Department of Agriculture 43 



Destruction of Host Plants 



All known wild or otherwise worthless host plants of the 

 stainer in the neighborhood of cotton should be destroyed, 

 although at present little is known concerning the part play- 

 ed by plants in carrying stainers through the winter in the 

 Sea Island Belt of Florida.* In the southern part of the Belt, 

 Caesar weed (Urcna lohata) is undoubtedly one of the prin- 

 cipal wild host plants. (See Fig. 15.) The principal wild 

 host plants in the northern part of the Belt are not known. 

 Where Sea Island cotton is established, however, old fields 

 of Sea Island cotton will undoubtedly be an important factor 

 in carrying stainers through the winter. All Sea Island 

 stalks should therefore be destroyed as soon as the cotton is 

 picked. If it is not practicable to destroy the stalks as soon 

 as the cotton is picked, they should by all means be destroyed 

 before cotton is planted the following year. 



='In the Melbourne area in the fall of 193 8, stainers were observed feeding 

 on isolated specimens of: Caesar -weed, (Uretta Lobata); Turk's Cap, (Malva- 

 viscus grandiflora) ; and ornamntal hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis L.) In the 

 vicinity of cotton or Caesar weed they -were observed feeding on: Shepherd's 

 needle (Bidens pilosa L.); groundsel bush (Baccharis halimifolia) ; tea weed 

 (Sida carpinifolia L.f. ); golden aster (Heterothecea subaxillaris) ; a specie of 

 ragweed (Ambrosia monophylle) (Walt.) Rydb.; Euthamia manor; several spe- 

 cies of golden-rod, and a number of other plants not submitted for identifica- 

 tion. Plant identifications by courtesy of Dr. A. S. Rhoads, Lilian E. Arnold, 

 and Erdman West, of the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station. 



