Absolutely, positively awesome, Robert! You may have outdone yourself with this one! The globs sure look like scales. I bet he looks brilliant in the sunlight! May I repeat ... absolutely, positively awesome!

Most people who ask for their pokeweed to be ID'd say they think it's pretty, or something similar. Ken, the theory behind the planting wasn't really explained. Those are some odd assumptions to make, though I could barely understand what you may have been trying to say. "let other peeps children decide if they are toxic " What kind of sick comment is this? Why must you babble incoherently, out of context, at every mention of this native plant? Rosey, if you did mean birds by 'winged critters,' unless they're after something edible you're growing, birds are generally helpful in the garden, eating a lot of pests. There is a pest forum on here, if you think your methods need a little tweaking, (and I'm not saying they do, I have no idea from the little bit of info here yet,) that would be a good place to ask. If it's in regard to veggies, maybe the veggie forum instead. If you decide you'd prefer to not have this plant there, cut it off/down as much as possible, then pour boiling water on what's left. Here is a plant that's at least a year old in our camp site at a state park in FL last week, where it is welcome to assume its' place in the wild native landscape, a nature preserve. It is all definitely new growth from the ground since spring because this whole area was under ice this winter. So it can be a little big for a tended yard. I'm about 5'6", and reached my arm out straight to lend scale to the pic. Children camp next to and all around these plants every night.

Gwynne - very good questions about the spores and their life cycle. I am wondering the same things - hence I am always sterilizing Lysoling and wiping everything! When releasing a butterfly I wear latex gloves, swab it (for OE research at the U of Georgia, see page below) over a surface that is later sterilized. I also have all doors opened already if I am inside, as to not impede my exit (or I summon my husband ;) I toss the gloves before reaching for the next butterfly. All of my butterflies tested (with my microscope and the naked eye)last year looked very healthy. However the U of Georgia said that 90% of my butterflies were indeed infected. I noticed others on the results page who test at home and saw no spores at home were told that theirs also were infected - guess I need to invest in an electronmicroscope to test properly! LOL! One obvious way of telling if you have a dreadfully infected butterfly (besides crumpled wings) is if the black and white striping on the abdomen is not crisp - if it is blurred or grayish, chances are it's got OE parasites. But you probably knew that. I don't know about the missing leg. I had a butterfly eclose with 2 missing front legs - that chrysalis had fallen, though, and oozed some of its insides. I assume the missing legs were a result of the fall. Not very pretty.... Here are two more sites with info re) OE: http://www.butterflybreeders.org/pages/sterilizationfordiseasecontrol-jg.html http://butterfliesetc.com/oe1.php I would email Dr Altizer at the U of G with your questions - she is quite helpful and a great resource. Here is a link that might be useful: U of Georgia OE Info

As Edna says, chances are this was a diseased butterfly and it was beyond your help. Many times, those that are unable to 'inflate' their wings often have something wrong to begin with, as Larry (ladobe) says. There isn't much you can do. I can understand, as well, how sad you must've felt. In fact, I am certain that ALL of us on this forum have been in the same position as you at some point in time. But, with experience, we have learned that nature dictates what will happen and we cannot change these things on our own. We do what we can to help but some things just can't be helped. I've learned, over the years, to be somewhat 'hardened' about euthanizing Monarchs. In fact, I've taught my Kindergartners the same thing: that when Monarchs are unhealthy (stricken with OE, for example) that the most humane thing to do is to euthanize them. It is also the best thing to do for the rest of the population because the 'illness' can spread and infect the others, making for an epidemic of sorts. These little non-English speaking kids comprehend this, not from the "we've gotta kill our friends who are coughing" scenario but from the broader view of the insect world and what can happen, based on the sheer number of eggs a single butterfly lays. It is a difficult thing to do, to euthanize a butterfly. I always freeze them. I even do this in my classroom. Children will come up to me with butterflies they find outside that are 'hurt' and ask if they can put it in a baggy in the freezer so it won't hurt anymore. Death is a part of the life-cycle, too. It isn't the 'fun' part of raising butterflies but is something we do have to work with. I have my butterfly specimens that I've kept for people to see and the children are the first to ask, "How did it die?" Almost all of my specimens were ones I found on the ground, having died naturally. It's okay to be emotional. The holiday season probably makes it even more so. Hang in there. If you haven't looked through my Monarch site, check it out. I am going to be updating it but there's info on just what you went through. In fact, I just took a picture of a butterfly that eclosed, with OE, and was unable to unfurl its wings. I will be posting that picture in the next few days. tdogmom aka CalSherry tdogmom's Monarch Guide