Black Swallowtail

March 24, 2019 00:04:52
Black Swallowtail
Growing Native with Petey Mesquitey
Black Swallowtail

Mar 24 2019 | 00:04:52

/

Show Notes

The scientific name of the black swallowtail is Papilio polyxenes. Papilio is from the Latin for butterfly and the specific epithet polyxenes is from two Greek words and I think it means many guests. I could be wrong, but I liked my translation, because it made me think of all the larvae I would see on one fennel plant and that looked like many guests to me.

If you want to attract black swallowtail butterflies to your personal habitat in southeastern Arizona, and of course you do,  simply plant some plants in the parsley family Apiaceae and I guarantee that a female black swallowtail will find your parsley or dill, lay her eggs and before you know it, you will find tiny crawling bird poops eating your parsley and dill (see photo). At our house they were on fennel (Foeniculum vulgare).

Some plants in the rue family, Rutaceae, are also larval food for black swallowtails. See if you can find a nursery that grows Thamnosa. Two species of these plants in the family are found in Arizona. Near me in Cochise County you can find Thamnosa texana on the dry rocky slopes of the Dragoons and the Mules. If you’re wandering those slopes you’ll probably see a black swallowtail or two as well.

The photos are mine. The chrysalis is attached to a brickell bush stem and the caterpillars both tiny and big, are eating our fennel. Pretty cute.

 

Other Episodes

Episode 0

March 28, 2023 00:04:35
Episode Cover

Penny Cress Saves the Day

Our one flowering wildflower on this wonderful day was the pretty perennial called penny cress or candy tufts. It is the former Thlaspi fendleri,...

Listen

Episode

March 05, 2019 00:04:58
Episode Cover

Tan My Hide with Rumex

Well, it was a cold winter, but as I sit and write this blurb it is 75 degrees outside with overnight lows in the...

Listen

Episode

September 05, 2014
Episode Cover

Finding Wild Things

Petey jabbers about cool plants and critters found in the grassland near his home, but finally hones in on a climbing milkweed vine called...

Listen