Queen Butterfly

I have read in many, many articles that Gregg's Mistflower is a magnet for butterflies.  But honestly, in the two or three years I have grown them, I just haven't seen the attraction.  Every once and a while, a few small moths collect on the plants, but nothing like the collection of butterflies and bees that swarm to other plants in bloom in the yard.

Today, however, I am a believer.  There was a Queen Butterfly that kept coming back to sip the nectar from this purple plant.

Queen butterflies look very similar to Monarch butterflies, and they even lay their eggs on milkweed as well.  But the white dots on the open wings are a give away that this beauty, while still regal, is a Queen and not a monarch :)

Gregg's Mistflower, a drought resistant Texas native, has a symbolic (Kyle says it is actually mutualistic) relationship with the Queen Butterfly.  The butterfly pollinates the Mistflower.  But also the Mistflower imparts a natural compound (intermedine) that is then broken down by the male Queen butterfly into a female-attracting pheromone.  Then, the male passes the compound to the female when mating, which makes her eggs poisonous to predators.  

How cool is that? (Plus, seriously, who can resist a polka-dot butterfly???) Source