Amazing Facts About the
Orange-Tip Butterfly

Did you know that only the male butterflies have orange-tips on their top wings? The females don't have orange-tips. Did you know that the Orange-tip has green spots called dapples on the underside of their wings? The green dapples help to camouflage the butterfly. When the Orange-tip is resting only the underside is showing. The Orange-tip's favorite plant is the cardamine. The females lay their eggs on the cardamine plant. They hatch into red caterpillars. Later the caterpillars turn dark green to match the leaves of the cardamine plant. The pupa looks like a thorn sticking to a branch. It spends the winter in the pupa stage. The butterfly emerges in the spring.