northeast-flora-and-fauna

Here are 2 similar-looking milkweeds, a Purple Milkweed and a couple Common Milkweeds . Though the veins on the leaves of the Purple Milkweed are considered a little more perpendicular to the central vein compared to the Common Milkweed, but mostly I tell the difference based on the much brighter purple flowers of the Purple Milkweed [1]. Color-wise the Swamp Milkweed could be confused with the Purple Milkweed, but the Swamp Milkweed leaves are so much narrower that you shouldn't worry about confusing them. AFAIK these 2 related, similar-looking milkweeds don't hybridize in the wild, though us humans have coaxed some hybridization between species. It sounds like the motivation behind this is the hope that some milkweed cultivars might convince gardeners to plant them and benefiting the environment. A successful hybrid would: Produce the same quality/abundance of nectar as native milkweeds. Would not be able to hybridize in the wild with our native milkweeds. As native plants...

Meadows are beginning to bloom out, and milkweed , one of the workhorses of the meadow, are an example of that. This almost certainly changes the ecosystem: There's a sudden increase in the nectar/pollen available out there, attracting a bunch of different pollinators (bees, wasps, butterflies, moths, flower flies, etc). This in turn attracts predators of the pollinators like spiders, mantises, and birds. It's also a host plant for lots of insects, many of which I talked about here . I wanted to talk about milkweeds partly because I'm supposed to talk about them as Duke Farms Outdoor Educator today so I watched some videos to refresh my memory about them: Nature at Your Door Frank Taylor Six Species of Milkweed ... Here are 2 of our most commonly seen milkweeds, the Common Milkweed and the Butterfly Milkweed . June 10, 2022 at Negri Nepote Native Grassland Preserve Common Milkweed June 10, 2022 at Negri Nepote Native Grassland Preserve Butterfly Milkweed

This was the first Monarch butterfly I photographed in 2021. This is a little anticlimactic for 2 reasons: Since this time, I've taken many Monarch butterfly pictures. I think I had been spotting Monarchs for almost a month before this picture even though I missed getting a photograph for one reason or another. Notice that this Monarch isn't on a flower looking for nectar; it appears to be on a milkweed (probably Common Milkweed ) leaf. It's at least possible that this was a female looking to lay an egg on a milkweed leaf. (I didn't check this; it's possible that getting to the plant would have meant traipsing further into a meadow than I wanted.) July 10, 2021 at Duke Farms Photo 148186168, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

A couple months ago I saw a family hanging out together. Not people or animals, this family consisted of a dogbane and a milkweed growing up side-by-side; both are in what is colloquially called the dogbane family . I'm almost certain that the purplish flower buds on the right are from a Common Milkweed , while I'm only reasonably certain that the smaller-leafed guy with whitish flowers are a Hemp Dogbane . Though they are family, I'm sure there's a fierce family rivalry going on here to see which plant gets the most resources and propagates the most future plants. It's not hard to believe these wildflowers are related: The leaf structure (at least between these 2 species) is similar. Broken leaves/stems will exude a white, latex-like substance. They both have a cluster of small flowers (though less densely packed in the dogbane). Both will produce seed pods with white fluff to catch the wind and distribute the seeds. (The milkweed pod will be quite a bit larger, bu...