Butterflies and How to Attract Them

Table 2. Some Common Pacific Northwest Butterflies

The following list includes some of the common butterflies found in different areas of Washington. For identification, use the colored plates provided in books listed under “References.” After you’ve identified the species found in your area, you can use the plants listed to attract them to your yard

 

Food plants =  Plants eaten by butterfly larvae (caterpillars); also called host plants. Nectar sources =  Nectar-producing flowers and other nectar sources, such as manure and rotting fruit that are used by adult butterflies.

Anise swallowtail
Food plants:	Desert-parsley, fennel, carrot, garden parsley, cow-parsnip, seaside angelica.
Nectar sources:	Butterfly bush, desert-parsley, penstemon, garden mint, zinnia, lantana, coltsfoot.
Western tiger swallowtail
Food plants:	Big-leaf maple, willow, aspen, poplar, cottonwood, sycamore, cherry, alder, apple, serviceberry, hawthorn.
Nectar sources:	Common lilac, butterfly bush, mock-orange, rhododendron, blackberry, thistle, phlox, garden mint, lily, lavender, verbena, wallflower, honeysuckle, sweet William, clove pink, giant-hyssop.
Pale swallowtail
Food plants:	Buckbrush, cherry, hawthorn, cascara, alder, hardhack spiraea, oceanspray, currant, coffeeberry.
Nectar sources:	Oceanspray, penstemon, columbine, and those listed for Western tiger swallowtail.
Pine white
Food plants:	Pine (especially western white and ponderosa pine), Douglas-fir, fir, hemlock, red-cedar.
Nectar sources:	Butterfly bush, dusty miller, daisies, coreopsis, lobelia, goldenrod, strawflower.
Orange sulphur
Food plants:	Alfalfa, clover, and other legumes.
Nectar sources:	Alfalfa and other legumes, mustard, thistle, aster, red-twig dogwood.
Cabbage white (Cabbage butterfly)
Food plants:	Cabbage, broccoli, radish, mustard, nasturtium, spiderflower.
Nectar sources:	Butterfly bush, money plant, blackberry, coreopsis, dandelion, thistle, sweet pea.
Sara orangetip
Food plants:	Winter cress, nasturtium, moneyplant, rockcress.
Nectar sources:	Cherry, strawberry, monkey flower, dandelion, violet, rock cress, coltsfoot.
Brown elfin
Food plants:	The flower parts, buds and seed pods of apple, salal, buckbrush, bitterbrush, manzanita, rhododendron, azalea, bog-laurel, Labrador tea, oceanspray, blueberry, sedum, kinnikinnik.
Nectar sources:	Cherry, willow, osoberry, bitterbrush, winter cress, blueberry, wild-buckwheat, kinnikinnik.
Spring azure
Food plants:	Flower parts and seeds of dogwood, oak, buckthorn, apple, madrone, viburnum, cherry, plum, sumac, blueberry, escallonia, cotoneaster, hardhack, manzanita, oceanspray, cinquefoil, salal.
Nectar sources:	Cherry, plum, willow, mountain-lilac, rock cress, winter cress, escallonia, blackberry, cotoneaster, milkweed, forget-me-not, dandelion, violet, miner’s lettuce, many plants in the mustard family.
Silvery blue
Food plants:	Mostly lupine; also wild pea, vetch, clover and other legumes.
Nectar sources:	Cherry, plum, coneflower, desert-parsley, lupine.
Lorquin’s admiral
Food plants:	Willow, chokecherry, aspen, oceanspray, cottonwood, hardhack spirea, cherry, apple.
Nectar sources:	Thistle, mustard, blackberry, giant-hyssop, Barrett’s penstemon; also rotting fruit, animal droppings, carrion.
Red admiral
Food plants:	Mostly stinging nettle.
Nectar sources:	Butterfly bush, daisy, aster, thistle, dandelion, goldenrod, gayfeather, ageratum, milkweed, candytuft, alfalfa, sedum, wallflower, fireweed, red clover, mallow, sea-holly, garden mint, red-valerian, penstemon, spiraea, germander.
Painted lady
Food plants:	Mostly thistle; also, sunflower, pearly everlasting, stinging nettle, borage, hollyhock, legumes.
Nectar sources:	Oregon-grape, rabbitbrush, butterfly bush, zinnia, dandelion, thistle, gayfeather, aster, daisy, cosmos, garden mint, sweet William, red-valerian, red clover, milkweed, pincushion flower, wallflower, candytuft, coneflower, aster.
Mourning cloak
Food plants:	Elm, cottonwood, poplar, willow, birch, hackberry, hawthorn, wild rose.
Nectar sources:	Willow, butterfly bush, milkweed, rock- cress, Shasta daisy, daphne; also tree sap and rotting fruit.
Milbert’s tortoiseshell
Food plants:	Stinging nettle.
Nectar sources:	Willow, butterfly bush, lilac, thistle, daisy, goldenrod, marigold, ageratum, stonecrop, wallflower, aster, dandelion, calendula.
Mylitta crescent
Food plants:	Thistle.
Nectar sources:	Pearly everlasting, hawkbit, goldenrod, aster.
Satyr comma (Satyr anglewing)
Food plants:	Stinging nettle.
Nectar sources:	Dandelion, aster, blackberry; also rotting fruit, tree sap.
Common wood nymph
Food plants:	Grasses.
Nectar sources:	Coneflower, garden mint, sunflower, fleabane, penstemon, spiraea, mock-orange, alfalfa, clematis; also rotting fruit, tree sap.
Woodland skipper
Food plants:	Grasses; caterpillars feed at night.
Nectar sources:	Bluebeard, lavender, butterfly bush, oregano, coreopsis, pearly everlasting, statice, black-eyed Susan, thistle, dandelion, marigold, fall sedum, lobelia, aster.