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Queen Butterfly

Flowers of common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) in a garden, a West Virginia Milkweed.

11 West Virginia Milkweeds (Asclepias spp.) to Grow for Monarch Butterflies

There are eleven species of West Virginia milkweeds (Asclepias spp.). Milkweeds are an important host species for Monarch, Queen, and Soldier Butterflies. The Monarch butterfly in particular uses the cardenolides found in the milky sap of milkweeds to give an unpleasant taste to predators. These plants are also an important nectar source to all insects visiting your pollinator garden.

Queen Butterfly on white flower.

The Royal, Stately, and Elegant Queen Butterfly (Danaus gilippus)

The Queen butterfly is found in North America around Texas and the states bordering the Gulf of Mexico. Rarely, individuals will go north and in 2002 and 2003, some individuals were located in the Philadelphia and Reading areas of Pennsylvania (Monroe, James and David Wright. 2017. Butterflies of Pennsylvania, a field guide. University of Pittsburgh Press). It is part of the same genus as the Monarch butterfly, Danaus, and has seven recognized subspecies (Wikipedia).

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