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Hawkmoths
Hawkmoths
Sphingidae (family-level entry)
Moth
Large fast-flying moths that pollinate tubular night-blooming flowers via their long proboscises. Garden phlox and fragrant plantain-lily (Hosta plantaginea) are among the catalog plants pollinated by hawkmoths in the evening hours; the relationship explains why these plants release fragrance after dusk.
Plants in the catalog
Larval host plants · 3
Bald cypress
Taxodium distichum
Specialist
The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center lists bald cypress as the larval host for the baldcypress sphinx moth (Isoparce cupressi), a Taxodium-feeding member of the hawkmoth family (Sphingidae).
Black cherry
Prunus serotina
Documented
Documented larval host for sphinx (hawk) moths — the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center names the Small-eyed Sphinx and Wild Cherry Sphinx among black cherry's larval-host moths, alongside the Columbia Silkmoth and Promethea Moth.
Chokecherry
Prunus virginiana
Documented
The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center documents chokecherry as a larval host for sphinx moths including the Small-eyed Sphinx, and an adult-food (nectar) source for the Sequoia Sphinx.
Plants this species pollinates · 3
Fragrant plantain lily
Hosta plantaginea
Documented
Hosta plantaginea is unusual among hostas for its evening-fragrant night-blooming flowers — the fragrance evolved specifically to attract hawkmoths after dusk; the flower morphology (long tubular corolla) matches the hawkmoth proboscis length.
Garden phlox
Phlox paniculata
Documented
Evening-blooming fragrance attracts hawkmoths; the fragrant cultivars are particularly worked at dusk and early evening.
Gardenia
Gardenia jasminoides
Plausible
Gardenia displays the classic moth-pollination syndrome — white flowers whose sweet scent intensifies at dusk and into the night — and horticultural sources describe sphinx (hawk) moths as visitors. Confidence is plausible rather than documented because this rests on the pollination syndrome and popular horticultural accounts rather than a peer-reviewed pollinator study of this species.
Nectar plants · 4
Common witch hazel
Hamamelis virginiana
Plausible
NC State documents pollination by noctuid moths (not sphingid), but late-fall sphinx moths are part of the same cool-weather Lepidoptera community working the bloom. Use as a generic proxy until a noctuid-moth wildlife slug exists in the Plotwright catalog.
Petunia
Petunia x atkinsiana
Plausible
Petunia inherits a moth-pollination syndrome from its wild parent Petunia axillaris (pale, fragrant, long-tubed, evening-scented flowers). Pale fragrant garden cultivars retain that scent and are visited by night-flying hawkmoths, though modern bedding hybrids vary widely.
Wild bergamot
Monarda fistulosa
Documented
Hummingbird clearwing moths (Hemaris spp., family Sphingidae) work wild bergamot during the day — they're often mistaken for hummingbirds at first glance because of similar size and hovering flight.
Woodland phlox
Phlox divaricata
Documented
The long tubular corolla is well-suited to long-tongued sphinx moths, which work woodland phlox at dusk and dawn during the spring bloom window.
Range
Diverse genera across North America.
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