Hello All,

We only had one Giant Sulfur...and it hung around for nearly 2 months. I absolutely love this Butterfly! It has almost a neon yellow-lime green color and I'm mezmerized whenever I see it floating around our gardens. With all the books I have, it doesn't say anything about the 'Giant' Sulfur's larve host plant of choice...just of Sulphurs in general which like legume and clover plant varieties. I did find one site online that mentions the Passion Flower...
Any insight would be greatly appreciated...

Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5

Exactly what "giant sulphur" are you inquiring about? I do not recall any butterfly known as a giant sulphur - there are giant whites, yellow angled sulphur and white angled sulphur as well as clouded and cloudless sulphurs which can often be pretty big.



~ Cat (Edinburg, TX - Lower Rio Grande Valley)

We use Cassia here in Central Florida.
I have a never ending fluttering line of Sulphurs going to the one in my backyard.
Lee

Lee
Apopka, Fl
USDA Zone 9

Hello Cat and Lee,

Thanks for responding...
Well, I finally got another pic of this elusive butterfly again last week. I didn't get a chance to post it til now because I've been busy...

This is a pic I took of it last week on our 'Blanch Sandman' Honeysuckle...


And this is the pic I posted in another thread about a month ago on one of our 'Black Cherry' Salvia bushes...


I don't know what kind of Giant Sulphur it is. I have several books to refer to, but none of them have a pic to match it to, or discribe a particular Giant Sulphur to be a bright yellow/green...yes, it has a green castr/tint.
It's not orangy like other sulphurs...like the alfalfa ones...and it's not a pale yellow either...like the pink edged ones.

All I know is that I have nothing in books, or online which has anything on Giant Sulphur's larve. The sources lump all the Sulphurs together and just put legumes and clover as their host plants...which is frustrating. That's like lumping all the Swallowtails together and saying they have the same host plants...which they don't...

AGH! I'm just frustrated...don't mind me...

I wish you could all see this Giant Sulphur...it's just awesome!!! I just want to have more in our yard next year.

Lee, I'll try that plant next year and let you know if I get any...

Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5

Susan, your butterfly is a cloudless sulphur, sometimes called a giant cloudless sulphur or giant sulphur. They use various members of the large cassia family as host plants. I've got some Christmas cassia/c. bicapsularis that they really like, but they also will use the native partridge pea and the introduced and weedy sickle pod/c. obtusifolia. I just released two adults the other day.
The most interesting thing about the caterpillars is the way their color will change depending on what they eat - if they only eat green leaves, they'll be green, if they eat the yellow flowers, they'll be yellow, and if they transfer from one to the other, they'll go through a yellowy green color phase. Here's a picture of a green cat -

And here's a yellow cat -

The chrysalis can be either green, yellow or pink - here's a yellow chrysalis -

And here's a pink one -

Here's a picture I made of an adult nectaring on turk's cap - they LOVE red flowers!

Your pictures are great! They're hard to photograph, at least for me - my pictures always wind up over exposed, I guess because their pale color reflects so much light.

Sherry

Hello Sherry,

OMG! Bless your heart!!! I'm doing the doobie-dance I'm so happy!!! Your pics are absolutely awesome!!! Thank you soooo very much!!!

I don't know why, but this Butterfly has become my fav...it's so cool to see it flutter around our gardens...like a bright neon yellow/green sign. My heart actually skips a beat when I see it...probably because we only have one. I look for it everyday. The last I saw it was 2 days ago. It's starting to get cooler here at night...2 days ago it hit in the high 30's...just short of frost warnings. I know these butterflies days are numbered.
I can't thank you enough for your help and IDing it for me. I will definately be getting a few of those plants next Spring!!!!
Just one question...what plant did the cats go into chrysalis stage on? anything special I should get?
Again...your cat pics are awesome...even they look like bright neon signs...soooooooo
You made my night...Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5

Interesting post, ladies! We get lots of them in our garden as well and do they love the Portersweed! Haven't seen any chrysalis though. And I do see them on the passifloras.

You're most welcome, Susan!
I just watched two females laying eggs all over my Christmas cassias, so it looks like I'll be getting more cats soon. One of the females was typically pale yellow, not vivid yellow or vivid greenish yellow like the males, and the other one was nearly white - I love seeing the white ones! I think I'll bring in some of the soon-to-appear cats to raise and release myself. Cloudless sulphurs frequently pupate and make their chrysalis right on the host plant - sometimes they move over to a neighboring plant, it can be any type.
And yes, Patricia, they do love porterweed. My coral porterweed is blooming now, and they visit it over and over. My porterweeds have slowly but surely been reseeding - I found another seedling coming up in the middle of some angelonia.
I love the cloudless sulphurs, too - they're VERY numerous this time of year, and they're one of the few butterflies that overwinter as adults down here, coming out on warm, sunny winter days along with the sleepy oranges and a few other types of butterflies.
Susan, they'll use most any type of cassia - the only one I've ever known them to shun completely is c. corymbosa.

Sherry

Say this BF tonight and thought about this interesting thread. I assume it is Cloudless Sulphur?








-
Cheers,Bob

USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 6a
Lexington,Ky.
It's Autumn!