The Orange Sulphur Butterfly is a very common North American butterfly with a bright appearance and a relatively small size, found across the open lands. The Orange Sulphur has wings of pale yellow-orange peppered with sparse spots of blue-brown and outlined in a light pink border. The female often has small white or silver spots on the underside of her wings.

 

“Orange Sulphur – Blanket Flower“, by Ken Slade, licensed under (CC BY-NC 2.0)

 

Orange Sulphur Facts

Butterfly Family: Whites and Sulphurs (Pieridae)

Butterfly Subfamily: Coliadinae

Butterfly Wingspan: 1 3/8 – 2 3/4 inches

Butterfly Habitat: A wide variety of open sites, especially clover and alfalfa fields, mowed fields, vacant lots, meadows, and road edges

 

Orange Sulphur Host and Nectar Plants

Host Plants:

• Beans
• Peas
• Alfalfa
• White Clover
• Garden Vetch
• Wild Indigo

Nectar Plants:

• Nectar from various flowers
  • Milkweeds
  • Dandelion
  • Goldenrods
  • Asters
  • Violet
  • Tennessee Coneflower
  • Ironweed
  • Lanceleaf Gumweed
  • Clover