The Registry Of Nature Habitats - Butterfly Food Plants

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The Registry of Nature Habitats

PO Box 321
Meridale, NY 13806

Butterfly & Catepillar Food Plants

Some common butterflies and their caterpillar food plants.

*Butterfly Species*	*Caterpillar Food Plant*
Swallowtail Family (Papilionidae)
Black Swallowtail	Parsley family - both wild and cultivated: carrot, dill, parsley, and parsnip
Spicebush Swallowtail	Spicebush, sassafras
Tiger Swallowtail	Aspen, cherry, birch

Snout Butterfly (Libytheidae)
Common Snout Butterfly	Hackberry

Brush-footed Family (Nymphalidae)
Great Spangled and Idalia Fritillary	Violets
Buckeye	Plantains, gerardias, toadflax, snapdragons, false loosestrifes
Painted Lady	Thistles
Red Admiral	Nettles, false nettle
Viceroy and Red-Spotted Purple	Willows, especially black willow, pussy willow, poplars, plums, cherries
Hackberry Butterfly	Hackberry
Monarch Butterfly	Milkweeds, butterfly weed
Mourning Cloak	Willow, birch, aspen, maple, elm

Sulphur Family (Pieridae)
Common (clouded) Sulphur	Clover, alfalfa
Dogface Butterfly	Lead plant, false indigo, prairie clover

Coppers, Blues, Harvesters, Metalmarks Families (Lycaenidae, Riodinidae)
American Copper	Sorrel
Sylvan Hairstreak	Willow
Common Hairstreak	Mallow family, rose & marsh mallows, hollyhock
Gray Hairstreak	Hawthorn

Skipper Family (Hesperidae)
Blazing Star Skipper	Grasses

***These nineteenth century woodcuts illustrate portions of the life cycles of butterflies and moths.***
In the left illustration, “A” is an adult butterfly nectar feeding. “B” shows females ovipositing (egg-laying). “C” represents several instars, or stages, of larval feeding and growth. “D” is the pupa (chrysalis of a butterfly). “E” is a newly emerged butterfly adult drying its wings.	In the bottom illustration, of moths, “A” is an adult resting with its wings folded. “B” and “C” represent two larval instars. “D” is the hairy cocoon of the moth.

The Registry of Nature Habitats

PO Box 321
Meridale, NY 13806