Forget-me-not
Caterpillars of this small blue butterfly feed mainly on the flower buds of their host plants, preferring the developing buds over open flowers or ripening seed pods.
| Where | Dry scrub, grassland and open ground |
|---|---|
| Size | 25 to 30 mm wingspan |
| When | September to July |
The Forget-me-not is a small blue butterfly. Males are pale lilac blue above with only a thin dark margin, while females are whitish blue with broad black borders on both wings and a pair of thin, white tipped tails on the hindwing.
Caterpillars feed chiefly on the flower buds of shrubs and trees such as Desmodium, favouring unopened buds over flowers or developing pods. Adults are common on open, herbaceous ground in the drier lowlands of their range, generally below about 800 metres.
Traits
Habitat
Grassland
Colour
Blue, Black, White
Active
Day
To people
Harmless to people; adults rest low in sunny, open ground and visit small flowers for nectar.
Activity through the year
Often confused with
The Silver forget-me-not is pale clear blue above in the male, without the lilac tone of the Forget-me-not, and has an orange crowned black spot on the underside of the hindwing that the Forget-me-not lacks.
Questions
Is the Forget-me-not dangerous to people?
Harmless to people; adults rest low in sunny, open ground and visit small flowers for nectar.
When can you see the Forget-me-not?
The Forget-me-not can be seen from September to July, by day.
Plate retouched from a museum specimen photo by Swiss Natural History Collections - SwissNatColl, CC BY 4.0, GBIF Licence
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Butterflies and moths›Blues and coppers›Catochrysops
Last updated 2026-09-27. Every entry is checked against published sources.