FILE – In this July 22, 2012, file photo, a Monarch butterfly eats nectar from a swamp milkweed on the shore of Rock Lake in Pequot Lakes, Minn. Milkweed has long been considered a nuisance on North American farmlands but now, more than 100 farmers in Quebec and Vermont are planting it in their fields to help restore the declining population of monarchs, which use that plant exclusively for their eggs and to feed the caterpillars. The farmers are also tapping a new market for the milkweed fibers. (AP Photo/Ann Heisenfelt, File)
A tiny flower, known as the milkweed, could prevent the planned construction of a border wall along the Texas/Mexico border.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service may place one species of milkweed that grows in Texas on the “endangered list.”
Experts say the flower can’t be reproduced in the lab because it’s difficult to grow outside of nature.
The Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center says milkweed a food staple for delicate Monarch butterflies, which migrate to Mexico.
The Texas Attorney General is opposing the move to place the species on the “endangered list.’
He says it prioritizes plant life over human life by failing to properly address border security implications.