Pollinator
Cloudless sulphur
Phoebis sennae
A big, brilliant lemon-yellow butterfly that streams north each summer.
- Family
- Pieridae (whites and sulphurs)
- Wingspan
- 2.25 to 3.1 in (5.7 to 7.8 cm)
- Flight season
- Much of the year; migrates north
- Range
- Southern United States, wandering north
- Caterpillar food
- Partridge pea and sennas (Cassia)
- Conservation
- Secure and widespread
The cloudless sulphur is a large, clear lemon-yellow butterfly, the brightest of North America's sulphurs, sailing fast and high through gardens and open country.
A strong migrant, it pushes north out of the South each summer, sometimes in loose streams, and drifts back in fall. It favors long, tubular red and pink flowers that shorter-tongued butterflies cannot reach.
Caterpillars feed on partridge pea and sennas. Plant a native partridge pea for the caterpillars and deep nectar flowers for the adults.
Plants for the cloudless sulphur
2 caterpillar host plants and 26 documented nectar plants. Pick a role, then narrow with the filters below.
27 plants
Nectar
1 of 3 Common evening-primrose Oenothera biennis Nectar
1 of 2 American trumpet vine Campsis radicans Nectar
Yellow trumpet flower Tecoma stans Nectar
1 of 2 Butterfly milkweed Asclepias tuberosa Nectar
1 of 2 Dense blazing star Liatris spicata Nectar
1 of 2 Cardinal flower Lobelia cardinalis Nectar
1 of 2 Buttonbush Cephalanthus occidentalis Nectar
1 of 2 Swamp rose mallow Hibiscus moscheutos Nectar
1 of 2 Yellow jessamine Gelsemium sempervirens Nectar
1 of 3 Firewheel Gaillardia pulchella Nectar
1 of 3 False sunflower Heliopsis helianthoides Nectar
1 of 3 Coral honeysuckle Lonicera sempervirens Nectar
1 of 2 Obedient plant Physostegia virginiana Host + Nectar
1 of 2 Partridge pea Chamaecrista fasciculata Nectar
1 of 2 Autumn sage Salvia greggii Nectar
1 of 2 Orange coneflower Rudbeckia fulgida Nectar
1 of 2 Pickerelweed Pontederia cordata Nectar
1 of 2 Tall goldenrod Solidago altissima Nectar
1 of 3 Lyreleaf sage Salvia lyrata Nectar
1 of 2 Common wrinkle-leaved goldenrod Solidago rugosa Nectar
1 of 3 Spotted horsemint Monarda punctata Nectar
1 of 2 Fivespot Nemophila maculata Nectar
1 of 2 Prairie blazing star Liatris pycnostachya Host
1 of 2 Sensitive pea Chamaecrista nictitans Nectar
1 of 2 Pine lily Lilium catesbaei Nectar
1 of 2 Texas Paintbrush Castilleja indivisa Nectar
1 of 2 Marsh Rattlesnake Master Eryngium aquaticum
1 of 31 of 21 of 21 of 21 of 21 of 21 of 21 of 21 of 31 of 31 of 31 of 21 of 21 of 21 of 21 of 21 of 21 of 31 of 21 of 31 of 21 of 21 of 21 of 21 of 21 of 2No 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).