Butterfly Host Plants

04/10/2026

Before pruning any citrus trees please remember to check for these little guys. If poked they will get angry and show red, forked horns (called an osmeterium). You may get squirted with some citrusie smelling juice too.
This is the caterpillar of the Orchard swallowtail butterfly.

27/09/2026

Ulysses butterfly, Papilio ulysses.
Sipping nectar from a Zinnia, a brilliant nectar plant. Easy to grow and save seeds for years to come.
Photograph taken by myself in Mossman FNQ, Australia.

The Ulysses butterfly is one of Tropical North Queensland’s most distinctive and unique butterfly species, sparkling and twinkling it's iridescent blue wings in flight to everyones delight.
With a wing span between 100 and 130 mm.
Early instars Caterpillars have a pair of soft spikes on the back of each segment. The caterpillars are yellowish-green, with black marks on the thorax and part-way along the back of the abdomen, and a pair of pale spikes on the tail. Later instars are still spiky, and are green with a pair of white spots halfway along the back, a row of yellow marks along each side, a yellow and white bar across the thorax, two white spikes on the tail, and black markings on the face.

Host plants:
In the wild they feed on the new growth foliage of various trees including:
Pink Corkwood ( Endiandra sieberi, LAURACEAE ),
Fuzzy Lemon Aspen ( Acronychia vestita ),
Silver Ash ( Flindersia bourjotiana ),
Glasswood ( Geijera salicifolia ),
Kerosine Wood ( Halfordia kendack ),
Pink Princess ( Melicope elleryana ),
Little Evodia ( Melicope rubra ),
Northern Euodia ( Melicope vitiflora ),

22/09/2026

The Hercules moth, Coscinocera hercules.
Image taken by myself in the Daintree rain forest, FNQ, Australia.
The Hercules moth is a member of the moth family Saturniidae, endemic to New Guinea and northern Australia.
Adults have a wingspan of about 27 cm (11 in), making them the largest moth found in Australia, and its wings have the largest documented surface area - 300 cm2 (47 in2) - of any living insect.
They have no mouth and do not feed as an adult, living off the fat the stored as a caterpillar. They just hatch and have s*x and lay up to 300 eggs (females only). They only live up to 2 weeks.

04/09/2026

I've emptied and moved two compost bins and now have a spot in the garden 1m x 2m just to grow common nettles , Urtica dioica.
Every time a nettle comes up in the garden it is being transplanted to the nettle garden.
If you are in Australia the common nettle is the host plant for the Yellow Admiral, Vanessa iteao.
If you are in New Zealand the common nettle is the host plant for the Red Admiral, Vanessa gonerilla and the Yellow Admiral, Vanessa iteao.

17/08/2026

I've been asked what other butterfly host plants are edible for us humans.
I love Finger limes, Citrus australasica.
As well as being a 'mad' citrus fruit tree it's a host plant for the Dainty Swallowtail, Papilio anactus and Orchard Swallowtail, Papilio aegeus butterflies.
It is very versatile in the garden and will grow as a potted plant in a courtyard or balcony. It attracts small birds, bees and other beneficial insects to your garden. It has thorns on it, so you could even make a prickly hedge out of them.
Finger limes flourish in dappled light or full sun, thrives in rich well-drained soil and benefits from mulching to preserve soil moisture in summer. A regular watering with organic seaweed gives it a great boost.

09/08/2026

I have asked what is my favorite butterfly host plant.
That's a tough question but i'd have to say.
The Native Mulberry, Pipturus argenteus.
This plant is easy to grow, it's a fast-growing shrub or small tree. In nature, it can be found on the margins of rainforests in south-eastern, subtropical Queensland. Often grown as a pioneer tree.
Its the host plant for the Jezebel nymph butterfly, Symbrenthia geoffroyi, previously known as the Mynes geoffroyi.

The fruits of the Native Mulberry are small and white, almost translucent in appearance. Like strawberries, they bear their seeds on the outside. They are soft and juicy, with a sweet and delicate flavour. The plant has separate male and female plants, with the female plant bearing the fruit. Tiny white flowers appear in the leaf axils from summer to winter followed by small, white, mulberry-like fruit which ripen from late winter to spring.

I think I paid $1.50 for my first tub stock plant from IndigiScapes Native Nursery in Redlands, Brisbane.
The Jezabel Nymph butterfly will lay a clutch of eggs all on the same leaf and the eggs will hatch all at once, mow down the leaf and all trundle off to find the next leaf to eat. They will all pupate together and then they all hatch together. The butterfly wings are a beautiful collection of red, yellow, black and blue on one side and white on the other. Which works as great camouflage from the birds, who are easily confused when a butterfly stops and closes it's wings.

05/08/2026

If you live in South East Queensland, Australia,
with spring just around the corner, you may be thinking about starting or expanding your butterfly garden.

You will need a good mix of plants with pollen to feed the butterflies and host plants for the butterflies to lay eggs on and for the caterpillars to eat.

You will need to consider the space you have to grown these plants and what local butterflies you can attract to your garden.

I have in the past sold and still recommend a book written for this specific area (written by Frank Jordan and Helen Schwencke in the West End, Brisbane) and covering the region, South-east Queensland and Northern New South Wales (with ranges extending to Sydney and Gladstone). As a great starting point.

Create More butterflies. Contains over 250 full-colour photos of living butterfly life cycles, eggs, caterpillars, and host plants.
You can still purchase directly from
https://earthling.com.au/create-more-butterflies/
Or order it from your local library.

Create More Butterflies : a guide to 48 butterflies and their host-plants for south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales by Frank Jordan & Helen Schwencke. Brisbane: Earthling Enterprises, 2005 Over 5,500 copies sold May 2020 – Create More Butterflies is available once again. It has a new ...

21/06/2026

Coastal Copper butterfly, Lycaena salustius.
It is endemic to New Zealand. It is known in Te Rio Māori as, pepe para riki.
The wingspan is 24–35 mm.
Adults are on wing between October and April.

Host plants are in the Muehlenbeckia family.

20/06/2026

Winter solstice salutations to you all

08/06/2026

The amazing caterpillars of the Jezebel Nymph butterfly, Mynes geoffroyi.
The butterfly lays many eggs on one leaf and they all hatch at the same time.

Host plants;
Native Mulberry, Pipturus argenteus – This is the most common and preferred host plant for the butterfly. also a great bush tucker plant with small but tasty fruit.
Shiny-leaved Stinging Tree, Dendrocnide photinophylla.
Gympie Bush, Dendrocnide moroides.