Tag: plants

Categories
native plants Pollinator gardening

Green-Eyed Starbursts

Cutleaf Coneflower (Rudbeckia laciniata)

Rising above the garden, bright yellow, green-coned flowers light up the garden.  Magnets for bees of all sizes, Cutleaf Coneflowers (Rudbeckia laciniata) invite insects for pollen and nectar rewards.  Chosen as 1995 North Carolina Wildflower of the Year, its blooms brighten the garden from mid-summer to early fall.1,11

Cutleaf Coneflower grows over a wide climate range, thriving in Zones 3 through 9.  It can reach 10 feet in height although it often only grows to 3 feet.  Individual plants spread from 1.5 to 3 feet.1,10,12  
 
The best growing conditions include full sun to part shade.  It likes moist conditions and slightly acidic, fertile loam or silt-loam.  In fact, Rudbeckia laciniata is happy in poorly drained, shaded areas with occasional flooding.  If it’s too sunny and dry, the leaves droop and wither.1,10,12

Cutleaf Coneflower lives in a variety of moist natural habitats.  These include bottomland forests, woodland borders, moist meadows in wooded areas, sloughs in moist areas, moist thickets, low areas along rivers, partially shaded riverbanks, alluvial thickets, calcareous seeps, low, rich woods, and margins of poorly drained fields and pastures.1
 
When this Coneflower is too happy, it spreads aggressively.  The roots are fibrous and rhizomatous, and it can form large clonal colonies.  Control this with division.  Encourage rebloom by cutting spent summer flowers.1,10,12

Despite what I’ve said so far, I grow this plant in a raised bed with no irrigation.  Why?  It grows happily there!  It does tolerate some drying out.  Yes, it loses a few leaves but it’s much easier to control those rhizomatous roots.  In addition, it can withstand hot, humid summers.12
 
Rudbeckia laciniata’s foliage varies in shape.  Leaves have 3 to 7 lobes with the number increasing toward the bottom of the stalk.  At the plant’s base, some leaves may even be pinnate(with separate leaflets).  The flower stalks have smaller, oval or lanceolate foliage.1
 
Leaves grow alternate on the stem and tend to droop.  They can reach 12 inches long and 12 inches across.  The edges range from smooth to coarsely toothed.  The upper surface is dark green and hairless to slightly hairy.  The lower surface is pale to medium green and smooth to lightly hairy.1
 
Sunny yellow flowers top this Coneflower.  The flowers sit atop an upper stem or are part of a group of flower stalks which often open at different times.  Each flower stalk can be 1 to 2 feet long.1,10  


The daisy-like flowerheads open to 2 to 4 inches and have a rounded cone.  6 to 12 drooping petals (ray florets) frame the center.  The cone starts as a bright green and then turns a greenish yellow as the disc florets open.  Disc florets form tubular corollas producing a pin cushion like appearance.  Seeds form from these florets.1

Cutleaf Coneflower blooms form mid-summer to early fall.  Flowering period last from 1 to 2 month.  The time is extended by buds opening at different times.1,10,12
 
Rudbeckia is one of the top 20 Keystone plants for EcoRegion 8.  The Commission for Environmental Cooperation created theses EcoRegions.  This commission is a multinational group including Canada, the United States and Mexico.  EcoRegion 8 includes the eastern part of the United States through Wisconsin and Illinois and South to the border.  The very tip of Florida and the Gulf coast of Texas are excluded.13

Keystone plants support specialist bees and/or are larval hosts for butterflies, moths and skippers.  Cutleaf coneflower appears on both lists.  It feeds 29 specialist bees and 20 different types of butterfly/moth/skipper larva.5
 
