In Georgia, native passionflower vines (passiflora incarnata or lutea) are the only host plants for gulf fritillary butterfly caterpillars, but it’s not an exclusive relationship.
Passionate Zebras Zebra longwing butterflies also lay eggs on passionflower vines. They prefer vines in shadier locations while gulf fritillaries like sunnier areas. Also, unlike gulf fritillary butterflies that lay a single egg at a time, the zebra longwing will lay her eggs in clusters on the tender parts of passionflower vine.
Atlanta is in the northern range of the zebra longwing butterfly’s travels, so I only see a few in my yard every year. Most butterflies live for a month, but zebra longwings can live for months because they feast on pollen in addition to nectar. I wonder if I might be seeing the same few zebra longwings in my yard throughout the summer and think I’m seeing new ones! As global weather patterns shift, it will be interesting to see if there will be more zebra longwings in Atlanta. I’ve seen zebra longwing eggs but have yet to see a zebra longwing caterpillar on my passionflower vines. The caterpillars are a pretty distinctive white with black dots and spikes. Maybe next year…
A Variegated Variation
Variegated fritillary butterflies also lay their eggs on passionflower vines. Their caterpillars look like the gulf fritillaries, but they have white dots on them. It's like a celebrity sighting the few times a year I'm fortunate enough to find these caterpillars on my passionflower vines.
There are a few other butterflies that lay eggs on a variety of native passionflower vines in other parts of America, particularly in Texas and California. I'm just sharing what I know about the ones in Atlanta.