THE BLACK SWALLOW-WORT
UNWANTED!
BY FARMERS, GARDENERS, BUTTERFLIES & NATIVE PLANTS
Black Swallow-wort covering a chain link fence
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About Black Swallow-wort
Beginning with shiny green leaves in pairs, purple star-shaped flowers and grappling spaghetti-like roots in summer, Black Swallow-wort becomes armed with seed pods resembling green chili peppers. This invasive vine threatens monarch butterflies and songbirds, and displaces native plant communities vital to insects, birds and other urban wildlife. Swallow-wort crowds out milkweed, the only plant where monarch butterflies lay eggs. Monarchs mistake the swallow-wort for the milkweed, lay their eggs there, and the larvae die.
Black Swallow-wort Brochure (PDF).