Introduction

The preserve is a managed site, in constant change with regards to the growth and establishment of plants and the nature and movement of wildlife.  The butterfly garden established on the edge near the east entrance to the Preserve is approximately twenty-meters-by-twenty-meters in area.  A primitive stone wall barrier protects plants and wildlife from mowing and potential environmental hazzards.  Observations should be made from behind the stone edging toward the sidewalk and street.  All of the areas designated as learning stations can be seen from just outside the rock wall barrier. Please do not touch or in any way harm the plants or wildlife. Species to be found in the butterfly garden are fragile and sensitive to handling.  A large butterfly with a number 1 - 12 indicates each of the learning points of information. This field guide presents an overview of some of the important plants found in the butterfly garden and their associated relationships with butterflies.  To refer to the inventory of butterflies observed or captured in the FIU Preserve for further information about butterflies, click here.

Learning Stations

1 Blue porterweed (Stachytarpheta jamaicensis) - A shrub that grows to three or four feet in height, the blue porterweed can be found naturally in open woodlands, clearings, and in disturbed, well-drained areas.  It is a fairly long-lived perennial.  It reseeds after being planted, but it does not usually become a pest.  Its flowers are generally open in the morning and closed in the afternoon, but it blooms year-round.  It is used as a larval host plant by the  mangrove buckeye (Junonia evarete) and as a source of nectar by the cloudless sulfur (Phoebis sennae).
 
 

2 Coontie (Zamia floridana) - A shrub two to three feet in height, the coontie can grow in full sunlight or shade.  It occurs naturally in open pine woodlands and in coastal woodlands.  It looks like a fern or a palm, but is actually a cycad, an ancient coniferous plant.  It serves as the larval host plant of the rare atala butterfly (Eumaeus atala).

3  Camphorweed or Telegraphweed (Heterotheca subaxillaris) - Camphorweedis an odoriferous variable annual or biennal herb to three feet tall or more. The stems of the camphorweed are branched, rough, and sticky. Flower heads of ray and disk florets yellow. Fruit an achene.  Flowering time is January - December.  Habitat includes vacant lots, roadsides, pastures, pine flatwoods, and coastal scrubs and dunes.

4 Lantana (Lantana involucrate pictured) - The shrub lantana can grow to three feet,  and it has clusters of pink and orange flowers and spiny stems. It grows best in sunlight.  Its natural habitat is woods clearings, especially in pinelands. Its flowers attract many different butterflies such as the zebra longwing and julia.
 
 

5 Pentas (Pentas lanceolata) - Pentas average three feet in height and bloom all year. They attract many species of butterflies including swallowtails and certain species of skipper butterflies as well as sphinx moths.
 
 

6  Live oak (Quercus virginiana) - This large tree can grow to 50 - 60 feet and grows best in sun to part shade.  The live oak shows pendulous, yellowish catkins to 3 inches long when it blooms.  It produces 3/4-inch edible acorns which is a major food source for wildlife.  The leathery leaves, narrow and oval, can reach 4-5 inches in length on various new shoots.  They are dark green above and pale green underneath.  The live oak is a dominant tree in the open woodlands.  The flowers of the live oak are a good nectar source, while providing larval food for the brown duskywing (Erynnis horatius), gray hairstreak (Strymon melinus), southern oak hairsteak (Fixenia favonius), and white m hairstreak (Parrhasius m-album).

7  Firebush (Hamelia patens) - Considered a small tree, the firebush can grow to heights of ten feet or more.  It grows best in full light or partial shade, though it the leaves bleach in full sunlight.  Its natural habitat is the forest edge or in the under-story.  It is easily recognizable by its clusters of bright-red, tubular flowers.  Like all plants in the learning stations, it occurs naturally in South Florida and, of course, is a superb butterfly plant.  It takes damp or dry soil, and, because it is prone to aphids and lubber grasshoppers, it is best used as a background plant.

Firebush serves as a nectar source for the:
zebra longwing  http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/lepid/bflyusa/usa/64.htm
eastern black swallowtail  http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/lepid/bflyusa/fl/895.htm
and large orange sulfur butterflies.
 
 

8  Spanish needle (Bidens spp.) - Also known as the beggar-ticks, the Spanish needle is a wildflower that grows to two or three feet in height.  It thrives in full sunlight, and is commonly found on roadsides and in disturbed areas.  It is a common lawn weed, but also a crucial butterfly plant.  Removing seed heads prevents spreading and encourages flower production.  It is used as a nectar source by the gulf fritillary (Agraulis vanillae), cloudless sulfur (Phoebis sennae), queen (Danaus gilippus), large orange sulfur (Phoebis agarithe), white peacock (Anartia jatrophae), long-tailed skipper (Urbanus proteus), and phaon crescent (Phyciodes phaon) butterflies.
 
 

9   Wild tamarind (Lysiloma latisiliqua) - A large tree, the wild tamarind can grow to fifty or sixty feet in height.  It does best in full sunlight, and is a dominant tree in native woodlands, especially in Key Largo and the Upper Keys.  It is rather fast-growing and particularly attractive.  It propagates by seed.  The large orange sulfur butterfly (Phoebis agarithe) uses it as a larval host plant.

10 Corky-stemmed Passion-flower (Passiflora suberosa) is a vine with smooth branches and axillary tendrils.  Flowers are usually solitary in the leaf axils, greenish with yellow and purple.  The raw fruit of its purplish black berries is edible.  The zebra butterfly lays its eggs on this and other passion flowers.
 
 

11                    Desert Cassia (Senna polyphylla) is a larval and nectar plant for several kinds of butterflies, including sulphurs.
 
 

12 Wild Coffee (Pyschotria nervosa) is the most common species of wild coffee in Florida.  It attracks many types of butterflies to its flowers and birds to its fruit.  Wild Coffee grows from 5-10 feet and contain small white flowers in clusters, appearing in spring and summer.  Its berries are oval and red about 1/2 inch long.
 
 

Helpful Links

To read excerpts from an article about the Preserve Butterfly Garden in the FIU student newspaper, The Beacon (July 31, 2006),  click here.

To explore a comprehensive web site about establishing school gardens and Butterfly Garden Basics, click here.

To read a neat article about Butterfly Gardening in Florida,  click here.

Acknowledgments, click here.

Bibliography, click here.