Native plants have longstanding relationships with wildlife. By longstanding relationships, we mean thousands to millions of years. An ancestral butterfly of the living Metalmark is encased in amber and exhibited at the Simithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington D.C. A butterfly's defense of eating poisonous plants (and some pretty remarkable adaptations to accomplish that) is one example of the complexity and interdepence between one species of butterfly and particular plant genera or species. Many birds, butterflies, pollinators, and other creatures require particular native plant species for food, reproduction, essential nurtients, and health. Below are three plant lists that help you match butterflies with the native plants they require or desire.

As a new butterfly gardener, you don't need to understand these complex relationships between wildlife and plants. In fact, science has only begun to observe and understand it. If you plant native species, you will be amazed by the birds, butterflies, and other wildlife that come to your garden. The lists below are some of the well-known "butterfly plants". Choose a few to discover those you like, that wildlife likes, and that thrive in the light, soils, and soil moisture where you plant them.

• Host Plants for Scarce South Florida Butterflies (sorted by plant)
• Nectar Plants for Scarce South Florida Butterflies (sorted by plant)
• South Florida Butterflies and their Native Plants (Broward County list)
• Scarce South Florida Butterflies and Host Plants (sorted by butterfly)

Please visit the Broward Chapter of the North American Butterfly Association (NABA) for much more information about butterflies.