I know you'll think I'm crazy for saying this because monarch larva only eat milkweed, but I definitely saw some eating a vine in my yard. Monarch larva have a distinct look so cannot be mistaken.
This is the plant they were on:
[img]https://azuki.fileave.com/monarch%20on%20bindweed.jpg[/img][img]https://azuki.fileave.com/bindweed.jpg[/img]
The vine often has small 2-3 mm diameter burrs on it that stick to everything. It has big ugly seed pods in the fall. I think it had unimpressive white flowers in the spring.
- rainbowgardener
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I hate to tell you, but you're gonna wanna get rid of it if it's the only one. And gather any and all seed pods. We have that vine. It's extremely invasive, comes back every year with a vengance, and will overtake other plants. It'll climb on just about anything. Also, the roots will extend out far, and I mean far and sprout up out of no where, so you gotta dig up the whole root system. I've pulled up one in the middle of my yard that ran 15 feet to the fence where it was all over the fence. Hard to control, so I basically gave up and let it live on my fences, just no where else. As long as I keep it there, it doesn't want to spread as much.
Last edited by a0c8c on Mon Aug 31, 2009 9:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Thanks for the ID applestar! I had no clue milkweed could grow in vine form like that. Blue vine milkweed... hm... the USDA database says its native to here.
I'll transplant one of them into my butterfly garden and get it a trellis. Even if its a little invasive like everyone says, if it feeds the larva of pretty butterflies, I don't want to cut it down.
I'll transplant one of them into my butterfly garden and get it a trellis. Even if its a little invasive like everyone says, if it feeds the larva of pretty butterflies, I don't want to cut it down.
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Interesting; I just today saw a butterfly (not sure which type; it was lemon yellow, mostly solid with flecks of reddish brown) sipping from what I thought were wild morning glories but I am suspecting now they are blue bindweed. (I kind of like it... the flowers are gorgeous... but if they're that invasive, I guess I should kill it!)
I think we're talking about two different vines. The one pictured is definatley the milkweed(the seed pods comment gave it away, we've got hundreds of seeds falling along our fences), but the one GeorgiaGirl mention with the Morning Glory flower is Bindweed. I'm assuming she has both growing, like we're stuck with.
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- applestar
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OK, what I have so far is that it's the purple flowered Cynanchum louiseae Kartesz & Gandhi formerly Cynanchum nigrum (Black Swallow-wort) that is toxic to Monarch larvae.
[img]https://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/img/cylo1a.jpg[/img]
https://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/cylo1.htm
It makes sense since this plant is NOT NATIVE to the Americas but is from Europe.
The NATIVE (to eastern U.S.) white flowered, heart-leaved Cynanchum laeve (Sand Vine/Blue Vine Milkweed) is OK.
[img]https://www.monarchwatch.org/grafx/milkweed/cynan.jpg[/img]
https://www.monarchwatch.org/milkweed/guide/cynan.htm
[img]https://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/img/cylo1a.jpg[/img]
https://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/cylo1.htm
It makes sense since this plant is NOT NATIVE to the Americas but is from Europe.
The NATIVE (to eastern U.S.) white flowered, heart-leaved Cynanchum laeve (Sand Vine/Blue Vine Milkweed) is OK.
[img]https://www.monarchwatch.org/grafx/milkweed/cynan.jpg[/img]
https://www.monarchwatch.org/milkweed/guide/cynan.htm
Thanks for posting that photo applestar, I'm glad to see it's doing so well. Now that I've identified it, I've found tons of little blue vine milkweed plants in my lawn; I've been trying to transplant them to better spots.
The monarch larvae I saw on the blue vine milkweed last year were big and plump. Some looked big enough to start doing the metamorphosis thing. So the blue vine milkweed clearly doesn't stunt their growth.
The monarch larvae I saw on the blue vine milkweed last year were big and plump. Some looked big enough to start doing the metamorphosis thing. So the blue vine milkweed clearly doesn't stunt their growth.