Orange-tip
Orange-tip
Insect
A true herald of spring. The male's wings are tipped with vivid orange, while both sexes show a lacy green camouflage underneath when they rest on flowers.
💡 Fun Facts
- The male Orange-tip has bright orange wingtips, a cheerful sign that spring has truly arrived.
- The underside of its wings is a mottled green-and-white pattern, perfect for hiding on flower heads.
- Females lay single eggs on cuckooflower, and the hungry caterpillars will even eat other eggs they meet.
📅 Through the Year
- Active:April to June
Name Story
Anthocharis cardamines
means “flower-grace, of the cuckooflower”
What does its name mean?
- Anthocharis — flower-graceGreek anthos ‘flower’ + charis ‘grace’
- cardamines — of the cuckooflowerLatin, from Cardamine, the cuckooflower
A graceful little flower-butterfly named after the very plant its caterpillars grow up eating — the cuckooflower, which they munch all through their childhood.