Alfalfa Butterfly Butterfly, Colias eurytheme |
|
|
The adult Alfalfa Butterfly likes to sip nectar from milkweeds as well as Lesingia. They seem to prefer plants in the Asteraseae and Leguminase families but are by no means restricted to them. In your butterfly garden some native milkweeds and deerweed will do the trick.
|
The Alfalfa Butterfly and the California Dog-face look very similar as they are in the same family. They can be distinguished from one another by the shape of their wings. The Alfalfa has a rounded fore wing, where as the California Dog-face has a fore wing that comes to a protruding little point. Food sources utilized by the Larva of the Alfalfa Butterfly The
Larva of the Alfalfa Butterfly feeds on plants in the Pea family
(Leguminase). Some of their favorites are deerweed,
clover, vetch, loco weed. Of course they are named for their
fondness of the crop plant Alfalfa, which is also in this family.
|
|
Las Pilitas Nursery Return to California Butterfly main page Go to Butterfly Plants Page Go to Wildlife Page |
|