The Orange Tip - with revision

Yesterday I noted Brassica Bugs on Garlic Mustard, aka Hedge Garlic, Alliaria petiolata. It is not the only insect to use this species as a food plant for the Orange-tip Butterfly, Anthocharis cardamines, will lay its eggs upon the leaves, although  this pretty insect also uses the Cuckoo Flower, Cardamine pratensis as a host. (Incidentally, if the developing caterpillars run short of food they are quite likely to resort to cannibalism.)


The garlic mustard is currently growing strongly and will be in flower within a week or so. It was therefore not surprising that orange tip butterflies should be on the wing.

Only the males of the Orange-tip Butterfly have these colourful

wing tips. Stefen Hill Pocket park, 9 April, 2020

The males are unmistakeable with their orange-tipped wings but the females, lacking this feature, could be mistaken for another species of 'white'. The underside of the wing is quite different and, when the wings are closed, the camouflage is very effective.

With the wings closed the orange-tip can easily be overlooked.

Stefen Hill Pocket Park, Daventry. 9 April, 2020

The flowers of Coltsfoot, Tussilago farfara, are currently at their best but, although I spent some time carefully observing them, no insects took an interest. The male flowers, unlike the females, do secrete nectar but not enough, it seems, to divert passing bees.

Coltsfoot is a blaze of colour at the moment.

Stefen Hill Pocket Park, 9 April, 2020

The name 'farfara' is an ancient name for the white poplar, and the leaves do have a passing resemblance.

Why did I bother photographing the Common Field Speedwell, Veronica persica? It is not a dramatic plant and is a common constituent of domestic lawns.

The Common Field Speedwell brightens a dull patch of grass.

Stefen Hill Pocket Park, 9 April, 2020

In all my botany books it is regarded as a member of the Scrophulariaceae Family but in recent years it has been transferred to the Plantain family, Plantaginaceae. On the face of it this seems strange, for it looks nothing like, for example, the Ribwort Plantain, Plantago lanceolata.*  D.N.A. is revealing all!

Ribwort Plantain. It seems odd that the speedwells

 and plantains are in the same family.

Why these plants would 'speed you well' is not clear but they would sometimes be sewn into the clothes of travellers to ensure a safe journey.


I took yet another bug today, an odd-looking creature which looked vaguely familiar. On arriving home I checked it out and confirmed that it was Rhopalus subrufus, and it looked familiar because I took a speciemen at Byfield Pocket Park last year.




Rhopalus subrufus was present in Stefen Hill Pocket Park, 9 April 2020

Photograph courtesy of British Bugs website

It has no common name although it is a reasonably common insect.

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* These plantains are completely unrelated to the culinary plantains which are, of course, a type of banana.