy/lady, in hopes to see it through emerging with wings.
I have very purposely dedicated my haphazard backyard garden to pollinators after trying to grow tomatoes and having an awful time of it because I had no pollinators. Thankfully I read about using a small vibrating appliance (I used a gentle face cleansing brush) to mimic the loving disturbance caused by a bumble bee. This year, I have gotten several types of salvia, and milkweed, as well as some herbs, in an attempt to draw more variety of butterflies. I have also been elated to see the bumble bees loving caress my blue hyssop plant.
My brother direct me to this site for information.