Alfalfa or Orange Sulfur Butterfly, Colias eurytheme
Food sources utilized by the adult Alfalfa Butterfly
The adult Alfalfa Butterfly likes to sip nectar from milkweeds as well as Lessingia and other memebrs of the aster family. They seem to prefer plants in the Asteraseae and Leguminase families but are by no means restricted to them. In your butterfly garden some native milkweeds, a few Erigeron Wayne Rodericks, and deerweed will do the trick.
The Alfalfa Butterfly and the California Dog-face look very similar as they are in the same family. They can be distinguished from one another by the shape of their wings. The Alfalfa has a rounded fore wing, where as the California Dog-face has a fore wing that comes to a protruding little point.
The Larva of the Alfalfa Butterfly feeds on plants in the Pea family (Leguminase). Some of their favorites are deerweed, clover, vetch, loco weed. Of course they are named for their fondness of the crop plant Alfalfa, which is also in this family.
"You
have a photograph of the butterfly Colias eurytheme in flight on the
web. I would like your permission to reproduce it in the book I am
writing entitled "Biosynthess in Insects", to be published by the Royal
Society of Chemistry in England. It is of interest to the subject
because this species makes pterin pigments (chemochromes) and also uses
schemochromes to produce its colour. If permitted, your name would
appear clearly associated with the picture and there would be an
acknowledgment of your help".
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