Large white

The large white (Pieris brassicae) is a white butterfly of the family Pieridae, with distinctive black wing-tips and, in females, two black spots on each forewing; wingspan ranges from approximately 5.5 to 7.0 cm. Its larvae feed gregariously on brassicas - including cabbage, kale, cauliflower, and oil-seed rape - and also on garden nasturtium, sequestering glucosinolates from their hosts that render them unpalatable to birds and other predators. Adults nectar on a wide variety of garden flowers, including buddleia and thistles, across Europe, North Africa, and Asia to the Himalayas. In gardens, the species is primarily noticed as a brassica leaf pest, though adult butterflies are common visitors to nectar-rich flowering plants through spring and summer.

Larval host plants · 3

Native across Europe, North Africa, and temperate Asia to the Himalayas; an established naturalized population is present in South Africa, first detected in the Western Cape in 1994. A New Zealand incursion first detected in Nelson in 2010 was eradicated - the last individual was found in December 2014 and eradication was formally declared in November 2016. Sporadic records from northeastern North America (New York, Rhode Island, Maine) are considered accidental introductions rather than an established population.