Is Your Pipevine Plant Swallowtail-safe?
There are many types of Aristolochia you can plant to entice pipevine swallowtails (Battus philenor) to host their caterpillar babies in your garden.
However, tropical pipevine plants are too toxic for pipevine swallowtails. Some gardeners choose the exotic tropical varieties for their showy flowers, but this can be counter-productive to a thriving butterfly garden.
What’s unfortunate about Aristolochia gigantea (giant Dutchman’s pipe), is that pipevine butterflies will still lay eggs on it. The eggs will hatch, but many of the caterpillars won’t survive past their first instar due to high plant toxicity or refusal to eat the distasteful leaves.
So, if you’re interested in adding a pipevine host plant to your garden try one of these swallowtail-safe species instead.
Click on any of the bold orange links to buy seeds or plants:
Pipevine Swallowtail Host Plants
1.
