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How to Attract Butterflies to your South Florida Garden Stephen H. Brown, Lee County Horticulture Agent brownsh@ufl.edu Gayle Edwards, Lee County Master Gardener

Introduction Attracting butterflies into your yard by incorporating specific plants into your landscape will benefit nature and bring you hours of pleasure. Not all flowers are attractive to butterflies, nor can their larvae eat the leaves of just any plant. The flowers of Florida native plants are often not as showy as some of the exotic plants sold to attract butterflies, but many of our native plants are rich in nectar and are preferred by many species of butterflies.

To establish a successful butterfly garden you should consider several factors including site lo-cation, plant selection, and the availability of water.

Site Location Most butterflies are short-lived so they are very busy nectaring, looking for mates, and laying eggs to produce the next generation. Most prefer open, sunny locations, but Florida’s official state butterfly, the zebra longwing, is often seen flying in shady locations.

Plant Selection Many butterfly gardening books for Florida recommend plants that are more suited for North or Central Florida, but many of those plants do not fare well in South Florida. To create a success-ful butterfly garden, be sure to only purchase plants suited for your area. Butterflies in a dry inland area are often different than butterflies in coastal locations or wet sites. These differences in locations should influence your plant selection. In addition, soil type, and plant sensitivity to summer heat, rain and humidity, and to cool winter temperatures should affect plant selection.

Larval Plants Larval plants are those the female butterflies use to deposit their eggs. These plants are typically very specific to each species of butterfly so it is important to know which butterflies are in your neighborhood, and then plant accordingly. Larval plants are food for caterpillars and are often heavily damaged by the feeding of caterpillars. Larval host plants may be trees, shrubs, vines, herbaceous species, and groundcovers, and some double as nectar sources.

Nectar Plants Butterflies feed from nectar, water and even liquids from some of the fruits we eat. To drink from the nectar, a butterfly has a long slender tube coiled under its head known as a ‘proboscis’. Each species of butterflies has a nectar plant that is preferred but many butterflies will drink from a wide variety of nectar sources. In other words, nectar plants are not as specific as larval host plants.

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Cover Plants When caterpillars are ready to pupate, they usually leave their host plant and attach their chrysalis to a nearby tree, shrub, or vine. Butterflies use cover plants to roost at night, hide from predators, and to shelter from foul weather. Cover plants need not differ from larval and nectar plants and can be a combination of both types of plants.

Water Caterpillars sole diet are leaves and sometimes stems of plants. It is the butterflies that seek wa-ter. Butterflies cannot drink from a direct water source such as a river, birdbath or saucer of wa-ter. Most of their liquid requirements are met by nectar and dew but some do obtain water by “sipping” or “pebbling” from wet sand or mud. An easy way to supply water for butterflies is to place rocks in a birdbath, or fill a birdbath with sand.

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Tables The native Florida plants listed in these tables are a fraction of the many native plants that pro-vide food and shelter to many butterflies and skippers. Table 1. Florida native trees used as larval food. Table 2. Florida native shrubs used as larval food. Table 3. Florida native vines used as larval food. Table 4. Florida native wildflowers and weeds used as larval food. Table 5. Florida native plants used as larval plants.

Butterfly Pictures Black Swallowtail Malachite Buckeye (Common) Monarch Cassius Blue Phaon Crescent Ceraunus Blue Polydamas Swallowtail Cloudless Sulphur Queen Dainty Sulphur Ruddy Daggerwing Giant Swallowtail Soldier Gray Ministreak Viceroy Great Southern White White Peacock Gulf Fritillary Zebra Longwing Julia

Skipper Pictures Dorantes Longtail Longtailed Skipper Mangrove Skipper

References

Butterfly Links

Butterfly Gardening Podcast

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Table 1. Florida native trees used as larval food.

Common Names

Black Mangrove

Blackbead

Cat’s Claw

Hercules Club

Limber Caper

Red Mangrove

Strangler Fig

Torchwood

Wild Lime

Botanical Names

Avicennia germinans

Pithecellobium keyense

Pithecellobium unguis-cati

Zanthoxylum clava-hercules

Capparis flexuosa

Rhizophora mangle

Ficus aurea

Amyris elemifera

Zanthoxylum fagara

Butterflies

Mangrove Buckeye

Large Orange Sulphur

Large Orange Sulphur

Giant Swallowtail

Florida White

Mangrove Skipper

Ruddy Daggerwing

Giant Swallowtail

Giant Swallowtail

Wild Tamarind

Willow

Lysiloma latisiliquum

Salix caroliniana

Cassius Blue, Large Orange Sulphur

Viceroy

Table 2. Florida native shrubs used as larval food.

Common Names Botanical Names Butterflies

Bahama Senna

Carolina Aster

Coontie

Doctorbush

Netted Pawpaw

Senna mexicana var. chapmanii

Ampelaster carolinianus

Zamia pumila

Plumbago zeylanica

Asimina reticulata

Cloudless Sulphur, Orange-Barred Sulphur, Sleepy Orange

Pearl Crescent

Atala

Cassius Blue

Zebra Swallowtail

Privet Senna

Water Hemlock

Senna ligustrina

Cicuta maculata

Cloudless Sulphur, Orange-Barred Sulphur, Sleepy Orange

Eastern Black Swallowtail

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Table 3. Florida native vines used as larval food.

Common Names Botanical Names Butterflies

Corkystem Passionflower Passiflora suberosa Variegated Fritillary, Gulf Frit-illary, Julia, Zebra Heliconian, Zebra longwing

Maypop Passiflora incarnata Gulf Fritillary, Julia, Zebra Longwing

White Vine Sarcostemma clausum Queen, Soldier, Monarch

Table 4. Florida native wildflowers and weeds used as larval food.

Common Names Botanical Names Butterflies

Alligator Flag

Beggarweeds

Creeping Charlie (Fog Fruit)

False Nettle

Green Shrimp Plant

Partridge Pea

Thalia geniculata

Desmodium sp.

Phyla nodiflora

Boehmeria cylindrica

Ruellia blechum

Chamaecrista fasciculata

Brazilian Skipper

Gray Hairstreak, Dorantes Longtail Skipper

Common Buckeye, Cuban Crescent,

Red Admiral

Malachite

Ceraunus Blue, Gray Hairstreak, Cloudless Sulphur, Little Sulphur

Pencil Flower

Peppergrass

Stylosanthes hamata

Lepidium virginicum

Barred Yellow

Checkered White, Great Southern White

Purple Thistle

Saltwort

Cirsium horridulum

Batis maritima

Little Metalamark, Painted Lady

Great Southern White

Sixangle Foldwing

Spanish Needle

Twinflower

Water Dropwort

Water Hyssop

Wild Petunia

Dicliptera sexangularis

Bidens alba

Dyschoriste oblongifolia

Tiedemannia filiformis

Bacopa monnieri

Ruellia caroliniensis

Cuban Crescent

Dainty Sulphur

Common Buckeye, Little Sulphur

Eastern Black Swallowtail

White Peacock

Common Buckeye, Malachite

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Table 5. Florida native plants used as nectar plants.

Common Names Botanical Names

Beach Verbena Glandularia maritima

Black-Eyed Susan

Bloodberry

Blue Porterweed

Rubeckia hirta

Cordia globosa

Stachytarpheta jamaicensis

Bushy Aster

Coral Honeysuckle

Dotted Horsemint

Dune/Beach Sunflower

False Dragonhead

Fiddlewood

Symphyotrichum dumosum

Lonicera sempervirens

Monarda punctata

Helianthus debilis

Physostegia purpurea

Citharexylum spinosum

Firebush Hamelia patens var. patens

Gaillardia Gaillardia pulchella

Ironweed Vernonia blodgettii

Leavenworth’s Tickseed

Mist Flower

Coreopsis leavenworthii

Conoclinium coelestinum

Necklace Pod

Skyblue Clustervine

Scorpion Tail

Sea Oxeye Daisy

Seaside Goldenrod

Silk Grass

Tropical Sage

Sophora tomentosa

Jacquemontia pentanthos

Heliotropium angiospermum

Borrichia frutescens

Solidago sempervirens

Pityopsis graminifolia

Salvia coccinea

Wild Coffee

Wild Sage

Psychotria spp.

