Monarchs and Milkweed from Mexico Part II

Ornament
Monarch and Milkweed Ornament, by Cornell University undergraduate: Shujie (Silvia) Li

Hello from Oaxaca!  A few updates on monarchs and milkweed, February 2018…

Click here for my photo blog on Monarchs and Milkweed in Mexico Part II

Listen to this new podcast and interview about monarchs and milkweed on Brad Grim’s Grow Milkweed forum.

See this great book review in American Entomologist

And finally, a bit of humor, I think. Illinois has changed its state wildflower to milkweed.  When I asked my colleague, Prof. May Berenbaum of the University of Illinois about this, here is what she said: “??!! What happened to the violet?? It has been the state flower since 1908. If lawmakers were looking for a nice conservation story, it’s the host plant of the regal fritillary, which is threatened in Illinois. I guess “monarch” sounds more noble than “regal”? If there is one thing that’s appealing about changing the state flower to milkweed, it’s that I think we’d be the only state where one state symbol eats the other…Nobody said politics was a pretty business…” Yes, Illinois is one of the 7 US States with the monarch as their state insect!

milkweed seeds
milkweed seeds by Shujie (Silvia) Li

Check out Shujie (Silvia) Li’s botanical art site

 

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