Butterfly Host and Caterpillar Nectar Plants

Since we’re talking butterflies, there are two terms you need to know:

Host Plant: The plant on which the eggs are laid and on which the caterpillars feed.

Nectar Plant: The primary plants on which the adult butterflies feed on.

Read More: How To Make A Butterfly Feeder

Each butterfly species depends on particular plants called host plants to feed and nourish its caterpillars.
Female butterflies seek out these plants for egg-laying.
Plants contain a variety of noxious chemicals that protect them from herbivores — different plants have different chemicals.
Butterflies have adapted to some of these chemicals and are able to detoxify them.

The ability to detoxify is limited, so Monarchs, whose caterpillars eat plants from the Milkweed family, but cannot eat parsley, a member of the Carrot family. Some butterfly species are host plant generalists and are able to utilize plants from a wide variety of families for their larval food. Others are strictly specialists--so highly adapted to one plant species that they can eat it and no other.

Knowledge of host plant choice is important in determining where to find particular butterfly species or to attract them to your garden. It is crucial to understanding how to conserve and protect them. The plants included in this list have all been documented as host plants in Wisconsin.

Most adult butterflies feed on nectar from flowers. When seeking food, butterflies evaluate shape, color, fragrance, and taste. Their choices are often determined by proboscis (feeding tube) length: butterflies with long proboscises can access nectar from deep throated flowers; those with shorter ones must feed from shorter tubed plants.

The nectar plants included in this list are native or naturalized plants found in Wisconsin that is used by butterflies in Wisconsin as nectar sources. Most appeal to many butterflies. Some are associated with a particular species and are cited within that species account on this website.

Butterfly Host and Nectar Plants
For Selected Butterflies

Butterfly	Host Plants	Nectar Plants
Cabbage White	Mustard, Cabbage	Cosmos, Verbena
Common Buckeye	Turtlehead, Plantain, Snapdragon	Milkweed
Eastern Black Swallowtail	Dill, Fennel, Queen Anne's Lace	Milkweed, Phlox
Eastern Comma	False Nettle, Elm Tree	Butterfly Bush
Eastern-tailed Blue	Vetch, Clover, Wild Pea, Alfalfa	Milkweed, Coreopsis, Aster, Dogbane
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail	Cherry, Birch, Ash, Cottonwood, Willow	Bee Balm, Butterfly Bush, Honeysuckle, Sunflower
Giant Swallowtail	Prickly Ash, Hoptree, Rue	Butterfly Bush, Coneflower, Sunflower
Great Spangled Fritillary	Common Blue Violet	Coneflower, Milkweed, Butterfly Bush
Gulf Fritillary	Lantana, Butterfly Bush, Thistle, Verbena, Zinnia	Passion Vine, Passion Flower
Monarch	Milkweed	Butterfly Weed
Mourning Cloak	Birch, Elm	Tree sap (mostly oak), rotting fruits
Painted Lady	Pearly Everlasting, Field Thistle, Hollyhocks	Coneflower, Tall Verbena
Pearl Crescent	Heartleaf Aster, Wavy Leaf Aster
Pipevine Swallowtail	Pipevine	Milkweed, Butterfly Bush
Queen	Milkweed	Milkweed
Question Mark	False Nettle, Winged Elm, American Elm, Common Hops	Tree sap, Rotting Fruit, Carrion
Red Admiral	Nettle, Cherry	Milkweed, Clover, Alfalfa
Red-spotted Purple	Cottonwood, Poplar, Cherry	Milkweed, Butterfly Bush, Rotten Fruit
Silver-spotted Skipper	Black Locust, False Indigo, Wisteria
Silvery Checkerspot	Coneflower, Ragweed	Black-eyed Susan, Sunflowers, Wingstem
Spicebush Swallowtail	Spicebush	Butterfly Bush, Coneflower, Sunflower, Joe Pye Weed
Spring Azure	Dogwood, Wingstem, New Jersey Tea	Buckeye, Violet, Winter Cress
Viceroy	Cottonwood, Poplar, Willow	Milkweed, Butterfly Bush, Coneflower
Zebra Swallowtail	Pawpaw	Milkweed, Cosmos, Joe Pye Weed

This is what you need to take away from this. If we want to keep butterflies around us, we need to decide which ones we want and plant what they need. You may not always get them the first season or the second but eventually they will make it to your yard.

Butterflies and Moths of North America
WisconsinButterflies.org
Southern Wisconsin Butterfly Assn (NABA)
The Butterfly Site

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