April 2023 marked the first month that I saw a huge influx of great southern white butterflies fluttering about the garden. One day, as I was walking my dog outside, I began looking at what I thought were weeds, but soon figured out it was in fact pepperweed, a host plant for the great southern white butterfly. After a closer look I spotted a ton of yellow eggs.

So I dug up the roots and put the pepperweed into the butterfly house and waited patiently for the lifecycle to begin. It was fascinating to watch the caterpillars grow, which left me going out into the yard and picking more pepperweed to put into the butterfly house.

The Virginia pepperweed grows wild in patches around the yard. It has little white flowers at the very tip with very small leaves. According to the Florida Wildflower Foundation, starts off low growing with lobed leaves with white, yellowish flowers at the top.

The seeds, which resemble a flat, lentil shaped disk, develop along the stem. The flowers of the Virginia pepperweed have both male and female organs and are pollinated by mostly bees. This plant is part of the mustard family, which is mostly what the great southern white butterfly uses as its host plant, as well as the checkered white butterfly.

The caterpillars were almost translucent when they first hatched. As they grew in size their coloring changed, turning darker in color. They have yellow with gray longitudinal stripes, which also include small black dots. They go through five different instars, shedding their exoskeleton each time, so they continue to devour leaves. They can eat anywhere from two to four weeks.

The chrysalis is pretty amazing with this butterfly as well. Before the butterfly is ready to emerge the side turns darker. The ones we raised began emerging as early as seven days.

The great southern white is among the pieridae/whites and sulphur family. The male is white with black forewing apex, while the female is dirty white to gray with black forewing apex and black forewing cell spots. The female can also become more grayish during the wet season. Their wingspan averages between 45-58 mm. This beauty can be found in every county in Florida.

Additional photographs of the great southern white