Cabbage White, male
Pieris rapae
Cabbage White · Brooklyn Botanic Garden · 12 July 2026
A male Cabbage White on mountain mint in the July border, one of the commonest butterflies on the continent and a European import. Introduced to North America near Quebec in the 1860s, it spread across the whole continent within a few decades on the strength of the cabbage family.
One black spot on the forewing rather than two, which makes this a male; females carry a second spot lower down. Its caterpillars will eat almost anything in the cabbage family, garden brassicas included, which is why every allotment holder in two continents knows it.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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