Well, I learned something new and I figured I should share it with you folks. I'm always harping on the need to plant native host plants, and to be particularly careful what you plant for the Pipevine Swallowtail. Well, I was going through one of my old butterfly books (by old I mean 1920's) and it said a plant called Asarum canadense was a host plant. "What is this?", I thought! That's not an Aristolochia! But it is in the Aristolochiaceae family, just not the Aristolochia genus. But the Pipevine Swallowtail still likes it just fine. Commonly known as Canadian Wild Ginger, this plant has no hope of growing in Florida.
But for my Northen gardening friends, I wanted to make you aware that this plant hosts the Pipevine ST so get out there and plant some! Also, don't confuse it with actual ginger and try eating it. There's a reason the caterpillars ingest aristolochic acids - like Britney Spears, they're toxic! So let the caterpillars munch them instead. Here's the plant database entry:
Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense)
And for a source of seeds, plus a handy map that shows where this plant will grow, check out one of my favorite new vendors, Everwilde Farms:
http://www.everwilde.com/store....
I guess I should dust off the old books and read them occasionally, huh? You learn a lot of interesting information from old texts. I have other old books about wildflowers and even one on Gesneriads (African Violet family). You can also find some fun old books on Google books (for free!) if that sort of thing interests you. I find it interesting to see how the science has advanced and yet, at the same time, some of the knowledge has been lost. And while Spicebush Swallowtail might be a more accurate name, I'm still sort of partial to the Green Cloud Swallowtail (what it used to be called).
