This week I will be focusing on PURPLE things in nature. Purple has been my favorite color ever since I was a kid. Violets are one of my favorite purple flowers. Violets are edible. The leaves are high in vitamins A and C. The flowers can be eaten raw, or made into jelly or candy. We aren't the only ones who might munch on violets. Many animals enjoy them. Did you know that if we had no violets, we would not have fritillary butterflies? Violet leaves are the only thing their caterpillars eat. Here's the weird part: Most butterflies lay their eggs on the plant their caterpillars will eat. Fritillaries lay their eggs in summer after the violets have wilted away! Some females find where violet patches were and others don't. The caterpillars hatch in the fall and immediately go into hibernation without eating anything first. They emerge when the violets come up. The female butterflies can lay up to 2,000 eggs. This is good, because not all of those caterpillars are going to be able to find violets depending on how far from a violet patch their mother was when she laid her eggs. #purple #violets #flowers #frittilarybutterfly #butterflies

Posted by Mel Grosvenor at 2021-03-22 12:29:18 UTC