Finally some cats!

[JulieRaeJ]

Originally Posted by dapjwy

No problem. Thank you for the correction.

When I was reading up on natives in my teens and early twenties, I recognized a lot more of the botanical names--in print, but I rarely tried to pronounce them. So, when hearing them pronounced, I'd rarely recognized the name.

If you heard me pronounce some of them you probably would not recognize the Botanical names! My language study was German rather than Latin.

[turttle]

I have read that many butterflies do seem to have a preference for one plant species when they are offered a choice among several acceptable host plants. And they do have different preferences in different areas/populations. It could be a "remembered" thing, or it might be that the preferred host plant is the one that is an active growth state when the female arrives. Caterpillars do prefer fresh new growth.

I had monarch caterpillars on some swamp milkweed, which got stripped, and tried to put them onto butterfly weed (a. tuberosa) and they wanted no part of it. They completely refused to eat and I had to go and buy the the "right" kind of milkweed. Reminded me of my kids when they were toddlers.

I've been finding black swallowtail cats on my queen anne's lace.

[dapjwy]

Originally Posted by JulieRaeJ

If you heard me pronounce some of them you probably would not recognize the Botanical names! My language study was German rather than Latin.

LOL! I *took* Latin in high school and can only say "the boy is a farmer". I had planned on taking German but the teacher my siblings had, had retired by the time I got there.

I took Latin, because I was (half-heartedly?) thinking about being a vet...as many kids probably do.

~smile~ I find myself wanting to hear your guttural pronunciation of some botanical names!