The Giant Swallowtail is the biggest butterfly in North America. It has a six-inch wingspan.
I took this picture while photographing a luscious Swamp Milkweed in a wet meadow. Suddenly a huge yellow butterfly landed on the milkweed and posed.
I watched it keep its balance with gracefully flapping wings as it dipped its proboscis into the flowers. It was closest I'd ever been to a Giant Swallowtail.
From the underside of the wings, the Giant Swallowtail shines pale yellow, like candlelight. From the top, it is black and looks like a completely different butterfly. Yellow spots form diagonal bars, whose flashing patterns in flight could confuse a hungry bird just long enough to let the butterfly escape.
Giant Swallowtail butterflies like open woodlands and wet meadows, but also gardens, where they feed on flower nectar. They often visit milkweed, purple coneflowers, and bergamot, among many other flowers.
However, before it becomes a butterfly, a Giant Swallowtail spends about a month as a caterpillar, and at that stage of its life it eats only the leaves of citrus. The mother butterfly has to be able to find citrus leaves on which to lay her eggs.
Well, we don’t have orange, lemon, or other citrus fruit trees where I live, because they can’t survive the cold winters of Iowa. However, Wafer Ash (Ptelea trifoliata), also known as Hoptree, is native here. Despite having “Ash” in one of its names, it is actually not an ash tree. It is indeed a kind of citrus. Its small, bitter fruits are used in medicines and in making beer. Turns out, Giant Swallowtail caterpillars are perfectly happy to live on Wafer Ash!
Friends who have Wafer Ash trees growing wild on their Iowa land sent me seeds. The seeds are thin like potato chips, each the size of a quarter. Wafers! That’s where the tree’s name comes from.
I started the seeds, and in fall 2020 I had a few small trees ready to plant along a path through my woods. Now, in 2023, some are three feet tall.
I’m looking forward to one day seeing the large caterpillars of Giant Swallowtail developing on my Wafer Ash trees and have some of them turn into butterflies.
I want to enjoy the butterfly’s beauty at all stages of its life. And to be part of the story.
this is another very well written essay with very beautfup photography
Thank you, Diane! Cece Miles Riddell
And just like that, my husband says “look at this!” while seeing a giant swallowtail on the ironweed just outside of our window. 💛🖤💜