Milkweed
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I found this monarch butterfly carefully tending the coneflowers in a Missouri flowerbed.
I seem to be seeing more monarchs this year. I recently learned the monarch is also called by a variety of other names – milkweed, common tiger, wanderer, and black veined brown.
You can get a better, larger view of this one by clicking on the photo.
All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me for digital purchase and licensing options.
Gone to Seed
At the end of its season, the milkweed distributes the produce of its summer labor – the potential milkweed crop of next season.
I snapped this image on a recent trip to the woods in my area. I was out to capture some fall color and this milkweed caught my eye. I found it on the edge of the woods, as I was leaving. The fine fibers of the seeds were slowly undulating in the light breeze. It may not be as exciting as brightly colored leaves, but I thought it was a very cool, and beautiful, view of nature.
The milkweed, is an American genus of herbaceous perennial, dicotyledonous plants that contains over 140 known species. Milkweed is an important plant because so many species of insects depend on it. For example, monarch butterflies, milkweed bugs, and milkweed leaf beetles only eat milkweed, and could not survive without it.
You can get a better look at the details in this image by clicking on the photo. A larger version will open in a new browser tab.
All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me for digital purchase and licensing options.
Wild and Woolly
This is one hungry, little dust-mop! Look at how much of that leaf it’s already consumed. It is a Milkweed Tussock Caterpillar.
When I took this picture, I didn’t notice the interesting, synchronized curl to those orange and white tufts of hair. It just looked like your run-of-the-mill fuzzy caterpillar. Enlarging the image, often reveals surprising aspects of the insect world.
By the way, the head is that shiny black part on the edge of the leaf, mostly covered by hair. (He needs to trim his bangs.)
This was actually in a very difficult spot to photograph due to other vegetation being in the way. To try and get a better shot, I slowly, gently bent the leaf he was on. They must not have sticky feet because, at the slightest angel, it immediately slid off the leaf and into the dense weeds below…never to be seen again.
To really see the detail of this creature, click on the photo and a larger version will open in a new browser tab.