" Oh look at that gorgeous flower...! Wait... what is it doing? Is it flying?!" Anthocharis cardamines owes its name precisely to the fusion of the Greek terms for "flower" (anthos) and "grace" (charis) and, albeit common, it doesn't let itself stand out easily among flowers.
Then again, it's nobody's fault: its mimetic abilities make this butterfly a true expert in "stealth flight". Are you still sure it was a flower, that one you saw a while ago and came back to your mind right now? This butterfly belonging to the pieridae family is a true cosmopolitan, spread throughout the temperate Eurasian zone, as far as Japan. Its habitat is very diverse and consists of pastures, meadows and wet forests, glades, riverbanks, ditches, levees, swamps and country lanes. This species has white wings with black endings. In males, the tips of the forewings are orange, hence its common English name, Orange Tip. The lower pages of the wings are green and white, allowing this butterfly to camouflage itself on the chervil inflorescences of the meadows on which it often lingers to eat. Adult males are most often seen in spring as they fly along lawns and hedges; females, by contrast, are more solitary.