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Tips for Butterfly Gardening with Native Texas Plants
Easy to Overlook Croton, Pipevines, Frog Fruit and Cudweed

Part 1By Valleri Edelbrock, Horticulturist
Austin Parks and Recreation Department
Zilker Botanical Garden

Gardeners in Austin, Texas, could not be in a better place for experimenting with butterfly gardens. Migrating butterflies, including Monarchs, are moving through town on their way north. Many species of butterflies stay here all year round. This time of year, all of Texas is one huge wildflower nectar banquet for butterflies, but when summer comes, the flowers go to seed, and the rains stop.

Weather determines if there will be a succession of blooming wildflowers and shrubs throughout the summer. Who will be surprised if it turns out to be hot and dry this summer_ This report covers plants which you may find in your yard or nearby ditch. Do what you can to keep these plants alive if you have them, because they are not available in the plant stores. To help you identify them, these native butterfly plants will be on display at Zilker Botanical Garden. Future reports will cover the showier natives.

Bush Croton (Croton fruticulosus)is a nondescript shrubby plant common in rocky woodlands and gulches. Its flowers are insignificant, its fruits are small and green, and in summer the leaves start to look tattered and shredded. That means that the Goatweed Butterfly eggs have hatched, and the shy caterpillars are hiding in the rolled up leaves.

The Goatweed Butterfly (Anaea andria) is often overlooked, because the wings remain folded most of the time giving it the appearance very much like a dead leaf. When frightened, the butterfly flashes its wings open, revealing the bright orange dorsal side. This flash of orange is supposed to frighten unwanted visitors, giving the butterfly a chance to escape.

Most gardeners have a place that just doesn't grow anything. It is too wet, or too dry, or too sunny, or too shady, etc. Try Frog Fruit (Phyla incisa)in this challenging location. Frog Fruit is not much to look at, but it is green, stays low, and is forgiving of neglect. It produces tiny white flowers all summer long, which are much loved by the smaller butterflies. This is an aggressive spreader, and can be a pest if it receives good growing conditions. Treat it kindly for 21 days to get it established, then give it the neglect it tolerates. If there are wildflowers0. sprouting in your yard in the spring, you might already have Frog Fruit too.

The Phaon Crescent Butterfly (Phyciodes phaon)is one of the many local residents you are not likely to see unless you have a patch of its favorite plant, Frog Fruit, to attract it. This is a smallish orange and brown butterfly with black accents. If the underside of the hindwing is chalk-colored to yellowish cream, you probably have Phaon Crescent Butterflies in your garden. It will lay large clusters of eggs on Frog Fruit, but only very few survive to adulthood. The caterpillars are olive with brown and cream-colored stripes, and branching spines.

Some day you may spy a caterpillar that looks like an escapee from a grade B horror movie. The Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor) caterpillar is a sure sign that pipevine plants are in the area. One of the local pipevines is a nondescript woodland vine called Woolly Pipevine (Aristolochia tomentosa). I have never seen this vine in bloom. The blooms are small, greenish flowers that look like Sherlock Holmes' pipe. If your vine has pretty flowers, red or black fruit, shiny leaves, or thorns -- it is not Woolly Pipevine.

The most common pipevine in Austin is the Swan Flower (Aristolochia erecta) It is found in lawns and roadsides east of Interstate 35. Swan Flower looks very much like grass with homely caterpillars covering it. The flowers are green and brown with pouch-like or pipe-like structures. The caterpillars eat the flowers first, so the presence of the caterpillar is one of the best identifying characteristics for this plant. If you try to transplant Swan Flower, be aware that there is a large tuber underground which should not be damaged.

The Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly (Battus philenor) is the large, black and blue butterfly with the six large orange spots on the underside of its hindwing. The caterpillar is black or rusty brown with waving antennae in front, and protruding tubercles with orange dots up and down its back. When it is feeding in warm weather the antennae and tubercles wave around, creating quite a show.

Cudweed (Gnaphalium purpureum) is a weed. It will never achieve the lofty status of "wildflower". It is found in sunny, disturbed areas that are seldom mowed. It looks like a short, gray-white weed with cotton candy where its flowers should be. It is a cool weather plant that tends to disappear in the summer. This works out perfectly for the Painted Lady Butterfly, which visits Austin only in cool weather.

