Wildflower Archive

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Pollinator

Orange sulphur

Colias eurytheme

The alfalfa butterfly, a flush of orange over yellow in every field.

Family: Pieridae (whites and sulphurs)
Wingspan: 1.4 to 2.75 in (3.5 to 7 cm)
Flight season: Spring to fall (many broods)
Range: Across North America
Caterpillar food: Legumes (alfalfa, clover, vetch)
Conservation: Secure and widespread

Also called the alfalfa butterfly, the orange sulphur is a common yellow-orange butterfly of fields and roadsides, the upper wings flushed with orange and bordered in black.

It flies in many broods through the warm months and often gathers at damp ground and clover fields in numbers.

Orange sulphur caterpillar — The green caterpillar feeds on clovers and alfalfa. Rachel Allingham · CC BY (iNaturalist)

Caterpillars feed on legumes, especially alfalfa, clovers, and vetches.

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).