Posts Tagged: broadleaf milkweed
Wait! Take Me With You!
The honey bee struggled, but couldn't free herself from a broadleaf milkweed blossom in our pollinator garden. Had a predator nailed her? Or was the bee dying of natural causes? What was happening? Two hours later we returned. The bee, now in a frenzy, was still stuck. We offered her sips of...
A honey bee carrying milkweed pollinia. It resembles a wishbone. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
IIt's easy to get trapped in the sticky reproductive structure of a milkweed. This one was stuck for two hours.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A honey bee gathering nectar on a broadleaf milkweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A honey bee's early morning visit to a milkweed. Note the trapped leg. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A honey bee, with milkweed pollinia attached, resting on broadleaf milkweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Got Milkweed?
If you grow milkweed in your yard, you probably have some very special tenants, monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus). As just about every kindergarten student knows, milkweed (Asclepias spp,) is their larval host plant. Without milkweed, no monarchs. Carl Linnaeus named the genus for the...
A monarch butterfly sipping nectar from a broadleaf milkweed, Asclepias speciosa. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The milkweed is so named for its milky juice, consisting of a latex containing alkaloids and other complex compounds. Carl Linnaeus named the genus for the Greek god of healing, Asciepius. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The glow of a monarch butterfly is like a stained glass window.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)