If the Garden State were to gather together its official plants and animals, what an incredible assemblage it would be. Eastern goldfinches flitting in the branches of a red oak tree, violets growing ...

Black swallowtail caterpillars eat plants like fennel, parsley and dill, absorbing toxins for protection from predators. When threatened, the caterpillar uses a forked tongue-like gland called ...

Every butterfly gardener delights when showy swallowtail butterflies make an appearance. These butterflies are some of the largest in the garden, and their colorful wings and soaring flight patterns ...

The colors and patterns of black swallowtails reveal the diversity of evolutionary dynamics acting on the sexes and the various life-history stages Six species of swallowtail butterflies occur locally ...

Last week I had a picture of a dark form of the eastern tiger swallowtail with my column. The obvious question about any species with more than one color form is: What is the advantage? The advantage ...

We have a large patch of bronze fennel growing out back — this is unfortunate because it can be an aggressive invasive plant and is currently attempting to overrun my blueberry patch, but, on the ...

The female spicebush swallowtail butterfly was fluttering down, landing for a moment or two on a leaf on my sassafras tree and moving on to do the same thing on other leaves over and over again. It ...