After a little research I can answer my own post...it is honeyvine which is apparently in the milkweed family! Who knew! The exciting part is they are right where I was planning my milkweed patch to plant in the fall so I guess mother nature gave us a head start!

Here is a link that might be useful: honeyvine

It is milkweed. Look at what I linked.

I've been wondering how you are doing. If you want some polyphemus eggs, I have loads.

KC

Here is a link that might be useful: Milkweed vine

Hey KC! Thanks for the link. I shudder to think what has been there on those vines all summer while I mowed right over them.
I'm apparently destined for more caterpillars this year in our new home! Have you had a successful cat summer? I think I would like some Polyphemous! I know last time we used oak leaves but have since moved so I want to make sure we have a food source. I will look tonight and let you know!

Make sure you have plenty. A large monarch caterpillar can consume quite a bit of honeyvine. I have it all over my yard. That is the other thing, it spreads quite rapidly. In fact if you need more you are welcome to come and harvest all you want :).
-Elisabeth

I never really understood honeyvine until i watched the tiny, very insignificant flowers go to seed. Yes, they make the same basic pods like any conventional milkweed, just smaller and on crooked, pipejoint like stems. I had to look it up. This was some 30 years ago, but there it is--listed in the book, "Nebraska Weeds," and clearly a member of the milkweed family.
That said, there is not one drop of latex anywhere, throughout this plant. Leave it to an insect to still smell the right phytochemicals, lay her eggs and hatch out larvae that will be just as nourished by it, as any conventional milkweed!
I believe it was 8 or 9 years ago, that I saw a Monarch caterpillar feeding on honeyvine. One can just about classify some plants by host-specific bugs that are found on them.

How can I tell for sure if I have this vs bind weed? I have something similar to this growing in my flower beds and I've seen something similar (seed pods) in my neighbors yard. I've been pulling it, thinking it was bind weed, but what if it's not?

~Laura

For a list of odd milkweeds, vines, and non-milkweed plants monarchs use, see the FAQ about Monarch Hostplants.

Laura,

I ask the same question once and I was told to offer the leaves to a Monarch cat. If it eats the leaves, then it's Honeyvine and not Bindweed. The leaves of the honeyvine are rather heartshaped. Do the Bindweed leaves look like this ...

Cynanchum laeve
Aka: Sand Vine, Honey Vine, Blue Vined Milkweed, Honeyvine Milkweed

{{gwi:535525}}

We have a "milkweed vine" that grows wild around here, I don't know the name of it but it is not that same one. It has small leaves and I NEVER find eggs or cats on it. But I can feed it to them. It does not go far because of the small leaves, although they can eat the newer-growth vine itself. I've never seen flowers or seeds on it either. Anyway they eat it! Wish we had it in some more accessible areas for backup food.

You have to be careful what you feed to them. There are several "swallow-worts" that are non-native invasives. Some of these such as the black swallow-wort, Cynanchum louiseae, also known as Louise's swallowwort, can be toxic to monarchs. There are many different Cynanchum depending on where you live. So, it is important to ID them. Luckily, most of the non-natives have colored flowers, but not all.

In terms of comparing them to bindweeds, I find that bindweed tends to have mulitiple stems from a common origin in the ground. Whereas honeyvine grows singularly.

-Elisabeth

Here is a link that might be useful: Cynanchum

Bindweed also has dozens of small white to pale pink or lavender blooms, about 1.5" across. It is a convulvulus or in the morning glory family. Pink-spotted sphinx larvae will eat bindweed, but never introduce it.

What I have growing has no flowers... it is a single stem coming up from the ground. The leaves are heart shaped and grow opposite each other off the stem instead of alternating. I think it may be the honeyvine. Hmmmm

~Laura