[PCA] New Regional Monarch Nectar Plant Guides Now Available

[DeBarros, Nelson]

Matthew,
Thank you for sharing. Given that your lists are anticipated to “be useful for land managers who are implementing large-scale monarch restoration projects,” would it be possible to remove Echinacea purpurea and Liatris scariosa from the list for the Northeast OR indicate that they are only appropriate for residential landscapes?
Echinacea species are not native to the New England states and ornamental escapes (or purposeful introductions) are currently limited in distribution. Additionally, Liatris scariosa is closely related to and likely capable of hybridizing with Liatris novae-angliae (syn. Liatris borealis) – one of only a few plants considered endemic to the northeast - which also happens to be listed as Endangered, Threatened, or of Special Concern in CT, MA, ME, NH, & NY.

Regards,
Nelson

Nelson DeBarros
Botanist/Plant Ecologist
Connecticut Natural Diversity Data Base
Bureau of Natural Resources
Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
79 Elm Street, Hartford, CT 06106-5127
P: 860.424.3585|F: 860.424.4070 |E: nelson.debarros at ct.gov<mailto:nelson.debarros at ct.gov>

From: native-plants [mailto:native-plants-bounces at lists.plantconservation.org] On Behalf Of Matthew Shepherd
Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2016 3:38 PM
To: native-plants at lists.plantconservation.org
Subject: [PCA] New Regional Monarch Nectar Plant Guides Now Available

Monarchs are in decline across North America. With milkweed loss in the east identified as a major contributing factor to this decline, the national call to action has understandably focused primarily on planting milkweeds, which are the required host plants for monarch caterpillars. Yet while restoring the millions of milkweed plants that have been lost is certainly an important strategy, monarchs need more than milkweed to support them throughout the year. Adult monarchs need nectar to fuel them during spring migration and breeding and to build up stores of fat which sustain them during fall migration and winter.

There are many sources of information about which species of native milkweeds are best for your region, but information on which nectar plants are best for monarchs has not been available for large areas of the U.S. Working with the Monarch Joint Venture and the National Wildlife Federation, the Xerces Society has created a series of nectar plant lists for the continental U.S. based on a database of nearly 24,000 monarch nectaring observations. Each of the 15 regional guides highlights species that are commercially available, are native to and widely found in the region, and are known to be hardy or relatively easy to grow in a garden setting.

Read more about this project on our blog, http://www.xerces.org/blog/to-save-monarchs-we-need-more-than-just-milkweed/, or find a nectar plant guide for your region at http://www.xerces.org/monarch-nectar-plants/.

These plant lists are works-in-progress and benefit from your help. You can submit additional monarch nectaring observations via our online survey, https://docs.google.com/a/xerces.org/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfC85E-btqsGSrt16TSAogICzLV2PvOlrID-un-m0jWJpJQkA/viewform?c=0&w=1.

We are grateful to the many different researchers and monarch enthusiasts across the country who have already contributed to our database—thank you!




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Matthew Shepherd
Communications Director

[Xerces-logo-CMYK-email_Outlook]

Protecting the Life That Sustains Us

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