eNature: Butterfly Gardening

These are some of the common, showy butterflies of this region and the food plant (or plants) appropriate for caterpillars of each species.

Butterfly Species		Caterpillar Plants
	Variable Checkerspot Euphydryas chalcedona	Figworts (Scrophularia), monkeyflowers (Mimulus)
	Mourning Cloak Nymphalis antiopa	Willow, poplar, elm
	West Coast Lady Vanessa annabella	Various mallows
	Sara Orangetip Anthocharis sara	Various mustards
	Acmon Blue Plebejus acmon	Buckwheats (Eriogonum)
	Gulf Fritillary Agraulis vanillae	Passionflower (Passiflora)
	Pipevine Swallowtail Battus philenor	Dutchman's Pipe (Aristolochia)
	Western Tiger Swallowtail Papilio rutulus	Willow, poplar, elm
	Anise Swallowtail Papilio zelicaon	Fennel (Foeniculum), various parsleys
	Monarch Danaus plexippus	Milkweeds (Asclepias)

Nectar Plants

These are the best flowers to plant in this region to attract a wide variety of butterfly species. The plants listed here have been shown to be tolerant of the local climate and particularly attractive to the butterflies mentioned above.

Heliotrope		Heliotropium arborescens
California Yerba Santa (native)		Eriodictyon californicum
Statice or sea lavender (native)		Limonium species
Thistles (some native)		Cirsium species
Vervain (native)		Verbena species
Mexican Sunflower		Tithonia rotundifolia
California Buckeye (native)		Aesculus californica
Yarrow (some native)		Achillea species