Thursday, February 19, 2009

Host plants for the lily beetle

With digging around for information on the lily beetle I came across information on host plants. It seems that lilies (lilium sp.) and fritillaria sp. are not the only plants that the lily beetle will go after. The lily beetle will also feed off of Lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis) and Solomon's seal (Polygonatum multiflorum). So if you are growing lilies it might be a good thing to take a look at these other plants if you grow them in your garden as well. I also wonder about the other plants that are closely related to the lily and fritillaria. I have not seen any mention to date about whether the lily beetle will feed off of cardiocrinum sp. and nomocharis sp. These two groups of plants are very closely related to the lily and a few of them have been mixed up and classified as lilies in the past. It would be very interesting to find out if the lily beetle does feed and damage these plants as well. The University of Guelph in Guelph Ontario covers some of the host plants in their article by their Pest Diagnostic Clinic and has a few very good photos of the beetle in its different stages.

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