Falcate Orange-tip
Anthocharis midea

Falcate Orange-tip, a spectacular early spring species, is locally common from the Mountains and Ridge and Valley south to Montezuma Bluffs in Macon County and southward along the Flint River into Sumter County. It is uncommon to rare elsewhere with a few records from the Coast. The habitat is open deciduous woodlands, moist riparian woodlands, granite outcrops, sandy woods and open fields where the hostplants grow. The hostplants are hairy bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta) (confirmed in Bartow County), wintercress (Barbarea vulgaris) (North GA), fork-leaf toothwort (Cardamine dissecta) (NW GA),smooth rockcress (Arabis laevigata) (NW GA), lyrate rockcress (Arabis lyrata) and mustards (Brassicaceae). The subspecies over most of the state is Anthocharis midea annickae in which the orange tip does not reach the black spot in the dorsal FW. In the subspecies A.m. midea that occurs on the Coast and in the Lower Coastal Plain, and occasionally farther north, the orange tip is diffuse and reaches the black spot in the dorsal FW (Ron Gatrelle). There is one flight from early March to mid- April. Early Date: March 9 (Bartow County); Late Date: April 24 (Cobb County). Conservation Status: Secure.