Schneck, Marcus. 1990.
Butterflies: How to Identify and
Attract Them to Your Garden
Rodale Press, Emmaus.
These images are provided courtesy of The Butterfly Website
Species Summary
Ranges across all of North America except Florida, southern California, and most of Canada.Commonly found in open, grassy areas, where its caterpillars feed on legumes like clover(Trifolium), alfalfa, and vetch. They tend to avoid deserts and dese forested areas.
Larva is brightly colored green with pale stipes along its back and sides, or a dark stripe along its back with pale stripes along it's sides.
Pupa are green and tend to overwinter.
Adults have light yellow coloration to the uppersides of their wings with sharp black borders (females have yellow spots in the borders). Undesrides tend to vary with the season, greenish yellow in spring and fall, and clear yellow in midsummer.
May hybridize with the Orange Sulphur, resulting in orange patches over approx. 50% of the upper wing area.
Albino female forms tend to have a pink fringe along its wings.
Page last updated: Oct. 22,1997