Redbay/Persia borbonia, swampbay/P. palustris, and sassafras/S. albidum are the principal host plants in this area for palamedes and spicebush swallowtails. If these plants get wiped out, I don't know how these butterflies will survive.

In my book Butterfly Gardening for the South by Geyata Ajilvsgi, she says that sweetbay magnolia/M. virginiana is a host for both these butterflies and tulip tree/Liriodendron tulipifera is a host for spicebush swallowtails - she lists other hosts, including the ones I've mentioned, but they're all in the laurel family. I've never found a palamedes or spicebush cat on either of these "non laurels", but then the principal host plants are still abundant, so there would be no need for the swallowtails to use them. Since M. virginiana and L. tulipifera aren't laurels, I assume they won't be victims of this beetle that carries the disease. So, I've decided to order some sweetbay magnolia trees to add to what's here naturally - I lost several in the hurricane due to big pines falling on them - and also some tulip trees - I lost one big one in Katrina. I plan to grow them in containers in my garden for as long as the roots will allow - hopefully, palamedes and/or spicebush swallowtails will lay some eggs on them, since they'll be right by the nectar plants. When the trees get too big for me to pot up, I'll plant them out in the woods in appropriate spots. When I find cats of either type, regardless of whether I find them on the tuliptree or sweetbay or the sassafras and redbays that grow here already, I plan on bringing them in and feeding them with sweetbay and/or tulip tree leaves to see if they can thrive on them. I wonder if you can train butterflies to start laying their eggs on alternate host plants if they don't do it automatically?

I also planted several types of Lindera/spicebushes on my property last year, several of which are Asian in origin - maybe the Asian spicebushes will be resistant to the disease? I've never found any cats on them, but then, again, the principal hosts hosts have always been plentiful. Sweetbay leaves smell like redbay leaves, only the scent is much milder, and the magnolias are listed right by the laurels in my tree books, so I imagine they're pretty closely related to each other on the botanical family tree.

On a happier note, I saw four gulf frits in my garden today, plus several cloudless sulphurs, sleepy oranges, and little yellows. There are also still quite a few gulf frit cats on my passionvines - the P. caeruleas have resprouted considerably, and several other types of passiflora have done so a little bit.
The pentas, porterweeds, and turk's caps are still blooming in my garden - I got this picture of a gulf frit nectaring on pentas -

Sherry

Hopefully the butterflies will adapt as they are sometimes known to do, as things look bleak from what I have heard for the red bay.

On the bright side here, we awoke to a little sprinkle (it's been VERY dry for the last four weeks) and an eclosing monarch and GF this morning.

Very alarming issue, MissSherry.

Susan

"Very bad news - the redbay killer/disease is not far from North Carolina, and moving north at a fast clip. This is the primary hostplant for Palamedes Swallowtail, and we've heard horror stories about the total loss of the redbay (Persea spp.) and severe declines of the swallowtail, in n. FL, coastal GA, and s.e. SC. Does anyone know if the swallowtail use sassafras as a hostplant? I sure hope so, but certainly the redbay is the main hostplant, as the butterfly is confined to the Coastal Plain (as is redbay), and especially favors swamps, bottomlands, pocosins, etc., where this tree abounds. Sassafras occurs over the Piedmont and mountains, areas where the butterfly is not found."

I have a bunch of berries now if you want some, Miss Sherry. The Spicebush here use my Camphor trees much more than my Redbay.

Elisabeth. the SBST does use Sassafras in our zone. That's what Sandy finds her caterpillars on. The beetle does attack it as well, though, from everything I read about it's spread among the laurel family members. Even reports of beetle attacks on Liriodendron tulipifera (magnoliaceae family) that is sometimes used as a host by the SBST. That said, it appears that Red Bay is the favored host for the beetle.

Susan

Just as truth is a very scarce and undervalued virtue, the stingyness with which certain people hold on to their close minded perspectives no matter how void of fact and removed from reality they may be, neither is likely to change.

The problem is the lack of an independent cognitive process in the masses. People would rather let someone else tell them what is what, rather then actually using their brain for it's intended purpose.

.... but what can you say about people with debts they'll never be able to repay for their formal "educations"(brainwashings), and voted for Obama because he mentioned something about change.

Pay no mind to who he appointed as financial advisors, and order some redbays from the East Coast while your at. It is time for CHANGE!!!

LOL!!!