Pollinator
Acmon blue
Icaricia acmon
A common western blue with an orange band on the hindwing.
- Family
- Lycaenidae (gossamer-wings)
- Wingspan
- 0.75 to 1.1 in (2 to 2.9 cm)
- Flight season
- Spring to fall
- Range
- Western North America
- Caterpillar food
- Wild buckwheats and legumes
- Conservation
- Secure and widespread
The acmon blue is a small western butterfly, blue above with a narrow orange band on the hindwing margin, one of the most common blues of the West.
It flies in several broods across open, sunny country from lowlands to mountains.
Caterpillars feed on wild buckwheats and legumes and are tended by ants.
Plants for the acmon blue
10 caterpillar host plants and 16 documented nectar plants. Pick a role, then narrow with the filters below.
23 plants
Nectar
1 of 2 Common yarrow complex Achillea millefolium Nectar
1 of 2 California poppy Eschscholzia californica Nectar
1 of 2 Turkey tangle frogfruit Phyla nodiflora Host
1 of 3 Texas bluebonnet Lupinus texensis Host
1 of 2 Sundial Lupine Lupinus perennis Nectar
1 of 3 Plains coreopsis Coreopsis tinctoria Nectar
Coyote brush Baccharis pilularis Nectar
1 of 2 Showy milkweed Asclepias speciosa Nectar
1 of 2 Spreading dogbane Apocynum androsaemifolium Nectar
1 of 2 Chia Salvia columbariae Nectar
1 of 2 Seaside daisy Erigeron glaucus Host
1 of 2 Nootka Lupine Lupinus nootkatensis Host
1 of 2 Silvery lupine Lupinus argenteus Host
1 of 2 Coastal bush lupine Lupinus arboreus Nectar
1 of 2 Common woolly sunflower Eriophyllum lanatum Nectar
1 of 2 Bluehead gilia Gilia capitata Host + Nectar
1 of 2 Sulfur buckwheat Eriogonum umbellatum Host
1 of 3 Canadian milkvetch Astragalus canadensis Nectar
1 of 2 Tidy tips Layia platyglossa Host
1 of 2 Sandyland Bluebonnet Lupinus subcarnosus Host + Nectar
1 of 2 Miniature Lupine Lupinus bicolor Host + Nectar
1 of 3 Sky Lupine Lupinus nanus Nectar
Slender sunflower Helianthus gracilentus
1 of 21 of 21 of 21 of 31 of 21 of 31 of 21 of 21 of 21 of 21 of 21 of 21 of 21 of 21 of 21 of 21 of 31 of 21 of 21 of 21 of 3No plants match those filters.
Sources
- Butterflies and Moths of North America ↗
- iNaturalist ↗
- Plant associations from GloBI flower-visit records and NPIN larval-host data. Butterfly photographs via iNaturalist (CC BY).