Some clarification for you!

[crazymilkweedman]

Teaching people about Monarchs involves getting it right to AVOID confusion..so how about we get the plant foods right? Kinda important no?
Ive noticed that many posters here and elsewhere on the internet are confused about some plants...specifically climbing vines as a Monarch food source....I'm not going to cover them all here but the one i see most often misquoted is Honeyvine...the plants Monarch larva feed on are in the family Asclepiadaceae, the Milkweed family..the sub family of that which most people are familiar with is Asclepias with tropical,common,sullivants,green and soforth as its members. Another subfamily ,cousins or branch of the family tree if you will ,is Cynanchum which have swallow-worts as members. The Honeyvine's most accurate common name is NOT blue vine,sandvine, climbing milkweed but HONEYVINE SWALLOW-WORT !it is a Cynanchum..Cynanchum Laeve formerly known as Ampelamus albidus. It is a great food stock plant..now it has relatives,brothers if you will which are bad.Cynanchum louiseae Black swallow-wort also known as Vincetoxicum nigrum. And Cynanchum rossicum ,Pale or European swallow-wort previously known as Vincetoxicum rossicum, These two are BAD invasive members of the family and are useless as larva food!!! So I hope that helps you...like Iv'e said before..stick to the scientific names and you can't go wrong!Peace.

[Mona Miller]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asclepiadoideae
"According to APG II, the Asclepiadaceae is a former plant family now treated as a subfamily (subfamily Asclepiadoideae) in the Apocynaceae (Bruyns 2000)."

The botanists are at it again and have made Asclepiadiodeae a subfamily of Apocynaceae.

We have been discussing this on Dplex-L Email List (another Monarch Watch mailing list).
http://www.monarchwatch.org/dplex/index.htm

Matelea, Araujia, and Funastrum are other vines that there have been claims of Monarchs using. Sorry, I don't have the subspecies for all these.

Araujia sericifera (I think this is the vine that they use in New Zealand).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Araujia_sericifera

Funastrum clausum (this is used in Florida and TX, also used by Queens and Soldiers).
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=FUCL

http://www.monarchwatch.org/milkweed/guide/cynan.htm
Cynanchum laeve (Sand Vine [Blue Vine] Milkweed)
The best thing to do is use the botanical name. There are many common names depending on which state you are in.

[crazymilkweedman]

Heres another nice one for you...Family: Asclepiadaceae
Genus: Oxypetalum ,Species: caeruleum,Cultivar: Heavenborn or Southern Star, Blue Milkweed?, Blue Star? etc,Tweedia caerulea,Amblyopetalum caeruleum,Oxypetalum coeruleum

its a South American origin Perennial
vine but I've also seen short more bush-like plants.But Monarchs like it!

[crazymilkweedman]

Matelea decipiens (Alexander) Woodson oldfield Milkvine is interesting. I found a similar climbing specimen that I have not identified , but the follicles look like a cross between a Matelia and a Cynanchum. Will have to wait till it blooms this year.Hopefully!

[milkweedman]

Has anybody got some Honeyvine milkweed seeds (Cynanchum laeve) that I can have? I searched davesgarden.com and a few other sites but it appears nobody sells this milkweed seed commercially. I can send some concealed cash in exchange (for postage, envelope and seeds) or can swap for Echinacea seeds.
I was growing honeyvine milkweed here in New Zealand from seeds I gathered in South Korea (it grows like a weed there) but the roots rotted and I doubt it will regrow next spring. Thanks.