Butterflies and turtlehead

[Matthew Shepherd (Xerces Society)]

Hi,

I just received a question about whether turtlehead (Chelone) is poisonous to butterflies.

"... a concern regarding butterflies and turtlehead?  I've heard that the pink/red turtlehead is poisonous to the butterflies or the butterfly larvae?  Or something to the effect that if the adult feeds on this particular turtlehead the larvae die? Is there any substance to this?  Should we be planting only the white turtlehead?"

I know that white turtlehead is a hostplant for Baltimore checkerspot, but haven't heard anything about red turtlehead being poisonous. Can anyone comment on this?

Thanks,
    Matthew

______________________________________________________
The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation
The Xerces Society is an international nonprofit organization that 
protects wildlife through the conservation of invertebrates and their 
habitat. To join the Society, make a contribution, or read about our 
work, please visit www.xerces.org.

Matthew Shepherd
Senior Conservation Associate
4828 SE Hawthorne Boulevard, Portland, OR 97215, USA
Tel: 503-232 6639 Cell: 503-807 1577 Fax: 503-233 6794
Email: mdshepherd at xerces.org 
______________________________________________________

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/private/leps-l/attachments/20081019/545279d9/attachment.html