Finally, I caught the Giant Swallowtail Butterfly laying eggs! She laid eggs on both my (nearly dead, thank you water restrictions) Grapefruit Tree, and on my Wild Lime.  I took pictures, but they were awful.  I didn't want to get close and scare her away; I've wanted one of those caterpillars for years!

Ok, these Giant Swallowtail Butterfly Caterpillars are on Grapefruit leaves, but the ones on my Wild Lime Tree are too small go get a decent photo of, so at least you know what they look like: bird poo!

These are the worst caterpillars I've ever raised. They spin silk from their rear ends, and attach themselves to the leaf they're eating with it. When I add fresh leaves, it takes forever to coax them off the old leaf and onto the new one. I'm afraid to tug on them too much because I don't want to squash them.

That white stalk sticking out of the flower is a Lacewing Egg.

Now that my Wild Lime Tree is growing up, I'm seeing more Giant Swallowtail Butterflies both in my yard, and lingering around the tree. For that reason I really love the tree. The other side of that coin is the darned THORNS!

Another visitor I've noticed nibbling on the Wild Lime Tree leaves is the ever present M. Undatus Weevil. They've chewed up a wider variety of plants than any other bug I've watched in my yard.

When I planted my Wild Lime Tree, I put a tiny Corkystem Passionvine next to it. The vine grew a bit faster than the tree, so I've had to pull it off a couple of times to let the top of the tree get some sunlight too. With all the thorns on the tree, it isn't a fun job. Plant your Wild Lime in some forgotten back corner of your yard where you won't have to do any work next to it.

The tree flowers, but the Wild Lime flower clusters are so tiny it's hard to describe the flower:

Here's a closer view of the flower cluster:

This tender tip of new Wild Lime growth has both a Giant Swallowtail Butterfly egg and caterpillar: