Many butterfly species have adapted to feed upon nonnative plants if the plants are in the same family as the native larval host. They instead prefer rotting fruit, carrion, and sap. Part of the series entomologica book series sent, volume 53. Chokecherry attracts widespread species of butterflies, both as a host plant for caterpillars and as a source of nectar for butterflies. Host plants for butterflies and moths those who garden with native plants are aware that natives attract a remarkable number of pollinators. Each butterfly species uses only one or a handful of specific plant species as. Just pick your location, then select butterfly plants. Silverspotted skippers and hoary edge butterflies are fans too. Butterflies dependency on specific caterpillar host plants is one of the key factors restricting their range and distribution. Rodewald landscaping even the smallest areas will provide habitat for many butterfly species. It can be found on stream banks, flood plains and bottomlands and is known to climb trees and shrubs, growing to a height of 2030 tall, making it an excellent choice for arbors, trellises.
It is important to keep in mind that there are probably no plants that are 100% deerproof. But theyre not the only key to drawing pretty pollinators to your yard. Plant butterfly host plants to give caterpillars a place to grow. Each species account includes descriptive information on each plant. Great resource book for the gardener who wants to provide both native nectar.
Host plants for butterflies and moths the native plant. Since highly preferred hosts may be unattractive or. For example, the host plants for monarch caterpillars are various species of milkweed. A plant that attracts adult butterflies by supplying nectar. Deerresistant butterfly plants this list of butterfly nectar and host plants, currently fairly general, has been gathered from several sources. Dont forget to plant successive plantings of larval host plants as well. Brightorange butterfly weed, pink swamp milkweed, pink or white turtlehead, western bleeding heart, blue birdsfoot violet, hollyhocks, snapdragons, nasturtiums. Since many larvae prefer to feed on weedy plants, these can be located in remote areas of the property. Butterflies use two different types of plants those that provide nectar for the adults to eat nectar plant, and those that provide food for their offspring caterpillar host plant. If you want to see more of both butterflies and moths lepidoptera in your. The host or larval plant is simply a plant that is eaten by the caterpillar. The host plants for the caterpillars are wild cherry trees, as well as aspens and willows. Butterfly gardens need both host and nectar plants, preferably prairie plants to attract butterflies. Gardening for butterflies california native plant society.
These books give greater detail than the website, together with. For example, monarchs will only lay eggs on milkweed plants, and monarch caterpillars will only eat milkweed. Butterfly shop butterfly jewelry, artwork, clothing. Nectar plants give butterfly gardens a powerful boost. Plant delights has a baptisia breeding program and is one of the leaders in the us in new baptisia releases. List of butterflies of tennessee the butterfly site. Often, these plants are not the same as the ones the adult butterfly will later use for nectar. There are more larval host plants than could possibly be listed here, but violets, viola species and plants in the. An incredibly wide range of host plants from many different. The book contains sharply detailed photos of 167 species of caterpillars, 185 plants, 18 life cycles, and 19 habitats. Specific species of the following genre not found in our area have also been used as a host, but some of our native species might be utilized. The icon for butterfly plants includes two kinds, both those that are host plants for specific butterfly species and those that are attrctive to a wide range of butterflies. Butterfly host plants for the southern plains garden. Heres a list of common butterflies and their preferred host plants.
Different species of butterfly rely on different host plants to rear their young and vary in their preferences for nectar sources, so each species has a unique set of ideal plants. For detailed information about specific nectar plants, see my nectar plants section. It is a large, woody and twining vine native to the midwest and southeast. Ohio state university extension fact sheet school of natural resources 2021 coffey road, columbus, oh 43210 butterfly gardens w122002, graduate associate, state extension specialist, wildlife kathi l. Some of them are found throughout the state and others occur locally in connection with their larval host plants. Providing butterfly food is a two pronged approach. Florida butterfly caterpillars and their host plants university press. These plants supply certain chemicals necessary for the growth on the caterpillars.
Beggarticks bidens alba larval host for dainty sulphur nathalis iole butterflies. A host plant is a plant species that a caterpillar must feed upon in order to grow and become a butterfly. It is best to find out which plant species are native to your area and plant those rather than exotic species. A complete butterfly garden includes nectar plants for nourishing the adult butterflies and host plants to house and nourish the caterpillars. Caterpillars of some species feed on plants that are usually considered weeds, and you can benefit populations of these species by not removing all of the weeds. Michigan butterflies larval host plants list provided by native plant nursery llc, ann arbor. All are gorgeous garden flowers as both host plants and nectar sources. There are some species of butterflies and moths that do not nectar on flowers but instead are attracted to rotting fruit, sap, or even dung. Butterfly gardening helps restore degraded habitats by utilising the kinds of native plants that will attract and maintain the presence of local butterflies year after year.
The following table lists the larval foodplants for most of the butterfly species and a few of the more interesting moths found in. Each butterfly species has specific plants that their caterpillars will eat. The majestic ceanothus silk moth is as showy as a butterfly, and its host plants are wild lilac and coffeeberry, frangula formerly rhamnus species. Butterfly larval host plant list york county master. Butterfly host plants are vital for the butterfly garden. Even if you are a butterflylover, you may not know that most butterfly species have a very specific and limited selection of acceptable host plants. Each butterfly species uses only one or a handful of specific plant species as a host plant. As your favorite winged beauties transition through their life cycle, many lay eggs on the undersides of specific plantshosts.
Armed with this knowledge, readers can also hone their ability to find specific species of breeding butterflies in nature. Butterlies get most of the attention with their bright colors and sunloving ways, but a variety of beautiful moths can be supported as well. Zebra swallowtails will only use pawpaw as a host plant. The webbased version presented here offers a synoptic data set drawn from about 180,000 records comprising taxonomically cleaned hostplant data for about 22,000 lepidoptera species drawn from about 1600 published and. Good nectar plants include aster and asclepias milkweeds, as these offer nectar for most of the butterfly species. A butterflyfriendly garden contains both adult nectar plants and caterpillar host plants. Nonflower sources of food for butterflies can include rotting fruit, tree sap and animal droppings. Aristolochia tomentosa, commonly known as wooly pipevine, is a species of dutchmans pipe.
In the first case, the icon indicates those species that are required, or obligate, host plants, or nurseries, for certain species of butterflies. Also, native plants also benefit a variety of native insects and birds, and they are easy to care for because they are welladapted to our climate. Gardeners can take several approaches to designing a butterfly garden. In particular, baptisia is a host plant for the wild indigo duskywing butterfly. While there are specific nectar plants that butterflies may favor, adult butterflies may sip nectar from many flowering plant species, both native and nonnative.
It takes only a few hours for the butterfly to form from the egg, and the adult will live only 45 days. There are a variety of plants that can be included in a butterfly garden that are excellent host plants. The top 25 butterfly garden plants article by plant. This will help you decide which butterfly nectar plants and butterfly host plants you will want to plant when you create your butterfly garden. Butterfly larval host plant list the butterfly species on this list all occur in pennsylvania. Butterfly food attract flying flowers to your butterfly garden. Snout butterfly violets violets violets violets composites, asters, sunflowers, wing stem. This is especially important for those butterfly species, such as monarchs, who produce more than one or two broods each year. Butterfly type caterpillar food host plant alfalfa butterfly alfalfa, clovers, deerweed. In these cases, you can try dwarf varieties of fruit or flowering trees or simply locate your butterfly garden near one of these larger trees. If our gardens are too far from the host plants, we will only get the butterflies of the strongestflying species and may even not get that, most years. The adult butterflies will only occasionally visit flowers. Some butterfly species will use only a single native plant species or closelyrelated group of species as a host and wont use plants brought in from other places.
Virginia pepperweed lepidium virginicum larval host for great southern white ascia monuste, cabbage white pieris rapae and checkered white pontia protodice butterflies. Learning more about the plants caterpillars need is crucial for butterfly conservation. Butterfly food caterpillar host plants are important too. Among the butterflies that use the chokecherry as a host plant are the lorquin admiral limenitis lorquini, the tiger swallowtail papilio glaucus, the twotailed swallowtail papilio multicaudata, the spring azure celastrina ladon and the coral hairstreak satyrium titus. A database of the hostplants of the worlds moth and butterfly larvae. Learn more about milkweed, the only host plant for monarchs. Most common annual and perennial plants have little or no flower nectar, thus many flower gardens will not have butterflies. Many caterpillars, which metamorphose into butterflies, require require specific host plants for food. Some butterflies also exhibit local host plant preferences depending upon plant availability and habitat. This gnarly but necessary part of butterfly gardening growing larval host plants is being embraced by a growing segment of gardeners.
Simply find which butterflies are in your area, grow the plants the caterpillars like to eat, and plants that adult butterflies feed on. Butterfly larval host plant list native plants in the. Attracting butterflies top 10 butterfly host plants. For example, the female monarch butterfly sips nectar from many kinds of flowering plants, but will only lay her eggs on milkweed plants, while the eastern tiger swallowtail wants sycamore and willow trees as host plants. The native plants database is a great resource for folks interested in selecting native plants for their yard. Some of the species you may attract are listed in the table at right. This is a complete reference for florida gardeners who wish to attract butterflies to their gardens with both host and nectar plants. Each species has a narrow range of plants that its caterpillar phase will be nourished by. This is a list of my favorite native butterfly host plants. Many butterfly species have adapted to feed upon nonnative plants if these plants are in the same family as the native larval host. Ive already copied the list of host and nectar plants for our climate to keep in the front of my gardening notebook. Host nectar tshirts mugs magnets clocks tote bags framed tiles notebooks postcards light switch covers tile coasters books web sites. If you want to see more of both butterflies and moths lepidoptera in your yard, the addition of specific host plants is an empowering way to take an active role in supporting species diversity. Host plants for butterflies and moths the native plant herald.
Butterflies lay their eggs on their own preferred host plant, but will feed on many different nectar plants. Many people know monarchs need milkweed, but there are many other butterfly host. Butterfly species and their host plants welcome wildlife. The joy of butterfly host plants lewis ginter botanical. Leave the starts with command as the default and in the species entry box omit the last few letters. Butterfly gardening in lebanon is the first comprehensive book of its kind on lebanons butterflies and butterfly gardening in lebanon, covering a total of 194 butterfly species, including the 165 established species, 45 endemics and nearendemics, and 20 threatened species. Caterpillar hostplants database the natural history. Because butterflies are attracted to flowers, it is easy to plant a garden that both you and they can enjoy. Check back often as we will be adding some truly stunning products. Shop for really cool butterflythemed jewelry, art, kitchen decor, live butterfly kits and more. Five common butterfly host plants you might already have. Butterfly host plants, milkweed butterfly gardens to go. From hostplant data collated for more than 1200 species worldwide, largescale taxonomic.
Some of these plants are highly invasive and should never be cultivated. There are additional larval host plants for many of the butterflies listed, especially the species which feed on many plant families. There is a great deal of advice to be found, in books and on the internet, but it can be difficult to sort out the relevant from the other kind. Planting clusters of the same species of colorful nectarproducing plants will be the most attractive to butterflies and gardeners alike.
The wideranging painted lady vanessa cardui will lay eggs on many different plants, including pussytoes antennaria, ironweed vernonia and purple poppy mallow callirhoe. Willows are found in every part of the united states and canada, with locallyappropriate native species available for any butterfly garden. In fact, the monarch butterfly is also known as the milkweed butterfly. Many native trees and other plants found in and around our yards are host plants for caterpillars. Butterflies dependency on specific caterpillar host plants is one of the. Florida butterfly caterpillars and their host plants. Feed the butterfly babies by growing larval host plants. By selecting particular species, you can provide the basic habitat requirements for specific species that youd like to see as adults. For caterpillars, consider plants like violets, milkweed, and asters.
Butterfly host plants can be just as showy as garden flowers. Hosts brings together an enormous body of information on what the worlds butterfly and moth lepidoptera caterpillars eat. While some butterfly species have a preference for some nectar sources over others, for the most part any good butterfly nectar source will be used by most butterflies. Different species want different plants, ones that will be a suitable food source for their caterpillars after they hatch. Create a butterfly garden with these butterfly host plants. Many butterfly species have adapted to feed upon nonnative plants if the plants are in the. Pacific nw magazine growing a butterfly garden isnt a novel ideabut gardening for butterflies, a new book by the xerces society, elevates the concept from whimsical to essential.
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