Pollinator
Reakirt's blue
Echinargus isola
A tiny southern blue that wanders far north each summer.
- Family
- Lycaenidae (gossamer-wings)
- Wingspan
- 0.75 to 1.1 in (2 to 2.9 cm)
- Flight season
- Much of the year in the South; migrates north
- Range
- Southern and central United States
- Caterpillar food
- Legume flowers (mimosa, mesquite, clovers)
- Conservation
- Secure and widespread
Reakirt's blue is a tiny blue butterfly, marked beneath with a row of bold black spots ringed in white, common across the warm central and southern states.
A strong wanderer, it pushes north each summer, sometimes reaching the northern plains.
Caterpillars feed on the flowers of legumes such as mimosa, mesquite, and clovers.
Plants for the reakirt's blue
1 caterpillar host plant and 22 documented nectar plants. Pick a role, then narrow with the filters below.
23 plants
Nectar
1 of 2 Common Sunflower Helianthus annuus Nectar
1 of 2 Turkey tangle frogfruit Phyla nodiflora Nectar
1 of 3 Texas bluebonnet Lupinus texensis Nectar
1 of 3 Plains coreopsis Coreopsis tinctoria Nectar
1 of 3 Carolina crane's-bill Geranium carolinianum Nectar
1 of 2 False indigo bush Amorpha fruticosa Nectar
Culver's root Veronicastrum virginicum Nectar
1 of 3 Upright prairie coneflower Ratibida columnifera Nectar
1 of 3 Prairie sunflower Helianthus petiolaris Nectar
1 of 2 Silvery lupine Lupinus argenteus Nectar
1 of 3 Wild Licorice Glycyrrhiza lepidota Nectar
1 of 2 Dotted gayfeather Liatris punctata Nectar
1 of 2 Sulfur buckwheat Eriogonum umbellatum Nectar
1 of 2 Scarlet Globemallow Sphaeralcea coccinea Nectar
1 of 2 Rocky Mountain zinnia Zinnia grandiflora Nectar
1 of 2 Fringed Bluestar Amsonia ciliata Nectar
1 of 2 Engelmann daisy Engelmannia peristenia Nectar
Missouri goldenrod Solidago missouriensis Nectar
1 of 2 Red dome blanketflower Gaillardia pinnatifida Nectar
1 of 2 Broadleaf milkweed Asclepias latifolia Nectar
Woolly paperflower Psilostrophe tagetina Host
Roundhead Prairie Clover Dalea multiflora Nectar
Lyre-leaf greeneyes Berlandiera lyrata
1 of 21 of 21 of 31 of 31 of 31 of 21 of 31 of 31 of 21 of 31 of 21 of 21 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).