WANT TO HELP MONARCHS? MAKE SURE YOUR MILKWEED IS NATIVE
An article in Science Magazine this week explains that despite gardener’s best intentions, back yard gardeners that are planting milkweed may in fact be endangering the struggling Monarch butterflies because they are planting the wrong milkweed. The only species of milkweed widely available in the US is Asclepias curassavica. It survives the winter in the southern US, tempting Monarchs not to migrate. It also harbors a parasitic infection that kills them. Monarchs infected with a parasite don’t survive migration down to Mexico, so this would normally limit any spread of the parasite. But since some of the Monarchs are spending the winter on the tropical milkweed in Texas and the gulf states, the parasitic infection is becoming rampant and threatening further a species already on the brink due to habitat loss.
The good news is that what backyard gardeners are doing is making a huge impact, and this is easy to solve: plant native milkweed.
Native milkweeds:
1. Common milkweed Asclepias syriaca L.
Synonym(s): Asclepias intermedia, Asclepias kansana, Asclepias syriaca var. kansana
2. Butterfly milkweed or Butterfly weed Asclepias tuberosa
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