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| Sweet smelling Honeyvine. |
I noticed that the Honeyvine (
Cynanchum laeve) was in bloom today. I always seem to notice its sweet scent before seeing the vine or its small flowers. It can be quite abundant, actually sprawling aggressively over other vegetation when in ideal condition, but not always noticed until you smell its blooms.
Honeyvine goes by a variety of other names: Honeyvine Milkweed, Climbing Milkweed, Bluevine Milkweed, Smooth Swallow-wort, Sandvine, Smooth Anglepod, Peavine, Dog's-collar,
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| Honeyvine Milkweed flowers. |
Many people do not know that this native vine is also a host plant for the Monarch butterfly caterpillar. While not in the same Genus,
Asclepias, it is in the same milkweed family. They may not like it as much as Common Milkweed, but it is comparable to some others and maybe more preferred than some.
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| A Monarch caterpillar feeding on Climbing Milkweed. |
So this is an interesting vine with lots of things going for it, if you have the space to let it run wild.
It is a host plant for the Monarch butterfly, too!
ReplyDeleteThansk, I had that in my original article and for some reason the last section got dropped. I've added it back on.
DeleteThanks for your article. I like the fragrance of the blooms, but right now the vines on my fence are kinda stinky--and get the dogs stinky, too. They like to rub on the vines and leaves. I think I am smelling sap from all the aphids all over it. It has just gone to seed; the pods are still green. Anybody else notice this funky smell?
ReplyDelete