Rudbeckia laciniata attracts long- and short-tongued bees.  It’s been designated of Special Value to Native Bees and Special Value to Honey Bees by the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.  Bee visitors include bumblebees (Bombus),

honeybees (Apis mellifera),

large carpenter bees (Xylocopa spp.),

Halictid bees (Halictus spp.),

Green Sweat Bees (Agapostemon spp.) and

small carpenter bees (Ceratina spp.)1,2,12


Agapostemon spp., a green metallic sweat bee, are charming.  With an iridescent green thorax, these bees can have a green abdomen or a striped black and white abdomen.  They are generalists but enjoy flowers from the Asteraceae family.  These bees are active from mid-spring to mid-fall.  With fewer blooms available in spring, overwintering females often visit a greater variety of flowers then.3

These green sweat bees are solitary or communal.  When communal, the nests are spread out.  They nest in the ground with 1 or 2 generations per year in the Midwest, Great Lakes and Northeast.3
 
The offspring sex ratio changes depending on the number of generations.  With 2 generations, mated females emerge in mid-spring.  This group lay mostly female eggs.3  

Of the first-generation brood, some won’t mate at all.  These lay unfertilized (male) eggs.  Mated females lay a balanced proportion of males and females.  When these young emerge, the second-generation brood forage until mid-fall, mate, and then fertilized females spend the winter underground.3

When there’s one generation, the male to female ratio is much closer.  They appear in early summer.  These bees live throughout the growing season and mate in mid-fall.  Then fertilized females spend the winter underground.3

Flies also visit Cutleaf Coneflower.  Bee flies (Family:  Bombyliidae), Hoverflies (Rhingia) and Syrphid flies (Eristalis spp.) harvest resources.2

Predatory wasps also gather nectar from Rudbeckia laciniata.  These include thread-waisted wasps, sand wasps, mason wasps and bee wolves.1,2
 
Eremnophila aureonotata or Gold-marked Thread-waisted Wasp is the only Eremnophila in North America.  An elegant wasp, it has fine gold or silver hairs on its head and thorax.  There are also white or silver spots on the thorax.4

Gold-marked Thread-waisted Wasp nests in compacted sandy-loam or loam soil.  The nesting area is vegetated, concealed and located near a wooded area.  The wasp digs a hole 2 inches deep for its nest.  When leaving, she covers the entrance with fragments of plants.4 

Eremnophila aureonotata hunts caterpillars to supply her nests.  She searches on plant leaves for larva.  Once captured, the wasp paralyzes it by stinging.  She carries the caterpillar back to the nest and sets it outside.4  
 
The wasp removes the vegetation from the entrance and flies it away. Then she drags the caterpillar into her burrow and lays one egg on it.   The wasp closes the entrance with soil and pieces of plants.  She tamps the entrance closed with her head.4

Gold-marked Thread-waisted Wasps act as beneficial insect by hunting caterpillars.  They harvest noctuid moths (Noctuidae), prominent moths (Notodontidae), and sphinx moths (Sphingidae).  Noctuid moths are a large and varied group.  Cutworms, armyworms, corn earworms, and iris borers all belong in this group.  Cutworms eat the seedling off at soil level and pull it underground to eat.  Armyworms eat turf grass and cereal crops like millet and rice.4,7,8,9
 
The sphinx moths (Sphingidae) family include tomato and tobacco hornworms, pink-spotted hawk moth, and Pandora, Achemon, and Virginia Creeper Sphinx moth.  The tomato and tobacco hornworm larva eat tomato, potato, pepper, eggplant, tobacco and other nightshade family plants.  Pink-spotted hawk moth caterpillars consume sweet potato vines.  Pandora, Achemon, and Virginia creeper sphinx moth caterpillars are pests in vineyards.  Eremnophila aureonotata gathers all these larvae.8
 
Butterflies, Moths and Skippers nectar from Rudbeckia’s flower while some use it as a larval host.  Common Eupithecia (Eupithecia miserulata), Wavy-Lined Emerald Moth (Synchlora aerata), Southern Emerald Moth (Synchlora frondaria) and Silvery Checkerspot Butterfly (Chlosyne nycleis) all use this Coneflower to feed their young.1,2

I hope you enjoyed this exploration of Cutleaf Coneflower and the insects it supports.  An easily grown plant, Rudbeckia laciniata makes a wonderful addition to the moist garden.  Enjoy dreaming about next year’s garden!
 
