Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening: Pipevine problem?, 0 by TexasPuddyPrint

TexasPuddyPrint wrote:
That's unusual Deb....the young Pipevine Swallowtail instars end up dying when they eat a. elegans. The older instars can survive but I've read several posts about the 1st-3rd instars not making it. I brought back some PVS cats from the ranch a few months ago and ran out of aristolochia erecta so I tried aristolochia elegans. The 3rd instar cat died but the latter instars survived. I was able to get aristolochia fimbriata in trade and put that in the cage and they really chowed down on it. Never saw a pipevine cat eat so fast :o)

I have that huge aristolochia elegans photographed above in my back yard and I get Pipevine Swallowtails but they won't use it. They really do love the aristolochia fimbriata and I've been able to trade for more. The plants are doing quite well now.

Back at the ranch the PVS use aristolochia erecta (Texas Swanflower) - a very small low growing pipevine that amazes me at how it can support caterpillar life! Considering that PVS explosion back at the ranch you'd think the stuff was growing everywhere but I had a very hard time finding any plants...and when I did...there were have a dozen caterpillars feeding on one tiny plant.

This is a photo of the native aristolochia erecta (swanflower) - it truly is a tiny plant and blends in so well with the grass and weeds.

~ Cat