The Painted Lady Butterfly (Vanessa cardui ) arrives in the fall, winters over in Austin, and moves north when hot weather arrives. The underside of its wing is a tree bark camouflage pattern with a pink-orange streak across the forewing. The dorsal surface of the wing is an orange background with white spots decorating black wing tips. The caterpillars come in a variety of dark colors. They have rows of branched spines and hide in nests of folded leaves. Painted Lady caterpillars can also be found on thistles and nettles.

A word of warning to the beginner native plant collector. Get your neighbor's permission before digging his plants. People have strong feelings about plant rustlers. The City of Austin also has strong feelings about plant rustlers in nature preserves, greenbelts and parks.

	Bush Croton (Croton fruticulosus)is a nondescript shrubby plant common in rocky woodlands and gulches. Its flowers are insignificant, its fruits are small and green, and in summer the leaves start to look tattered and shredded. That means that the Goatweed Butterfly eggs have hatched, and the shy caterpillars are hiding in the rolled up leaves.
	The Goatweed Butterfly (Anaea andria) is often overlooked, because the wings remain folded most of the time giving it the appearance very much like a dead leaf. When frightened, the butterfly flashes its wings open, revealing the bright orange dorsal side. This flash of orange is supposed to frighten unwanted visitors, giving the butterfly a chance to escape.
	Most gardeners have a place that just doesn't grow anything. It is too wet, or too dry, or too sunny, or too shady, etc. Try Frog Fruit (Phyla incisa)in this challenging location. Frog Fruit is not much to look at, but it is green, stays low, and is forgiving of neglect. It produces tiny white flowers all summer long, which are much loved by the smaller butterflies. This is an aggressive spreader, and can be a pest if it receives good growing conditions. Treat it kindly for 21 days to get it established, then give it the neglect it tolerates. If there are wildflowers0. sprouting in your yard in the spring, you might already have Frog Fruit too.
	The Phaon Crescent Butterfly (Phyciodes phaon)is one of the many local residents you are not likely to see unless you have a patch of its favorite plant, Frog Fruit, to attract it. This is a smallish orange and brown butterfly with black accents. If the underside of the hindwing is chalk-colored to yellowish cream, you probably have Phaon Crescent Butterflies in your garden. It will lay large clusters of eggs on Frog Fruit, but only very few survive to adulthood. The caterpillars are olive with brown and cream-colored stripes, and branching spines.
	Some day you may spy a caterpillar that looks like an escapee from a grade B horror movie. The Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor) caterpillar is a sure sign that pipevine plants are in the area. One of the local pipevines is a nondescript woodland vine called Woolly Pipevine (Aristolochia tomentosa). I have never seen this vine in bloom. The blooms are small, greenish flowers that look like Sherlock Holmes' pipe. If your vine has pretty flowers, red or black fruit, shiny leaves, or thorns -- it is not Woolly Pipevine.
	The most common pipevine in Austin is the Swan Flower (Aristolochia erecta) It is found in lawns and roadsides east of Interstate 35. Swan Flower looks very much like grass with homely caterpillars covering it. The flowers are green and brown with pouch-like or pipe-like structures. The caterpillars eat the flowers first, so the presence of the caterpillar is one of the best identifying characteristics for this plant. If you try to transplant Swan Flower, be aware that there is a large tuber underground which should not be damaged.
	The Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly (Battus philenor) is the large, black and blue butterfly with the six large orange spots on the underside of its hindwing. The caterpillar is black or rusty brown with waving antennae in front, and protruding tubercles with orange dots up and down its back. When it is feeding in warm weather the antennae and tubercles wave around, creating quite a show.
	Cudweed (Gnaphalium purpureum) is a weed. It will never achieve the lofty status of "wildflower". It is found in sunny, disturbed areas that are seldom mowed. It looks like a short, gray-white weed with cotton candy where its flowers should be. It is a cool weather plant that tends to disappear in the summer. This works out perfectly for the Painted Lady Butterfly, which visits Austin only in cool weather.
	The Painted Lady Butterfly (Vanessa cardui ) arrives in the fall, winters over in Austin, and moves north when hot weather arrives. The underside of its wing is a tree bark camouflage pattern with a pink-orange streak across the forewing. The dorsal surface of the wing is an orange background with white spots decorating black wing tips. The caterpillars come in a variety of dark colors. They have rows of branched spines and hide in nests of folded leaves. Painted Lady caterpillars can also be found on thistles and nettles.