Fritillary on p. incense

21 years ago

I grabbed this pic of a Gulf Fritillary emerging from its pupa on a fast-growing sucker of my p. incense.
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In the two weeks since I took this shot, we've had close to a dozen caterpillars move on to the pupa stage, and most have emerged as butterflies. I talk a little bit more about it in my blog.

Question: Is p. vitifolia unsuitable for Gulf Fritillary? I ask because the p. incense sucker has been stripped clean by the caterpillars, and I've since noticed chew marks and the occasional poor-looking caterpillar on it. But the damage is pretty minor, and the caterpillars don't seem to last. Also, the original p. incense vine is in full sun, and still doesn't show more than a couple of caterpillars (the sucker was mostly shaded). Do the butterflies/caterpillars prefer shade? Just curious.

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Comment (1)

singhin
21 years ago
Great pic. I had a couple of those myself this last weekend.

As for the Vitifolia, I have read somewhere possibly somewhere in this Passiflora forum that the Vitifolias are poisonous to the cats. I'm not sure. I have 3 Vitifolias and I don't think I have cats on any them. They are on the Amethysts, Caerulas, Incenses, Lady Margaret, Victoria, Coral Glow. You might want to ask on the Butterfly forum about that.

As for the sun vs. shade, depending on the size of your other Incense, I would think that if the cats get too hot, they will seek shade somewhere on the plant. Maybe under the leaves. At some point the plant itself will shade itself somewhere. I do find the cats under the leaves sometimes.

Butterflies do need the sun to fly, so I don't think full sun would be a problem for them. I live in zone 8 high desert of So. Calif. and don't seem to have a problem with the full sun issue for either the caterpillars or the butterflies.

Don't know whether any of that helps you, these are just my personal observations and/or opinions.

I would probably go ahead and relocate the cats from the Incense sucker and the Vitifolia to the larger Incense plant. I very often relocate the cats if they're eating the buds and not the leaves.

Debbie
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