Spring Azure

Celastrina ladon

Wingspan: 3/4-1″. Delicate small butterfly. Holds wings tightly together over back. Above: Male’s wings pale sky-blue above with checkered fringe; Below: brownish gray with small dark dots on spring generation; later generations are paler with very small dots. Female’s forewings have dark black-gray front and outer margins and blue area fades to almost white.; hind wings have pale bluish gray with marginal row of dark spots. Caterpillar is sluglike and varies in color. Caterpillar exudes a honeydew that attracts ants.

• Overwinters as a chrysalis. One of the earliest butterflies to emerge, sometimes appearing when snow is still on the ground. Two or more generations a year.

Habitat: Open woodlands, old fields, roadsides, wooded freshwater marshes, forest edges, suburbs and towns.

Larval food plants: A variety of woody shrubs and occasionally herbs including dogwood, New Jersey tea, meadowsweet, viburnum, blueberry, cherry, sumac.

Adult food: Flower nectar from dogbane, privet, New Jersey tea, blackberry, common milkweed, blackberry, dandelion, violet, cherry, cotoneaster, rock cress, winter cress and many others.