Tag Archives: great southern white butterfly

Now a regular

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The great southern white caterpillars are slowly growing and multiplying in our butterfly house. They sure do blend with the leaf coloring of the perpperweed, making it rather difficult to get an exact count of how many caterpillars are taking up residence. They lay about 20 eggs in a cluster and there were quite a few clusters.

I have read that the caterpillar will eat for two to four weeks, so they have a ways to go. The chrysalis stage is anywhere from eight to 14 days.

The great part is its host plant grows freely in our yard, and my neighbors yard. There is an abundance everywhere. So I have been experimenting with the peppergrass. I have dug some up and put it in a vase full of water to let it root some more before planting it in the garden.

The butterfly has become a daily visitor of the garden, with its favorite nectar plants being the red penta and an occasional zinnia.

Yippy!

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Yesterday afternoon while walking my dog, a great southern white caught my attention and kept it for a while. I am absolutely ecstatic to share that I found more of its host plant, Virginia peppergrass in the yard and spotted a ton of eggs on its tiny leaves. So, of course, what did I do, dug it up and put the plant in our butterfly house.

The eggs, which are yellow and spindle shaped, are either laid single, or in clusters. I am excited to see what the caterpillars look like, as I have read they have gray bodies with orange and yellow longitudinal bands.

Another host plant added

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I really enjoy wandering through other butterfly gardens to get ideas to further enhance my garden at home. So, another trip to The Butterfly Estates in Downtown Fort Myers was enjoyed. I have to say my gardens are mimicking the same nectar plants and a good amount of the host plants that The Butterfly Estates has, which is great because it supports the butterflies of Southwest Florida.

This time the great southern white butterfly grabbed my attention, as this beauty is becoming more of a regular in the garden.

With the help of a friend, I have identified that its host plant, lepidium latifolium, broad leafed Virginia pepperweed, is growing in my yard! This plant has tiny white flowers at the top. It can reach 6 to 20″ inches tall and likes full sun, dry, well-drained sandy to rich soils.

It is part of the mustard family, which is the primary variety that the great southern white uses to lay its eggs. The butterfly was laying its egg on the cleome plant at The Butterfly Estates. So, I am happy to say that I have two big pots full of the pepperweed in one spot in the butterfly garden, hoping to soon see the amazing life cycle of this beauty. And, I also have seeds to grow another variety of mustard, which I am super excited about.

Here are photographs captured during our visit of the great southern white laying eggs, drinking nectar from porterweed and resting.

White

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I know I have said this before, but one of the best decisions I made was to plant a butterfly garden straight out my front window. Today, something white captured my attention, taking my focus away from my writing. This of course turned into me rushing towards the camera and flying out the door.

The great southern white was visiting the red penta, taking tons of sips from different flowers. Whenever I see them at Butterfly Estates they are incredibly hard to photograph. Today this beauty was not bothered by me, as it was content on sipping away, briefly turning its head to watch me.

One of the greatest joys for me is to attract a variety of species to the gardens. The last time I saw this one in the garden was May 2022. It was definitely just passing through grabbing something to eat before it was on its way again, as I do not have any of its host plant in the garden.

The Great Southern White

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I love this butterfly because of the turquoise colored antennal clubs. This butterfly was not easy to photograph at first, but then decided to hang out on a leaf closer to me.

I have read that this butterfly is sort of easy to identify the male and female. The males are whiter in color, while the female appears more of a dirty white to gray. There are also other identifiers in the forewing and ventral hindwing. The male has a black forewing apex and a ventral hindwing white-yellow appearance. The female has a black forewing apex and forewing cell spot and the ventral hindwing is gray.

The wingspan of the great southern white is 45 to 58 mm. Their flight season is year round in such areas as South Texas, peninsular Florida, as well as the Gulf Coast. They enjoy habitats in salt marshes, beaches, roadsides and disturbed areas.

According to the Florida Museum its host plant is the Virginia pepper grass, saltwort, limber caper and sea rocket. I also read that the caterpillar also hosts on plants from the mustard family. The egg is yellow and are either laid single, or in clusters. The caterpillar has a gray body with both yellow and orange longitudinal bands. The caterpillars body also has black dot tubercles with sparse long hairs. If that was not colorful enough, it also has a yellow orange head with speckled black dots.