Gulf Fritillary host plants.

Mark Herdering herdering at pobox.com
Sun Jun 28 23:22:10 EDT 1998


Last year I planted a passion vine advertised as a "non-fruiting " variety
in order to attract Fritillarys to the garden. Many visited but the larvae
would die within days of hatching. I soon found out that certain species of
Passion vine are toxic to Fritillary larvae.

I've since planted a "fruiting" variety but it flowered and appeared
exactly the same as the plant I had last year (which I've since removed).
Not one butterfly has visited the plant this year. I called the nursery and
they told me I could dig it up and return it, which I did.

My question is which passaflora sub species(s) specifically is toxic to
Fritillarys. I saw a beautiful plant today at the nursery with fire engine
red flowers and it was labeled at passaflora vitofolia. Is this safe for
Fritillarys?

Thanks in advance.

Mark



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