Date: 03/30/2003

Number: 1

On our cattle ranch in the Texas hill country about 30 miles NW of San Antonio we have wild milkweed growing. It is just emerging from the ground. It is a variety that forms a rosette of stalks 12 inches long that hug the ground. It is not upright. There are probably 2-3 different varieties here. Some plants have a reddish stem and broader leaves, and some have green stems with narrower, spearlike leaves. I found 9 eggs on plants spread over an acre. I collected the eggs and hatched them in my classroom. Two hatched on 03/31/03 and seven emerged on 04/01/03. All are eating well and growing rapidly. The morning of 03/30/03 the temperature dropped below 28 degrees and much of the milkweed froze back to the ground. I gathered the softened remains, ran that through a blender and am feeding the caterpillars with that mixture. The San Antonio Botanical Garden had some Asclepsia tuberosa that was not damaged by the cold and they are loaning our classroom a potted plant for the larv

Helotes, TX

Latitude: 29.6 Longitude: -98.7

Observed by: Mary
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