Anise Swallowtail on Pride of Madeira
Papilio zelicaon
Anise Swallowtail · San Diego Botanic Garden · 7 March 2026
An Anise Swallowtail on Pride of Madeira in a San Diego garden, a Californian native butterfly on a Canary Islands plant. The swallowtail is a butterfly of the western hills and coast, and its caterpillars feed on the carrot family, including the wild fennel that has gone thoroughly feral across coastal California.
Pride of Madeira draws bees and butterflies in numbers wherever it is grown here, well outside its native range. A single spike carries hundreds of small blue flowers that open over weeks, which is why the whole garden's insects seem to be on it.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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