An hour or less after shooting the skipper and swallowtail (see previous post), I saw a third species of butterfly on another joe-pye weed.

This one is spicebush swallowtail (Papilio troilus). Note the eastern tiger swallowtail in the background.

dorsal view

ventral view

extreme closeup

And now, a confession: I was so focused on shooting the butterflies, I forget to take a close look at the plants.  The plants shown here and in the previous post are likely sweet joe-pye weed, Eupatorium purpureum (Asteraceae), but I don’t have a single picture showing the critical details for a definitive ID.

I think I just gave myself an assignment for later this week.