Happy Gardening,
Mary Quinlan
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY:

  1. “Cutleaf Coneflower (Rudbeckia Laciniata).” n.d. Accessed September 29, 2025. https://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/savanna/plants/cl_coneflower.htm.

2. Holm, Heather. 2014. Pollinators of Native Plants:  Attract, Observe and Identify Pollinators and Beneficial Insects with Native Plants. Pollination Press LLC

3. Holm, Heather. 2017. Bees:  An Identification and Native Plant Forage Guide. Pollination Press LLC.

4. Holm, Heather. 2021. Wasps:  Their Biology, Diversity, and Role as Beneficial Insects and Pollinators of Native Plants. Pollination Press LLC.

5. Keystone Native Plants – Eastern Temperate Forests – Ecoregion 8. n.d.  Accessed September 29, 2025.  https://www.nwf.org/-/media/Documents/PDFs/Garden-for-Wildlife/Keystone-Plants/NWF-GFW-keystone-plant-list-ecoregion-8-eastern-temperate-forests.pdf.

6. Native Plants for Pollinators & Beneficial Insects: Midwest. Accessed September 29, 2025. 2023 The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.  https://xerces.org/sites/default/files/publications/22-025_01_NPPBI—Midwest_web.pdf.

7. Missouri Department of Conservation. n.d. “Noctuid Moths.” Accessed October 1, 2025. https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/noctuid-moths.

8. Missouri Department of Conservation. n.d. “Sphinx Moths (Hawk Moths).” Accessed October 1, 2025. https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/sphinx-moths-hawk-moths.

9 “Noctuidae – Wikipedia.” n.d. Accessed October 1, 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noctuidae.

10. “Rudbeckia Laciniata – Plant Finder.” n.d. Accessed September 29, 2025. https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/plantfinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=277226.

11. “Rudbeckia Laciniata (Cutleaf Coneflower, Green-Head Coneflower, Green Headed Coneflower, Tall Coneflower, Wild Goldenglow) | North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox.” n.d. Accessed September 29, 2025. https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/rudbeckia-laciniata/.

12. “Rudbeckia Laciniata (Green-Headed Coneflower) | Native Plants of North America.” n.d. Accessed September 29, 2025. https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=rula3.

13. US EPA, ORD. 2015. “Ecoregions of North America.” Data and Tools. December 13, 2024. https://www.epa.gov/eco-research/ecoregions-north-america.
 

Categories
Pollinator gardening

Furry Little Tails

Just as the snow disappear, the small bumps on Pussy Willow (Salix discolor) branches lengthen into soft, furry, gray catkins.  Soon they burst into bright yellow blooms before spring ephemerals and other early trees and shrubs.  Their nectar and pollen draw early bees, flies, wasps, adult butterflies and other insects. 4,9

 Later, this willow is a larval host to many butterflies, moths and skippers.  In addition, many insects feed on and/or use this plant.  The caterpillars and insects support an abundance of bird life especially during nesting season.9

Salix discolor thrives in zones 2 through 8.  It generally grows from 6 to 15 feet and spreads from 4 to 12 feet.  For a smaller shrub, cut it back every 3 to 5 years after flowering.  This pruning encourages lots of new growth.5,6

Pruning is especially important when Salix is growing in wet conditions.  Pussy willow forms suckers freely.  Cutting helps control the suckers also.5,6,7

Pussy willows love wet soils but do tolerate medium moisture soils.  They grow in sandy and non-sandy soils with around neutral pH and some decaying matter.  Salix discolor enjoys part to full sun.  They’re resistant to deer, erosion and Black Walnuts (Juglans nigra).5,6

