All hail the king of butterflies

By Aaron Horrell

The beautiful monarch butterfly has black legs and a black body peppered with white dots.

Its wings are orange with strategic black lines. The black lines at the outer edges of the butterfly's four wings are sprinkled with more white dots.

Milkweed plants are vital for the monarch butterfly while in its caterpillar stage. The caterpillar wants to eat only milkweed.

There are at least seven different kinds of milkweed native to the state of Missouri. If you want to draw monarchs to your property, be sure to plant Missouri native milkweed plants.

The monarch will visit all kinds of flowers as a butterfly.

The flower shown here is a Missouri native called the tickseed sunflower.