Kiosk 1’s roof is seeded with Milkweed, a plant essential for the Monarch Butterfly: no Milkweed, no Monarchs. The State of Delaware reports that one-half of its State’s native plants are extinct or endangered. Hawaii leads the way by a large margin as 95% of their native plant species are gone and not found on other islands. One-half Cascadia’s plants are found in the Rocky Mountain Floristic Region, some throughout North America, some worldwide; not all are in danger of extinction (those that grow only in Cascadia, regions within, or endemic enclaves are more at risk). The Monarch’s required food and larval source, “speciosa” shows a WWU SAM extinction probability as slight, <.0001%. It’s sister species, “cordifolia” measures an extinction slope of .31 with only 5 records in NW Herbaria database.  Butterflies use the plants to create specific poisons in their tissues to discourage predators. The general rule is, “no native plant for the larva, no native insect … and far fewer birds – some bird species also endangered.  The food chain always starts with native plant species.  Shown above is the Milkweed, also called Showy Milkweed (Asclepias speciosa).  It is an herb and is found in dry and open meadows. A member of the Apocynaceae Family, its range includes all of Cascadia. WWU SAM Project’s, with 11 observations, appears to have little chance of extinction.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asclepias_speciosa
https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=ASSP
https://www.yahoo.com/news/homeowner-issues-warning-startling-gardening-103000014.html
http://naeb.brit.org/uses/search/?string=Asclepias
https://plants.usda.gov/home/plantProfile?symbol=ASCO
https://www.burkemuseum.org/collections-and-research/biology/plants-and-fungi/collections-database/results.php?Genus=00&Species=cordifolia
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/homeowners-reveal-why-love-favorite-200000518.html
https://apnews.com/article/gardening-native-plants-pollinators-tips-2d03aa5a04db6a8234e631ae6d575372

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