Diana Guidry provides a tour through one of the Coconut Creek butterfly gardens. Butterfly gardens should include both nectar and larval host plants. Here, Porter Weed, Pentas, a large Fire Bush, and Coontie provide diversity and beauty. Coontie (Zamia pumila) is a shrubby, fernlike native cycad of Florida and the Bahamas that is eaten by the Atala butterfly caterpillar (ranked as endangered by the State of Florida).  Historically, Indians and early settlers ate the cooked root of Coontie, called arrowroot.”