EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -Milkweeds are the required host plants for monarch butterfly caterpillars (female monarchs lay their eggs on milkweeds) and their flowers provide nectar for bees, butterflies, and other beneficial insects. By planting milkweed, you can provide habitat for monarchs and also attract and support pollinators.

Detailed explanation-2: -The four stages of the monarch butterfly life cycle are the egg, the larvae (caterpillar), the pupa (chrysalis), and the adult butterfly. The four generations are actually four different butterflies going through these four stages during one year, until it is time to start over again with stage one and generation one.

Detailed explanation-3: -The milkweed plant is amazingly adaptable to different types of soils like rocky, clay, sandy, and even in grasslands, which have very little soil moisture. Its roots like many plants in dry regions grow deep into the ground, and cannot easily be uprooted.

Detailed explanation-4: -After eating the shell, the larva begins to eat milkweed leaves. Milkweed is the only plant that monarch larvae will eat. The larva eats and grows, grows and eats. The larva grows so much that it outgrows its skin, much like outgrowing old clothes.