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Buddleja species, especially Buddleja davidii and interspecific hybrids, are commonly known as butterfly bushes and are frequently cultivated as garden shrubs. [5] Buddleja davidii has become an invasive species in both Europe and North America.
The caterpillars of the gray hairstreak butterfly consume a wide range of food plants. [3] However, they do mainly use mallows and legumes as their preferred host plant. They commonly use clovers as their food plant as well, eating rabbit-foot clover (Trifolium arvense), white clover (T. repens), bush clover (Lespedeza capitata), white sweet-clover (Melilotis alba), and Malva neglecta.
Butterfly resting on flower at Magic Wings Conservatory. Many Heliconius butterflies also use their proboscis to feed on pollen; [57] in these species only 20% of the amino acids used in reproduction come from larval feeding, which allow them to develop more quickly as caterpillars, and gives them a longer lifespan of several months as adults. [58]
They are also called brush-footed butterflies or four-footed butterflies, because they are known to stand on only four legs while the other two are curled up; in some species, these forelegs have a brush-like set of hairs, which gives this family its other common name.
Junonia coenia, known as the common buckeye or buckeye, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae.Its range covers much of North America and some of Central America, including most of the eastern half of the US, the lower to middle Midwest, the Southwest (including most of California), southern Canada, and Mexico.
The female butterfly lays about 20–30 eggs in spring, a day after mating, on the young buds of its host plant, Sinai thyme (Thymus decussatus). After an incubation period of a few days, the eggs hatch into small larvae which feed on the buds and flowers of Sinai thyme.
Those selected for foliage color may be toxic to insects. Studies have shown that altering leaf color, and the chemical changes that this implies, reduces a plant’s ability to serve as a resource for herbivorous insects. [28] Buddleja davidii, which is often called "butterfly-bush", attracts many butterflies. [29]
There are certain mustard plants that are toxic to the butterflies. Alliaria petiolata , more commonly known as garlic mustard, is an example. [ 7 ] Because this species is closely related to host mustards of P. oleracea , it is very similar to their commonly eaten plants, so these butterflies often feed on the toxic species.