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| Monarch butterfly on Baccharis solicifolia |
By Carlos Alvarez-Pereyra, biologist.
Last August, me and a colleague were sampling plants in one of Saltillo’s arroyo named “El Cuatro” back in northern Mexico..
Among several flowering plants in and out the bed of this arroyo we noticed that flowering Baccharis was visited by harvesting honey bees (Apis mellifera) and feeding Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) at midday.
The presence of at least one migrating Monarch in this time of the year is quite rare because migration normally starts late October – early November in this latitude. Residents honey bees harvest all year long on all kind of flowers.
Honeybees on Baccharis
Baccharis salicifolia is a blooming shrub native to the desert southwest of the United States and northern Mexico, as well as parts of South America. This is a large bush with sticky foliage which bears plentiful small, fuzzy, pink or red-tinged white flowers which are highly attractive to butterflies.
I thought it could be helpful to some colleague working with these species somewhere in the world.
