3. Everglades White Peacock Butte
Everglades White Peacock Butte

Everglades White Peacock Butterfly chilling on a kratom leaf

@pete2000 are you a photographer or horticulturist or just a very gifted neither?  Just curious!

lol just a guy with a phone, kratom plants, and way too much free time. 

She took off, but came back when the sun came out  

@pete2000  They are adorable,  until they lays its kratom chewing katerpillers. 

 they start as a foamy looking egg mass..I caught these early...  and eventually they turn into cute again  although maybe a chewing critter might boost the defensive chemicals like Mitragynine?

last edited by peteypyro

Hopefully it won’t get too bad, and I don’t mind sharing a few leaves with them. But yeah I hear what your saying. I’ve lost whole parsley plants in a few days to caterpillars. 

Fantastic colors! Reminds me of modern art! So, are the ‘Glades their preferred habitat as the name implies?

They really are quite pretty. 

Better to share a small portion of your crop than to kill the lovely critter and spray the plant. I’m surprised the butterflies aren’t repelled by the alkaloids

@Paul-Kemp They love the fragrance of the flowers. It is part of the fertilization process of kratom seed pods. 

https://youtu.be/wJZAiOICqro

last edited by guywithtrees

@Paul-Kemp said:

<p>Fantastic colors! Reminds me of modern art! So, are the ‘Glades their preferred habitat as the name implies?</p>

 They love wetlands and are all over the Everglades year round. I used to have Cassia trees with yellow flowers that attracted Sulphur butterflies, but the last hurricane toppled them. Was hoping the yellow kratom flowers might attract them, but they haven’t shown any interest yet. 

last edited by pete2000

@pete2000 great photo, btw. Do they only live in south fla?

@peteypyro

Did a little research and it looks like they can travel fairly far north in warmers months. Also found in central and South America. But they’re all over SoFlo especially near the Everglades.

http://www.wildsouthflorida.com/white.peacock.butterfly.html#.XwXbuCUpCaM

I also have a non-butterfly variety of peacock sitting on her eggs under my dining room window now. She hasn’t shown any interest in my kratom lol. 

@guywithtrees

I promise she won’t be any trouble. When can I expect you?

how do I find your question, “@guywithtrees @Laurie did you see Fridays pick up?“. 

I think it’s a yes, but I’m not sure.  I think you meant those new baby trees?  Yes, saw them but you’d die if waiting for me to find the pix here...so my final answer is, “I dunno” lol

I heard the peahen squawking this morning and she was out of her nest. Here’s a pic of what she’s been sitting on. 

Unfortunately there was another egg carried away and cracked open on the driveway.