Lantana involucrata

Yellowtop Flaveria linearis

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Butterflies

Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes)

Gayle Edwards Gayle Edwards

Buckeye (Junonia coenia)

On Spanish needle, Bidens alba. Trudi

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Cassius Blue (Cassius leptotes)

Gayle Edwards On necklace pod, Sophora tomentosa. Gayle Edwards

Ceraunus Blue (Hemiargus ceraunus)

Gayle Edwards

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Cloudless Sulphur (Phoebis sennae)

On blue mistflower, Conoclinium coelestinum, On firebush, Hamelia patens var. patens. S. H. Brown S. H. Brown

Dainty Sulphur (Nathalis iole)

On Spanish needle, Bidens alba. S.H. Brown S.H. Brown

Great Southern White (Ascia monuste)

S. H. Brown Carol McDonald

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Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae)

Newly emerged gulf fritillary and On slender grayfeather, On slender grayfeather, chrysalis. Gayle Edwards Liatris gracilis. S. H. Brown L. gracilis. S. H. Brown

Two gulf fritillaries mating. Gayle Edwards On Zinnia, Zinnia sp. S. H. Brown

Gray Ministreak (Ministrymon azia) Julia (Dryas julia)

Gayle Edwards Gayle Edwards

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Monarch (Danaus plexippus)

On golden dewdrop, Duranta repens. Gayle Edwards On Mexican flame vine, Senecio confuses. Gayle Edwards

On beach verbena, Glandularia maritima. Gayle Edwards

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Malachite (Siproeta stelenes)

On grass. Gayle Edwards. Gayle Edwards

Phaon Crescent (Phyciodes phaon)

On creeping Charlie, Phyla nodiflora. Gayle Edwards

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Polydamas Swallowtail (Battus polydamas)

Newly emerging on Dutchman’s pipe, On nettleleaf vervain, Stachytarpheta cayennensis. Aristolochia grandiflora. Gayle Edwards S. H. Brown

Queen (Danaus gilippus) Ruddy Daggerwing (Marpesia petreus)

Queen and monarch caterpillar on Gayle Edwards milkweed. Gayle Edwards

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Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta)

Gayle Edwards On Lavenworth’s tickseed, Coreopsis leavenworthii. Sally Watson.

Soldier (Danus erisimus)

On mist flower. Gayle Edwards On mist flower. Gayle Edwards

Viceroy (Limenitis archippus) White Peacock (Anartia jatrophae)

Tom Allen On milkweed, Asclepias curassavica, S. H. Brown

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Zebra Longwing (Heliconius charitonius)

Newly emerged. Gayle Edwards On firebush, Hamelia patens var. patens. S. H. Brown

Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes) Zebra Swallowtail (Eurytides Marcellus)

On Bougainvillea. Kitty Tyler Gayle Edwards

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Skippers

Dorantes Longtail (Urbanus dorantes)

S.H. Brown S.H. Brown

Longtailed Skipper (Urbanus proteus)

S.H. Brown S.H. Brown

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Mangrove Skipper (Phocides pigmalion)

On Mexican flame vine, Senecio confusus. Gayle Edwards.

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References Daniels, J.C. 2015. Ceranunus Blue Butterfly, Hemiargus ceraunus. UF/IFAS, Gainesville, Florida

Daniels, J.C. et al. 2014. Butterfly Gardening in Florida. UF/IFAS, Gainesville, Florida

Hammer, R. 2015. Attracting Hummingbirds and Butterflies in Tropical Florida: A Companion for Gardeners. University of Florida Press, Gainesville, Florida

Malone, K.C. et al. 2010. Community ButteflyScaping: How to Move Beyond Butterfly Gardening to Create a Large-Scale Butterfly Habitat. UF/IFAS, Gainesville, Florida

Butterfly Links

Butterflies

Butterfly Plants

Order: Lepidoptera (butterflies, moths)

Butterfly Gardening Podcast

Send me an email to request Brown’s Plant File. Include your first and last names and your general location. The plant file is emailed at no cost to you about every six weeks.

This fact sheet was reviewed by Roger Hammer, Naturalist, Miami-Dade County; Peggy Cruz, Lee County Extension; Pat Rooney, Kim Cooprider and Kitty Tyler, Lee County Master Gardeners.

The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational informa-tion and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, martial status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A. & M. 6/2016

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