Nebraskaland

36 Nebraskaland • October 2024 The warmth of spring propels the caterpillars to emerge from hibernation and begin feeding on tender, young violet leaves. However, there is a catch: The caterpillars can only detect violets from about an inch away, and most never fi nd their fi rst meal. By laying 2,000 eggs, females ensure that a few lucky caterpillars will fi nd violets and survive. In Nebraska, the caterpillars are thought to feed mainly on prairie violet (Viola pedatifi da), a fairly common species of higher-quality grasslands in northern and eastern Nebraska, but they also feed on a few other violet species. Individual caterpillars feast on several violet plants throughout their slow development; therefore, violets need to be present in suffi cient densities to support them. When fully developed, caterpillars enter the chrysalis stage in late spring, and the life cycle begins again. Violets to the Rescue Sarah Bailey's passion for regal fritillaries and violets began the summer after her freshman year at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2006. During an excursion to a prairie near Lincoln to photograph wildfl owers and insects, she encountered her fi rst regal fritillary, became smitten and began researching the species' natural history and dependence on violets. She graduated in 2009 with a degree in biology and environmental studies. Serendipitously, soon after her graduation, Prairie Plains received a grant from the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission for regal fritillary conservation. The funds were used to build a greenhouse on their Gjerloff Prairie in Hamilton County to grow violets and other wildfl owers, which are favored by regal fritillaries as nectar plants, for transplanting into grasslands. They needed someone to run the operation, and Bailey was the perfect fi t. Before explaining Bailey's method of growing violets, it is important to understand why Prairie Plains and other conservation groups do not simply harvest and sow violet seeds into grasslands to enhance their populations. Primarily, it is because it is extremely diffi cult to fi nd and collect suffi cient quantities of the small and scattered violet seed pods in grasslands. Also, once ripe, the pods immediately burst open, ejecting the tiny seeds onto the soil and out of reach of the already frustrated collectors' grasp. Soon after being hired, Bailey began digging mature violets from prairies and transplanting them into large pots in the greenhouse. Her intent was to use the seeds produced by these violets to start new plants in grow tubes. The mature violets bloomed the following spring and formed seed pods, but there was a problem: The bursting pods scattered the seeds across the greenhouse fl oor before Bailey could harvest them. The next year, she innovated by placing window screens over the pots so that when the pods burst, the seeds bounced off the screens and onto the bare soil in the pots. These seeds germinated en masse in the pots late the following winter, and Bailey then meticulously transplanted each tiny seedling into its own grow tube where they matured over the summer. She transplants the young Young prairie violets grow in tubes at the Prairie Plains Resource Institute greenhouse. GERRY STEINAUER, NEBRASKALAND

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