Without caterpillars, there would be no butterflies or moths. Having their food plants in your yard attracts female butterflies, encouraging them to stay and lay eggs. Butterfly larvae (caterpillars) eat a lot as they grow, but they do not usually damage plants permanently. Following are some frequently seen butterflies and a few of their preferred host plants:

American [Painted] Lady	Pearly everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea), pussytoes (Antennaria)
Black Swallowtail, Eastern	Parsley, dill, fennel, Queen Anne's lace, rue (Ruta graveolens)
Cabbage White	Many plants in mustard family (Cruciferae), cabbage family
Clouded Sulphur	Legumes, including clovers (Trifolium)
Common Sootywing	Lambsquarters (Chenopodium album)
Comma, Eastern	Nettles (Urtica), false nettles (Boehmeria), hops (Humulus lupulus)
Eastern Tailed Blue	Legumes, especially clovers (Trifolium), bush clover (Lespedeza)
Tiger Swallowtail, Eastern	Wild black cherry (Prunus serotina), ash, tulip tree, willows
Fiery Skipper	Grasses, including Bermuda, bluegrass, St. Augustine
Gray Hairstreak	Many peas and mallows (Malva), oak (Quercus)
Great Spangled Fritillary	Violets (Viola)
Monarch	Milkweeds (Asclepias)
Orange (Alfalfa) Sulphur	Herbaceous legumes, including Alfalfa, white clover (Trifolium repens)
Painted Lady	Thistles (Cirsium), mallows (Malva), other composites
Pearl Crescent	Asters
Peck's (Yellowpatch) Skipper	Grasses
Pipevine Swallowtail	Aristolochia, including Dutchman's pipevine, Virginia snakeroot
Question Mark	Elm (Ulmus), hackberry (Celtis), nettles (Urtica), false nettles (Boehmeria), hops (Humulus lupulus)
Red Admiral	Nettles (Urtica), false nettles (Boehmeria)
Red-banded Hairstreak	Fallen leaves of sumacs (Rhus), oaks (Quercus), others
Red-spotted Purple	Wild cherry (Prunus serotina), oak (Quercus), poplar (Populus), hawthorn (Crataegus), willow (Salix)
Sachem Skipper	Grasses, including Bermuda grass, crabgrass
Silver-Spotted Skipper	Black locust (Robina pseudacacia), wisteria, other legumes
Spicebush Swallowtail	Sassafras (Sassafras albidum), spicebush (Lindera benzoin)
Spring Azure	Flower parts of dogwoods (Cornus), wild cherry (Prunus serotina), viburnums, others
Summer Azure	Many plants, including wild cherry, viburnums, meadowsweet (Spirea salicifolia), black snakeroot (Cimicifuga)
Wild Indigo Duskywing	Crown vetch(Coronilla varia), wild indigo (Baptisia tinctoria)
Zabulon Skipper	Grasses, especially purpletop (Tridens flavus)
Zebra Swallowtail	Pawpaw (Asimina triloba)

© Washington Area Butterfly Club
Barbara Farron
February 2000