Blooms & Flutterbys

On a recent outing along the river walk here in Nashua, NH, so called as it's a paved path along part of the Nashua River near the mill apartments we live in now, these were some, of the colorful blooms.

There was also a fritillary butterfly which only on this flower alone. This butterfly is sometimes mistaken for its more famous distant cousin, the monarch butterfly, although they seem very different to me. 

Most fritillaries are orange and black like monarchs, but with a different pattern. However, some are about the same size. There are 14 species of the so-called greater fritillaries (genus Speyeria) and 16 lesser fritillaries (genus Bolloria). Their names refer to their sizes. 



The common name comes from the Latin, fritillus, meaning chessboard or dice box.  Another name for these butterflies is silverspots because of metallic markings on their wing's undersides. It's possible that this pattern serves as a camouflage too.

Like many butterflies, the fritillary caterpillar is selective about what it eats. It doesn't favor milkweed like monarchs. It prefers violets and without violets, there would be no fritillary butterflies. Adults go for nectar of native flowers, such as butterfly weed, common milkweed, Joe-pye-weed and others. They also visit non-native flowers such as lilacs, butterfly bush and some thistles.

Soon two fritillaries were on the same bloom and didn't seem to mind sharing.

I don't know the name of this flower, but it was certainly attractive as a third fritillary landed on the same flower despite other blooms nearby.

Whatever reason these blooms were the attractive to this trio, it provided a great photo opportunity during my late afternoon walk.