Blue Vervain

The cardinal, swamp sparrow, field sparrow,
song sparrow, and slate-colored junco eat the seeds of
blue vervain. The cottontail rabbit will sometimes eat the
foliage; most other mammalian herbivores avoid it due its
bitter taste. The caterpillars of the verbena moth feed on
the leaves and it is the larval host for the common
buckeye butterfly. Long and short tongued bees collect
the nectar and sometimes the pollen. Other bee
pollinators include: epoline cuckoo bees, eucerine miner
bees , halictid bees, and the verbena bee, a specialist
pollinator. In addition the thread-waisted wasp, bee
flies, thick-headed flies and golden soldier beetle are also
known to all visit blue vervain.