More photos

Sphingidae (family-level entry)

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center lists bald cypress as the larval host for the baldcypress sphinx moth (Isoparce cupressi), a Taxodium-feeding member of the hawkmoth family (Sphingidae).

Documented larval host for sphinx (hawk) moths - the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center names the Small-eyed Sphinx and Wild Cherry Sphinx among black cherry's larval-host moths, alongside the Columbia Silkmoth and Promethea Moth.

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center documents chokecherry as a larval host for sphinx moths including the Small-eyed Sphinx, and an adult-food (nectar) source for the Sequoia Sphinx.

Hosta plantaginea is unusual among hostas for its evening-fragrant night-blooming flowers - the fragrance evolved specifically to attract hawkmoths after dusk; the flower morphology (long tubular corolla) matches the hawkmoth proboscis length.

Evening-blooming fragrance attracts hawkmoths; the fragrant cultivars are particularly worked at dusk and early evening.

The flower is built for a long-tongued nocturnal moth and for almost nothing else: a white 6-to-8-inch tube, an outward-facing mouth, no landing platform, and a fragrance that Wikipedia records as strongly scented especially at night. That combination is the classic sphingophily syndrome, and hawkmoth pollination has been confirmed by field study in the closely related Chinese trumpet lily Lilium sargentiae. Marked plausible rather than documented because no published pollinator observation exists for L. regale itself - the syndrome and the confirmed sister species are the evidence, not a species-on-species record. Note the practical consequence for gardeners in North America and Europe: the moths that shaped this flower are Sichuan moths, and the plant fruits perfectly well here without them because it is self-compatible.

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center lists bald cypress as the larval host for the baldcypress sphinx moth (Isoparce cupressi), a Taxodium-feeding member of the hawkmoth family (Sphingidae).

Documented larval host for sphinx (hawk) moths - the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center names the Small-eyed Sphinx and Wild Cherry Sphinx among black cherry's larval-host moths, alongside the Columbia Silkmoth and Promethea Moth.

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center documents chokecherry as a larval host for sphinx moths including the Small-eyed Sphinx, and an adult-food (nectar) source for the Sequoia Sphinx.

Hosta plantaginea is unusual among hostas for its evening-fragrant night-blooming flowers - the fragrance evolved specifically to attract hawkmoths after dusk; the flower morphology (long tubular corolla) matches the hawkmoth proboscis length.

Evening-blooming fragrance attracts hawkmoths; the fragrant cultivars are particularly worked at dusk and early evening.

Gardenia displays the classic moth-pollination syndrome - white flowers whose sweet scent intensifies at dusk and into the night - and horticultural sources describe sphinx (hawk) moths as visitors. Confidence is plausible rather than documented because this rests on the pollination syndrome and popular horticultural accounts rather than a peer-reviewed pollinator study of this species.

The flower is built for a long-tongued nocturnal moth and for almost nothing else: a white 6-to-8-inch tube, an outward-facing mouth, no landing platform, and a fragrance that Wikipedia records as strongly scented especially at night. That combination is the classic sphingophily syndrome, and hawkmoth pollination has been confirmed by field study in the closely related Chinese trumpet lily Lilium sargentiae. Marked plausible rather than documented because no published pollinator observation exists for L. regale itself - the syndrome and the confirmed sister species are the evidence, not a species-on-species record. Note the practical consequence for gardeners in North America and Europe: the moths that shaped this flower are Sichuan moths, and the plant fruits perfectly well here without them because it is self-compatible.

Long-tongued hawkmoths are the documented pollinators: drawn at night by the intense fragrance, they hover at the long pendulous white trumpets and probe them for nectar.

Hawkmoths are the classic nocturnal partner for long-tubed and pendent lily flowers, and they are a genuine possibility here - but note the contrast with the white, night-scented siblings. Lilium longiflorum and L. regale are heavily evening-fragrant white trumpets, textbook hawkmoth flowers. Canada lily is orange-and-yellow, spotted and only faintly scented, which is a diurnal advertisement. Plausible, and secondary to the hummingbird.

NC State documents pollination by noctuid moths (not sphingid), but late-fall sphinx moths are part of the same cool-weather Lepidoptera community working the bloom. Use as a generic proxy until a noctuid-moth wildlife slug exists in the Plotwright catalog.

The deep clove fragrance and long, tubular flower base suit night-flying and day-flying hawkmoths, the long-tongued pollinators the genus is adapted to.

A larval food plant for some moths, consistent with its role in old meadow systems.

The flower is a textbook case of hawkmoth syndrome: a long white tube, no bright colour to see by day, a strong sweet scent that peaks after dark, and nectar held at the base of a corolla far too deep for a bee. In the native Ryukyu and Taiwan range the obvious candidate is the convolvulus hawkmoth, Agrius convolvuli, a very long-tongued and very widespread species. Marked plausible rather than documented: the floral syndrome and the moth fauna are both well described, but this is a syndrome-and-overlap inference, not a species-on-species visitation record for Lilium longiflorum.

The long-spurred, nodding flowers are a classic match for hawkmoths, whose long tongues reach the deep nectar at the spur tips at dusk.

The long, jasmine-scented white corolla tubes are classic hawkmoth flower morphology; Wikipedia lists moths among the flowers' visitors, and evening moth visitation is reported in native-range literature.

The white, sweetly night-fragrant trumpets are classic hawkmoth flowers, drawing long-tongued moths to the evening scent.

The narrow, tubular flower base typical of Dianthus suits long-tongued, dusk-active hawkmoths; the genus is broadly adapted to long-tongued lepidopteran pollinators.

Petunia inherits a moth-pollination syndrome from its wild parent Petunia axillaris (pale, fragrant, long-tubed, evening-scented flowers). Pale fragrant garden cultivars retain that scent and are visited by night-flying hawkmoths, though modern bedding hybrids vary widely.

Hummingbird clearwing moths (Hemaris spp., family Sphingidae) work wild bergamot during the day - they're often mistaken for hummingbirds at first glance because of similar size and hovering flight.

The long tubular corolla is well-suited to long-tongued sphinx moths, which work woodland phlox at dusk and dawn during the spring bloom window.

Plotwright. (n.d.). Hawkmoths (Sphingidae (family-level entry)). Retrieved 2026, August 20, from https://plotwright.com/wildlife/hawkmoths-sphingidae