Its natural habitats include soggy thickets, fens, wet prairies, low ground, floodplain forests, marshes, low areas along rivers and other bodies of water, ditches, and shrub swamps.  If too many trees grow, the Pussy Willows die out.9

Salix discolor has male and female flowers on different shrubs, also called dioecious.  Males are yellow with pollen, females are green. The specific epithet discolor comes from the two different colored flowers.  Blooms develop on second year twigs.7,9

The male bloom starts as a furry pearl-gray catkin.  The soft dense hairs protect the florets from the cold.  As they open, tight round stamens poke through the fur.  When the stamens are fully extended, the male blossoms turn bright yellow.  Each floret has 2 stamens. The catkin grows up to 1 inch long.9

Spikey and green, the female catkins mature from 1 to 4 inches long.  Each floret has 1 pistil with a pair of tiny stigmata at the top.  The pistil forms a narrow lance-like shape and had tiny, fine, grayish-white hairs.9

Pussy Willow leaves are more oval than other willows.  They grow up to 4 inches long and 1.5 inches across and alternate on the stem.  The edges are irregularly toothed to smooth.  The leaves themselves are medium to dark green and hairless on top.  Underneath, they are hairless, covered with a greenish-white bloom and whitened.  Petioles are up to ¾ inches long and range from smooth to slightly hairy.9  

A few plant facts:  some petioles have stipules where they join the stem.  A stipule is a small structure at the base of a leaf and can be helpful in identifying a plant.  Pussy Willow have largish stipules on both sides of the petiole—1/4 inch long and across.  They are heart-shaped and toothed or lobed.

Salix discolor is a handful.  It’s known to grow tall and wide.  Why choose it for you garden?

S. discolor is a keystone plant and an outstanding one at that. For the Eastern Temperate forests, my area, Salix spp. appears on the Top Keystone Plant Genera list, Top 30 Keystone Plant Genera for Butterfly and Moth Caterpillars and Top 30 Native Host plants for Pollen Specialist Bees.  Keystone plants play an essentially role in their Ecoregions sustaining generalist and specialist pollinators.4

The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation designates Salix discolor as of Special Value to Native Bees, Special Value to Bumble Bees and Special Value to Honey Bees.  While this Willow can become large, it is possible to contain it to a smaller site.  Other native Willows are trees which become much taller and aren’t suited to compact areas.6

A note to readers:  Usually I use all my own photos for my blogs.  Sadly, I don’t have all the images I want for this month.  I’ll be including pictures of pollinators and other insects on other plants and some stock photos.  Thank you for your patience!

Insects are abundant on the Pussy Willow.  Many pollinators feed on the nectar and pollen.  Bee guests include honeybees, bumblebees, little carpenter bees (Ceratina spp.), cuckoo bees (Nomada spp.), mason bees (Osmia spp.), Halictid bees (including green metallic bees) and Andrenid bees (Andrena spp).

Several Andrenid bees are specialists of willows.  Specialists (aka oligoleges) collect pollen from only one genus or species or only a few genera or species.  These Andrenid bees include:  Andrena (Parandrena) andrenoides, Andrena (Thysandrena) bisalicis, Andrena (Tylandrena) erythrogaster, Andrena (Andrena) frigida, Andrena (Micrandrena) illinoiensis, Andrena (Andrena) macoupinensis, Andrena (Trachandrena) mariae, Andrena (Parandrena) nida, Andrena (Micrandrena) nigrae, Andrena (Micrandrena) salictaria, Andrena (Parandrena) wellesleyana.7,9

In addition to these oligoleges, generalists also collect resources from Salix discolor.  Honeybees and bumblebees are among them.

Small bees gather pollen and nectar from Pussy Willows including little carpenter bees (Ceratina spp.), mason bees (Osmia spp.) and Halictid bees (including green metallic sweat bees).

