Zebra Swallowtail Butterfly

10 years ago

A wonderfully informative article regarding the Zebra Swallowtail and it's host plant.

I had one Zebra Swallowtail visit my garden last year and had to ask here for the ID. I'd never seen this beautiful butterfly before and knew nothing about it. Sherry told us there must be PawPaw trees nearby. Ordered two PawPaw starts for plant out this spring with the hope of seeing another Zebra Swallowtail one day.

Saw my first butterfly yesterday, a lovely yellow Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly – Phoebis sennae. My Senna marilandica is coming up but no leaves unfurled to date. Won't be long before it is ready for mama butterfly. I have seed saved from last season so anyone wanting to grow this plant, I'd be happy to send seed for a SSAE. Thank you, Sandy, for sharing this seed with me.

Below is a photo of my Senna marilandica when it was a young seedling (click on photo to enlarge). This plant grows upright so doesn't take up a lot of ground space. A good plant for the back of the border. Also, the seed pods of this particular senna don't open on their own but stay closed so it's easy to remove them without the fear of the plant dropping seeds everywhere before you can clip the pods.

distribution range:USA: AL , AR , DC , DE , FL , GA , IA , IL , IN , KS , KY , LA , MD , MO , MS , NC , NE , OH , OK , PA , SC , TN , TX , VA , WI , WV
Native Habitat: dry roadsides, thickets, open woods

Happy Spring to all ...

Mary

Featured Answer

MissSherry

10 years ago

last modified: 10 years ago

Congrats, Mary!

My pawpaws don't grow fast. My biggest one is about ?20' tall, and it's been here a long time, maybe 15 years. Maybe pawpaws are better suited to your environment and will grow faster in Arkansas. Anyway, I'll be green with envy if you get zebra swallowtail cats! :)

Sherry

P.S. If you get a lot of eggs and don't have enough leaves to feed the the caterpillars, you know where you can send those extra eggs! :)

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Comments (6)

Mary Leek
Original Author
10 years ago
Thank you, Sherry. Will do.

Mama Zebra Swallowtail will most probably turn up her nose at my poor tiny pawpaw starts but maybe, in time, there will be enough growth to tempt her. As you explained, there must be some PawPaw trees somewhere around here so maybe I will get to see one again one day. They are certainly a beautiful butterfly.

Mary
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Tom
10 years ago
Mary, what type of PawPaws did you get? There are something like 8 different species. I think the ones that grow best where you live are the triloba. I believe that is what Sherry is referring to. These really become trees.

About ten years ago I purchased some of them and they have grown quite well on my property. The problem is that they haven't attracted any Zebra Swallowtails. It seems that these butterflies prefer different PawPaws in different areas. I have planted three or four different species of PawPaws since then, but they grow very slowly and have never attracted a Zebra. I've pretty much given up on PawPaws. I do see the Zebra Longwings when I walk or ride my bike in a nearby park. There are many native PawPaws there.
MissSherry
10 years ago
Yes, Tom is right, mine are A. triloba, but I do have one A. parviflora, which is the native type here, that has grown slowly, too. It's all the way up to about ?7' tall now! :/ I assume that the two zebra swallowtails I've seen locally came off A. parviflora.

I guess all species of pawpaws grow slowly Tom? I'm not familiar with the Florida types. I can't understand why the zebra swallowtails in your area wouldn't use yours, assuming you're growing the same type they're using locally. Maybe they're honed in on laying eggs in one exact spot, one exact group of pawpaws?

Keep those pawpaws, though Tom, don't dig them up - one day you may find zebra swallowtail caterpillars on them! :)

Sherry
Mary Leek
Original Author
10 years ago
The PawPaw starts I purchased are Asimina triloba, which are native to Arkansas.I realize I may never see another Zebra but couldn't resist the urge to purchase these little starts. It will be fun to watch them grow, er, sit with a couple of leaves on them! :-)

Mary
Tom
10 years ago
The A. Triloba grow fairly quickly, Sherry--perhaps a foot or two a year. The native ones here in Central Florida grow very slowly--maybe five or six inches a year. At most they get to be three or four feet high and wide; ones that big would be over ten years old, I believe.

I'm not going to dig up any of my Paw Paws, Sherry. They aren't hurting anything where they are now and, as you say, perhaps one day.

Yours should be pretty trees someday, Mary.
Mary Leek thanked Tom