Butterfly Bush

Butterfly Bush

Butterfly bush (Buddleja davidii), also called summer lilac, is a fast-growing deciduous shrub native to Asia. It has escaped cultivation and become invasive in most of the Eastern United States and along the Western Coast of the US and Canada. While the fragrant flowers attract a wide variety of pollinators with their nectar, including butterflies, butterfly larvae cannot survive on the plant. Butterfly bush has spread into wild areas where it out-competes the native host plants for butterfly larvae, leading to a decline in pollinator populations.