Montana State Butterfly

Did you know Montana's state butterfly is the Mourning Cloak? The beautiful Mourning Cloak became the state butterfly in 2001 under HB 365, sponsered by James Whitaker.  The Montana Federation of Garden Clubs Inc, and fifth graders throughout the state chose the Mourning Cloak, as it can be found in all 56 counties. 

Mourning cloaks belong to one of the larger families of butterflies -Nymphalis - known as "brush-footed butterflies" because of their small, hairy, brushlike front legs. The common name "mourning cloak" refers to the wings resembling a traditional dark-colored cloak worn when one was in mourning.  They hibernate in the winter, but they come out occasionally during warming periods. They are often the first flitting butterflies to emerge in the spring, frequently before the winter snows have melted.  

The caterpillars feed in groups on the leaves of deciduous trees, including the willow, elm, cottonwood, poplar, rose, birch, and mulberry trees. They eat and grow, shedding their skin several times, and eventually leave the plant they've been feeding on. Once it finds just the right spot, the caterpillar will form a spiky gray chrysalis so that it can undergo metamorphosis to become a butterfly. After about ten to fifteen days, depending on the temperature, a new generation of mourning cloak butterflies emerge from their chrysalises.

The Old Lexington Gardens in Butte, Montana created a garden of flowers to mimic the Mourning Cloak state butterfly.

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