Wild Poinsettia is a Florida native plant, it's pretty, it doesn't get too tall, it's colorful, and butterflies taste it once in a while; all in all it's an ok worry free plant to fill some space in the garden and crowd out the weeds.

In the photo on the right, a White Peacock Butterfly sips from it, and below a Zebra Heliconian Butterfly enjoys it too.

Left - A Polydamas Swallowtail Butterfly nectars on Wild Poinsettia.

Below - These Wild Poinsettia seedlings are just a little taller than the 'lawn' they're growing in. One is all green, and the other only has one leaf with a touch of red on it.

This one is a little taller, and it has that distinctive touch of red on all of the upper leaves. Obviously this plant has a great deal of color variation, but the leaves have such a distinctive shape that it's easy to identify.

Wild Poinsettia isn't as showy as the kind sold during the holidays, but it has a certain home grown charm. There's a spot in my yard where so many Australian Pine saplings grew that I'll never get the stumps low enough to be lawnmower safe. My Wild Poinsettia volunteered itself there, so I let it grow to cover the stumps. It stopped at about knee height, which was perfect to hide the few really big stumps. I was delighted to see butterflies and other small critters nectar on the plant, and when I found the Ello Sphinx Moth Caterpillars chewing it, well - that was the icing on my cake; I like caterpillars!

If you don't look for the caterpillars, they won't bother you. They cling to the stem and look a lot like just another stem in the foliage. I captured several and raised them in a bug box inside so I could photograph their cocoon and the Ello Sphinx Moth they turn into. I handled them frequently, and they were quite tame and pleasant.

As you can see in the pictures, the Ello Sphinx Caterpillars come in both green and brown.

Most plants that provide food to butterflies also feed other little critters. Several Green Bees enjoyed my Poinsettia too:

So, to sum it up, Wild Poinsettia, Euphorbia cyathophora, is a butterfly nectar plant, a moth host plant, a food source for important critters like this honeybee (photo on left), a pretty filler plant for any border or garden that you want a touch of color added to, and apparently drought resistant because after ages of water restrictions here in Florida, mine is still alive and happy. It's a keeper.