Ichneumonid wasps harvest pollen and nectar from  S. discolor.  These parasitoid wasps prey on immature stages of many insects and spiders.  They help control populations in natural and semi-natural systems.2

Willows are larval hosts for 289 different species of butterflies, skippers and moths.  Examples include many butterflies (i.e., Nymphalis spp. and Polygonia spp. ),  hairstreak butterflies (Satyrium spp.), Viceroy butterflies (Limenitis archippus) and other brush-footed butterflies (Nymphalidae).4,9

The Viceroy has a special relationship with willows.  Its larvae feed at night on the catkins and then the leaves after flowering.  Unlike other butterflies, adults don’t visit flowers.  They drink from tree sap, rotting fruit, honeydew-an excretion from aphids, animal droppings, and mud puddles.8

Large leaf being eaten by viceroy butterfly caterpillar

Honeydew is an excretion from sap-eating aphids.  These aphids concentrate the sap they drink to harvest the protein.  They excrete the excess liquid and sugars as honeydew.  Willows host 22 species of aphids providing an excellent place for Viceroys to hunt for food.3,8

Viceroy Butterfly feeding on nectar from a wildflower.

Moth larvae also consume Salix spp. including tiger moths (Arctiidae), Geometer moths, leaf blotch miner moths (Gracillariidae), slug caterpillar moths (Limacodidae), Lyonet moths, owlet moths (Noctuidae), prominent moths (Notodontidae), giant silk moths (Saturniidae), and Sphinx moths (Sphingidae).9

In addition, hordes of other kinds of insects use willows in various ways.  Among these are flies, beetles, borers, weevils, gall flies, various true bugs, thrips, sawflies, and 22 different kinds of aphids.  You can see a full list in the Insect Table from Illinois Wildflowers (https://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/trees/tables/table65.html).3  

OK, this doesn’t sound like great news.  But, because of all these insects, birds gather many resources from willows.  Wood Duck, Northern Pintail, Mallard, Common Redpoll, Evening Grosbeak, Pine Grosbeak, American Goldfinch, Common Grackle, and Ruffed Grouse all visit willows.  (Bird Table, https://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/trees/tables/table66.html)1

Even Salix discolor’s rapid growth is good news.  A variety of animals use or consume parts of the willow.  Prairie Voles, Meadow Voles, Fox Squirrels and Black Bears eat leaves, buds and/or catkins.  Cottontail Rabbits and Muskrats feed on the bark.  Beavers eat bark and wood and use the branches for dams and lodges.    Snapping Turtles and Wood Turtles forage on fallen leaves.9

There’s so much life around the Pussy Willow!  From the very beginning of Spring through the year, this shrub nurtures insects and animals.  What a grand addition to any garden!

I hope you enjoyed this blog!  Please send me your stories and questions. I’d love to hear from you!

Happy Gardening!

Mary

Bibliography:

  1. “Bird Table (Salix Spp.).” Accessed April 30, 2025. https://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/trees/tables/table66.html.
  2. Missouri Department of Conservation. “Ichneumon Wasps.” Accessed April 30, 2025. https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/ichneumon-wasps.
  3. “Insect Table (Salix Spp.).” Accessed April 30, 2025. https://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/trees/tables/table65.html.
  4. National Wildlife Federation. “Keystone Native Plants, Eastern Temperate Forests-Ecoregion 8.  Accessed April 29, 2025.  https://www.nwf.org/-/media/Documents/PDFs/Garden-for-Wildlife/Keystone-Plants/NWF-GFW-keystone-plant-list-ecoregion-8-eastern-temperate-forests.ashx?la=en&hash=1E180E2E5F2B06EB9ADF28882353B3BC7B3B247D
  5. “Salix Discolor – Plant Finder.” Accessed April 28, 2025. https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=c808.
  6. “Salix Discolor (Pussy Willow) | Native Plants of North America.” Accessed April 28, 2025. https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=sadi.
  7. “Salix Discolor (Pussy Willow) | North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox.” Accessed April 28, 2025. https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/salix-discolor/.
  8. Missouri Department of Conservation. “Viceroy,” January 31, 2024. https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/viceroy.
  9. “Pussy Willow (Salix Discolor).” Accessed April 28, 2025. https://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/trees/plants/pussy_willow.htm.
Categories
native plants Pollinator gardening

