Keystone Plants
What every landscape needs to maximize its pollinator potential!
Keystone plants are native plants that support a significant number of caterpillars (butterfly and moth larvae). Planting keystone plants helps build complex food webs by forming the essential foundation that provides food for other organisms, directly and indirectly.*
Photo Credit: John Blair
The majority of insect herbivores, like caterpillars, are specialized to feed on just one or a few host plants. By reviewing past data on insects and their host plants, it was found that across the contiguous United States, just a few plant genera support the majority of caterpillar species. Thus, not all native plants are equivalent in terms of their contributions of energy to food webs. In each U.S. county that was examined, certain plant genera were consistently important for supporting caterpillar diversity, sensitive species, and food web stability. We call these genera keystone plants. Including Keystone plants in managed ecosystems will more efficiently restore insect diversity and support animals that need insects to survive. *
The top 5 keystone genera
Native Oak (Quercus): 452 species of butterflies and moths use this as a caterpillar host plant just in our area**
Native Willow (Salix): 427 species of butterflies and moths use this as a caterpillar host plant just in our area**
Native Prunus: 418 species of butterflies and moths use this as a caterpillar host plant just in our area**
Native Birch (Betula): 403 species of butterflies and moths use this as a caterpillar host plant just in our area**
Native Populus: 367 species of butterflies and moths use this as a caterpillar host plant just in our area**