Common buckeye

The common buckeye wears a row of large, iridescent eyespots ringed in orange, blue, and black, a pattern meant to flash and startle predators. Brown and orange, it is a butterfly of open, sunny ground.

Buckeyes love bare earth and low, open vegetation, basking on paths and roadsides. In the north they are seasonal migrants, spreading up each summer and retreating south in fall.

Caterpillars, spiny and dark, feed on plantains, false foxgloves, toadflax, and their relatives.

Adults nectar low to the ground on asters, tickseeds, and other composites; a sunny, open planting suits them. The plants below carry documented buckeye records.