A Summer Cornucopia

Common Milkweed or Asclepias syriaca is a superb Monarch support and a mainstay of Monarch waystations.  But it is so much more.  This plant feeds more than 450 insects at different life stages. Diverse insects consume nectar, sap, leaves, flowers and seeds5.  Admittedly weedy, its lovely blooms are fragrant and enhance any scent garden1,5.

Common Milkweed thrives in full sun and well-drained soils.  Like other “weeds”, it’s not picky about growing conditions.  A. syriaca  grows in clayey, sandy or rocky calcareous soils, loamy soils and high clay or sand soils. 

Asclepias syriaca springs up in disrupted areas.  Human activity disrupts natural areas.  But natural disruptions occur where water rises and falls, for example, along streams and lakes.  

In nature, Common Milkweed is found in moist and dry black soil prairies, sand prairies, sand dunes along lake shores, fields, pastures, abandoned fields, vacant lots and along railroads, fence rows and roadsides. 

Common Milkweed absolutely lives up to its weedy name.  It spreads by seed and by long creeping rhizomes that pop up in unexpected places.  Once established, this plant is extremely difficult to remove. 

These habits are offset by Common Milkweed’s value to insects and pollinators.  It’s best to let it grow where you don’t mind its vigorous and abundant nature—a wild area, a meadow or a prairie garden.

Asclepias syriaca offers a strong erect form in the garden.  The pale, cylindrical central stem supports opposite jade-green leaves.  These leaves range from pale to dark green on top and are pale green with short, dense hair underneath.  Each leaf has a distinctive central vein with small veins spreading to the edges.  

The milky sap, which gives Milkweed its name, oozes whenever part of the plant is broken.  The sap is called a latex and contains 2% latex.  The latex is thick and sticky.  

Most ingeniously, caterpillars will reduce the sap’s flow by taking tiny bites closer to the stem.  The sap leaks out there.  When the caterpillar begins to eat a leaf, there’s less latex at the feeding site.  Thus, less chance the sticky stuff will foul the larva’s mouth2,3.

For humans and other mammals, there are other concerns.  The milky sap contains cardenolides, specifically cardiac glycosides.  Contact with the skin or eyes causes irritation.  If eaten or exposed to mucous membranes, cardiac glycosides can disrupt the nervous system, the kidneys, the muscles (which includes the heart) and the human’s/animal’s acid/base balance3,4,5.  

The monarch and other insects that consume milkweed have turned this to their advantage.  As the caterpillars/insects consume milkweed their bodies store the cardiac glycosides.  If a bird or animal eats them, they taste bitter and can make the predator feel sick.  

Predators soon learn to leave them alone. The orange/black or red/black coloring of milkweed insects signals, “Stay away!  Not good for you!”  The technical term for this warning coloration is ‘aposematic’5.

Milkweed blooms don’t dazzle but flower in 1930’s vintage shades.  The drooping balls of florets are soft and dusky lasting one to one and a half months.  Colors range from greenish white to greenish pink to rosy-pink to purplish-pink to reddish purple.  

Each cluster averages 30 individual florets but can have up to 100. Their sweet, vanilla fragrance drifts from the three to five umbels on each plant.  

Up close, each floret is a fascinating feat of engineering all directed toward an exceptional pollination system.  Each a quarter of an inch across, the florets have five reflexed (bent back) petals and five raised hoods with curved horns.  The hoods have lighter colors than the petals.  

In the center of each floret, is a cylindrical structure formed by two fused stigmas.  It’s called the stigmatic column.  

