Saturday, November 20, 2010

Butterfly Weed

Sometimes when you see the name of a plant, bird or insect you wonder what in the world that the person who named it was thinking. Good examples as far as wild flowers go would be sneezeweed, hawksbeard and gumweed just to name a few. This plant common name is very appropriate however, it is called butterfly-weed. It's scientific name is Asclepias tuberosa. It is a member of the Asclepiadacea, or milkweed, family so it servers as host plant for the larvas of milkweed butterflies like the monarch. The bright orange flower is also popular with many other types of butterflies.

6 comments:

KaHolly said...

This is indeed a beautiful wildflower. So pretty, it's as if it was cast in wax!

lotusleaf said...

Yes, it is a very beautiful wild flower. Butterfly larvae eat up all its leaves in summer.

Randi said...

Terrific capture of the colourful wildflower!

Heather Jones said...

I've never seen anything like there. Where is it native to?


Heather From and Mommy Only Has Two Hands! and Lynhea Designs p

Arija said...

What a beautiful flower! I often scratch my head about common names, That is one of the reasons I like to stick to the botanical ones wherever possible. It saves a lot of confusion as well.

Míriam Luiza said...

Flor de cor marcante!