Spring Azure 
Celastrina ladon

Spring Azure (Celastrina ladon) is locally common in the Mountains and Ridge and Valley, uncommon in the Piedmont and rare and local in the Coastal Plain. It is probably not present along the immediate Coast. The hostplant is flowering dogwood (Cornus florida), a plant that occurs statewide but is less prevalent in the Coastal Plain. It uses wild black cherry (Prunus serotina) less frequently. Spring Azure times its emergence with the development of the hostplant, and any azure seen laying on flowering dogwood flower buds is C. ladon. Further, flowering dogwood is toxic to Summer Azure (C. neglecta) (fide Harry Pavulaan). Beyond hostplant association, the only way for certain identification of C. ladon is to see the dorsal side. Males are uniformly violet-blue on the dorsal with no white veins as in male neglecta. Female ladon tends to be violet on the dorsal side with no white veins. (Fide Harry Pavulaan). There is one flight that begins in early March in the Lower Piedmont (Upson County, March 8; Monroe County, March 4) and in early April in the Mountains (Towns and Fannin Counties, April 9). In the Ridge and Valley, it appears in mid-March (Bartow County, March 18; Murray County, March 21). Reports in the Coastal Plain must be carefully scrutinized for accuracy. Conservation Status: Secure. A dogwood blight in Virginia has sharply reduced the population of C. ladon in some areas of the state (Harry Pavulaan).