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
	Red-spotted Purple Limenitis arthemis astyanax	Willow, poplar, cherry
	Queen Danaus gilippus	Milkweeds (Asclepias)
	Clouded Sulphur Colias philodice	Clovers
	Orange Sulphur Colias eurytheme	Clovers and other legumes
	Marine Blue Leptotes marina	Leadwort (Plumbago)
	Gulf Fritillary Agraulis vanillae	Passionflower (Passiflora)
	Pipevine Swallowtail Battus philenor	Dutchman's Pipe (Aristolochia)
	Giant Swallowtail Papilio cresphontes	Citruses, Hoptree (Ptelea trifoliata), Prickly-ash (Zanthoxylum)
	Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Papilio glaucus	Willow, alder, Yellow Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera)
	Zebra Longwing Heliconius charitonius	Passionflower (Passiflora)

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.

Spider Antelope-horns		Asclepias asperula
Rusty Blackhaw		Viburnum rufidulum
Vervain (native)		Verbena species
Purple Coneflower (native)		Echinacea purpurea
Tall Boneset (native)		Eupatorium altissimum
Desert-olive (native)		Forestiera pubescens