Between the hoods, are the stigmatic slits.  These slits hold the pollinaria.  Unique structures, pollinaria hold waxy sacs of pollen.  These are transferred instead of the loose, powdery pollen used by most flowers.  Milkweeds and orchids are the only known plants to have them6,7.

The milkweed pollinium (or pollinarium) consist of a blackish-brown oval gland (corpusculum) with a slit, two translator arms hanging from the gland and two pollinial sacs.  Before each sac, a knee bend of approximately 900 occurs in the arm.  This bend enables the rotation of each sac during pollination.

In the milkweeds, the pollinial sac sit inside the stigmatic column and only the corpusculum is visible between the hood structures.  When an insect lands on the flower, one of its legs may slip into the stigmatic slit between two hoods.   As it tries to free itself, the leg moves upward toward the slit in the corpusculum. Bristles in the chamber keep it from going back down.  

Insects must be strong to free themselves.  Large butterflies, predatory wasps and long tongue bees are most likely to remove pollinaria.  Lost legs and dead smaller insects both occur from failed escape attempts.

When a pollinaria is removed, it begins to dry.  The pollinial sacs rotate 90o during drying.  The rotation moves them into the correct position for pollination.  

When the insect lands on another milkweed,  the knee bend (not the corpusculum oval) slides into the space between the hood petals.  The translator arm follows then the rotated pollinial sac.  The pollinial sac slides into a space in the stigmatic column and pollination is completed.  

When the insect continues pulling upward, the translator arm breaks.  The insect keeps the remaining part of the pollinaria.  

It’s also possible to start a chain of pollinaria during this process.  As the broken translator arm slides between the hoods, it can hook the corpusculum slit of this floret’s pollinaria adding a fresh pollinaria to the partial remaining one.  Clumps and chains of all sorts develop this way.  These groups of pollinaria may increase chances of pollination6.7.

Part I, ends here, with the exciting conclusion of a fertilized milkweed.  Part II will continue with photos and information about the insects that use Common Milkweed.  What a crowd it is—including flies, wasps, bees, butterflies, moths, skippers, plant bugs and beneficial insects!

See you next time to discover what Wild Things are in the Garden!

Mary

References

  1. Hilty, J., n.d., Common Milkweed, Asclepias syriaca, Milkweed family, (Asclepiadaceae),  https://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/weeds/plants/cm_milkweed.html
  2. Berkov, A., 28.October.2010, Plant Talk:  Inside the New York Botanical Garden; Plant Profile:  The Extraordinary Common Milkweed, How Do Insects Feed on this Plant with Sticky White Latex? https://www.nybg.org/blogs/plant-talk/2010/10/science/plant-profile-the-extraordinary-common-milkweed/#:~:text=Plants%20in%20the%20genus%20Asclepias,Asklepios%2C%20the%20ancient%20Greek%20physician.
  3. Bowe, Scott, 11.September.2018, Milkweed is More Than Just a Common Weed, WXPR, https://www.wxpr.org/natural-resources/2018-09-11/milkweed-is-more-than-just-a-common-weed
  4. Nelson, M. and Alfuth, D., 24.February.2021, Milkweed (Ornamental Plants Toxic to Animals), X-number:  XHT1276, https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/milkweed-ornamental-plants-toxic-to-animals/
  5. Taylor, David, n.d., Common Milkweed, (Asclepias syriaca L.), Plant of the Week, https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/asclepias_syriaca.shtml
  6. Eldredge, E.P., 2015,11,00, Milkweed Pollination Biology, Plant Materials Technical Note NV-58, Natural Resources Conservation Service, https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/plantmaterials/nvpmctn12764.pdf
  7. Betz, R.F., Struven, R.D., Wall, J.E. & Heitler, F.B., 1994, Insect Pollinators 12 Milkweed (Asclepias) Species, T.B. Bragg and J. Stubbendieck (eds.) Proc. Of the Thirteenth North American Prairie Conference. Univ. of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE.