The Bahama cassia tree is crawling with heaps of orange barred sulphur caterpillars once again. It’s amazing how quickly the lifecycle takes shape, how these caterpillars change from yellow, which is incredibly hard to find, to this amazing coloration that blends in with the tree. The hunt will soon begin of finding their final destination to create their chrysalis.
The orange barred sulphur has been visiting the garden daily this week, leaving tons of eggs behind on our Bahama Cassia tree. I absolutely adore this butterfly because it is such a ray of sunshine while flying.
I have read that the orange barred sulphur is the largest southeastern sulphur. The females are also larger than the male. Now that we are in the summer months, the female is orange yellow with dark molting coloring.
These butterflies are incredibly fast in flight and can be very hard to photograph. So I was excited when I got some good ones of her laying eggs.
My Bahama cassia is crawling with orange barred sulphur caterpillars. It was a lot of fun watching them today munching away on leaves. One looked like a gymnast as it found the perfect leaf to snack upon.
I have decided to watch this batch of caterpillars in nature, which has been fun. Now the hunt has begun, as I know some have reached their perfect size. I wonder where I will find their chrysalis. The chrysalis is the same color of the leaf, and mimics a leaf quite brilliantly.
I am beyond thrilled that the sulphurs have returned to the garden.
This beauty, the orange barred sulphur, emerged in the butterfly house yesterday and remained in the garden for a long time after flying free.
Its host plant is the Christmas cassia, candle plant and the Bahama cassia. I have the Bahama cassia in the garden. I bought it as a small tree for $5 from a native plant sale. It has almost tripled in size, and thankfully survived Hurricane Ian with a little help.
The butterfly’s wingspan is 65 to 55 mm and can be found throughout the southern portion of Florida. The females are larger in size than the male.
The male has a brighter yellow coloring with a bright orange bar. The hindwing has orange edges. The female, on the other hand, can be creamy white during the summer months, and golden yellow during the winter months with a suffused orange/red outer edge of its hindwing. The females do not have the orange bar coloring.
I have read that this butterfly was established in Florida in 1920. These beauties can be seen year round, although they are an uncommon sight at the Panhandle of Florida.
