Brooding Butterflies

 

Common Sunflower is a native larval host plant for one of our brooding butterflies. 

In human terms, brooding typically means showing deep, quiet unhappiness but when it pertains to butterflies, it describes how many broods or distinct generations of butterflies a species produces in one year. Summertime in our area highlights those butterfly species that have multiple broods spring through fall, also called multivoltines. The most commonly seen multiple brooders include Queen (Danaus gilippus), Gulf Fritillary (Dione vanillae), Bordered Patch (Chlosyne lacinia), White-striped Longtail (Chioides albofasciatus), and Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor) butterflies.

Queens are most often confused with Monarchs, given their mostly rich orange-brown coloring, with white spots nearest the wing tips and in the black wing margins, but lacking the Monarch’s bold black wing veining. Like Monarchs, their native larval host plant is milkweed, specifically Antelope Horn, Fringed Twinevine, and Butterfly Milkweed.

Queens are often mistaken for Monarchs.

Gulf Fritillaries are another mostly orange butterfly, with a few black markings on the wings above and many elongated silvery spots on the wings below.  They have slightly elongated wings and their flight is fast and usually well above the ground. Their native larval host plant is passionvine, including Purple Passionvine, Fetid Passionvine, and Yellow Passionvine.

Gulf Fritillary nectaring on Blue Mistflower.

Silvery spots on the underside of the Gulf Fritillary.

Bordered Patches can be remarkably variable, but typically have black forewings and hindwings with an orange and/or creamy white median band of spots that can vary in width. Their native larval host plants are in the sunflower/aster family, specifically Common Sunflower, Cowpen Daisy, and Black-eyed Susan.

Bordered Patch on one of its native larval host plants, Cowpen Daisy.

White-striped Longtails are brown butterflies with very long tails and a prominent white stripe on the hindwing below. This characteristic is usually easy to see since these butterflies typically perch with their wings closed. Their native larval host plants are legumes in the pea family, namely Panicledleaf Ticktrefoil and Softleaf Mimosa.

White-striped Longtail nectaring on Blue Mistflower.

Pipevine Swallowtails are our most familiar dark swallowtail, black above with a single row of pale spots near the wing margins. Males have a beautiful blue-green iridescence on the hindwing above, and both sexes have a single row of bright orange spots in an iridescent blue background on the hindwing below. Their native larval hosts plants are pipevines, including Swanflower and Virginia’s Dutchmanspipe.

Upperside of a male Pipevine Swallowtail.

Underside of a Pipevine Swallowtail.

These multiple brooders produce three or more continuous generations per year, often flying repeatedly from early spring to late fall. The final brood of the year often exhibits different physiological or behavioral traits, such as delayed development or seasonal movement, that allows them to survive winter conditions. In the case of the species outlined above, most move further south as the temperatures fall and then north again as they rise, but the swallowtails overwinter hidden away in chrysalis form until warmer temperatures coax them to emerge in spring.

Sun Trackers

This time of year, the most notable family of plants are the Heilianthus, or sunflowers.  From the Greek ‘helios’ or sun and ‘anthos’ or flower, these plants are usually tall annuals or perennials that during their growth phase exhibit a subtle behavior in the daylight hours.  This behavior, called heliotropism, is the ability for the young flower buds and leaves to gently tilt toward the sun, tracking it as it moves across the sky. By the time the flower heads mature, they are stationary but generally facing east to greet the rising sun.

Sunflowers are typically tall plants with one to multiple flower heads, consisting of bright yellow ray florets or flowers, surrounding yellow or maroon disc florets.  In wild or native species, the rough and hairy stems are normally branched, and the leaves are often sticky and lance or heart-shaped. Sunflowers also exhibit phyllotaxis, or the arrangement of leaves on a stem that forms a distinct pattern, in this case a repeating spiral.  Additionally, the disc florets also display a phyllotactic pattern, one that creates the optical effect of criss-crossing spirals in the flower’s center.

Common Sunflower (Helianthus annuus)

In our area, the two most abundant sunflowers are the Common Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) and the Maximilian Sunflower (Helianthus maximiliani).  Blooming from May to October, the Common Sunflower grows on dry soils, especially in disturbed areas.  It can reach 1.5 to 8 feet tall, and various parts of the branched stems can be either green or dark purple.  The heart-shaped leaves are coarse and covered in rough hairs, and grow from 2.5 to 10 inches long.  Up to 4 inches across, the flower heads have yellow ray flowers and reddish brown disc flowers.  As their scientific name suggests, these plants are annuals.

Maximilian Sunflower (Helianthus maximiliani)

Maximilian Sunflowers, on the other hand, are perennials that bloom in September and October. They grow 1 to 6 feet tall in colonies on both the dry ground of prairies and the moist ground of roadside ditches and other low places.  Shorter, rough hairs cover the narrow lance-shaped leaves, which average 2 to 4 inches long.  The 1.5 to 3 inch wide flower heads have yellow ray flowers surrounding yellow disc flowers, with numerous flower heads growing along the unbranched stems.

Aside from their aesthetic value to humans, sunflowers are generally palatable to deer and numerous species of birds eat their seeds.  Their flower heads support nectaring bees, and they are the food plants for several butterfly species such as the Bordered Patch and Silvery Checkerspot.  When mixed with other native annuals, these sun trackers provide good cover for many species of wildlife, and would be a great addition to your native wildscape.