Western Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly, Papilio rutulus
Plants used by the Larva of the Western Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly
The Western Tiger Swallowtail is often found near riparian corridors as that is where all their larval plants grow. These plants include Cottonwood, Populus spp,Pacific Blackberry, Alder, Alnus spp., Willows, Salix spp., Birch, Betula spp, and California Sycamore, Platanus racemosa. These are all deciduous riparian trees.
Plants used as nectar sources by the Adult Western Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly
The Western Tiger Swallowtail gets nectar from a wide variety of plants. They like Lobelia dunnii serrata a sky blue Lobelia that grows in most areas in part sun.
They also like sages like Salvia Pozo Blue.
This is a sage with light green foliage and and purplish blue
flowers. It is very showy and very drought tolerant.
Another flower that is very popular with butterflies including the
western Tiger Swallowtail, is Woolly Blue
Curls, Trichostema lanatum. This is an open shrub found in the
chaparral. It has fuzzy purple flowers and is also popular with Hummingbirds
and the California
Dog-face butterfly.
