Wildflower Wednesday November 2013: Will the real Boneset...

On the fourth Wednesday of each month I join Gail at Clay and Limestone for Wildflower Wednesday to celebrate flowering native plants in my garden.  November's choice is Boneset.

Researching plants is fun but when I find multiple common or botanical names for the same or similar plants it can be confusing.  Such is the case with Bonesets.  Boneset, Throughwort (Thoroughwort), Fragrant Mistflower, Havana Snakeroot, Agueweed, Crosswort, Indian Sage, are all names for Eupatorium havenense.   Very fragrant and highly attractive to bees, the white blossoms scent the air each fall.

The term Boneset derives from early medicinal uses when a tea made from the plant was used to treat Denque Fever which was also known as "breakbone fever" due to the pain it caused.

Throughwort or thoroughwort apparently refers to the way the stem appears to grow through the leaf although I couldn't quite see that in my garden.

Hot wheels and butterflies

Butterflies are covering the flowers in the new wheel garden and I'm enjoying them each morning before it gets too hot.  The wheel garden was intended to turn an eyesore into eye candy with plants that can take the full-sun heat of August here in San Antonio.  It's a bonus that these heat and drought tolerant plants are also popular with butterflies.

Queen butterflies (Danaus gillippus) particularly like the blue mistflower (Conoclinium greggii).

They prefer the spent, slightly dried blooms of the mistflower so I'll hold off trimming these back for fall bloom.

Yesterday I found this Queen Butterfly caterpillar on the tropical milkweed.   I was planning to attract monarchs but there may not be any milkweed left when the monarchs begin their migration through here in a few weeks.

Queen Butterflies look a bit like their monarch cousins though they are smaller and lack the distinctive "stained glass" pattern on the wings.

Gulf Fritillaries go for the 'Fireworks' gomphrena

And the Mexican Bird of Paradise (Caesalpinia pulcherrima) is popular as well

The colors of the garden also provide great color camoflage for butterflies.  Look closely above the gomphrena and you can just see them against the green trees flitting above the flowers in the center.  (Click on the photo to enlarge.)

While researching this post I discovered the excellent Texas Butterfly Ranch blog which I highly recommend if you would like more detailed information on attracting butterflies in Central and South Texas.