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  Butterfly Caterpillar Host Plants

Female butterflies are as interested in finding a place to lay their eggs as they are in finding nectar plants.  So, if you can share some of your garden plants with hungry caterpillars, you will have even more butterflies in your yard!  

Each caterpillar species eats only a very limited range of plants, so planting the right host plants or food plants is important. And don't worry about the leaves being stripped away.  The plants will grow new ones.

 Also, because some caterpillars eat weeds and native grasses, leaving a patch of wild, unmowed vegetation will help attract butterflies. 
Butterfly Species Host Plant for Its Caterpillars Growth Habit Flower Color
Black Swallowtail Anise, Dill, Fennel, Parsley Herb White
Carrots Vegetable White
Rue Herb White
Buckeye Plantain Perennial  
Snapdragon Annual Lavender, Orange, Pink, Red, Yellow, White
Cabbage Butterfly Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Kohlrabi Vegetable  
Cloudless Sulphur Partridge Pea    
Giant Purple Hairstreak Mistletoe Vine  
Giant Swallowtail Citrus Tree White
Common Hop Tree
Hercules Club
Money Tree  
Prickly Ash  
Rue Herb Yellow
Goatweed Butterfly Goatweed (Croton species)    
Gray Hairstreak Various legumes    
Gulf Fritillary Passionflower Vine Purple with white
Hackberry Hackberry Tree Inconspicuous
Little Sulphur Partridge Pea     
Monarch Milkweed (Asclepias curravassica) Perennial Red-orange and Yellow
Pipevine Swallowtail Dutchman's Pipevine species Woody vine Unusual

Aristolochia erecta
Aristolochia reticulata
Aristolochia tomentosa
Senna Tree Yellow
Painted Lady Hollyhock, Thistle Annual  
Pearl Crescent Aster Perennial Lavender
Queen Milkweed (Asclepias curravassica) Perennial Red-orange and Yellow
Question Mark Elm, Hackberry Tree Inconspicuous
Red-Spotted Purple Black Cherry, Cottonwood, Willow Tree  
Red Admiral False Nettle, Nettle Perennial  
Snout Hackberry Tree Inconspicuous
Spicebush Swallowtail Camphor Tree Tree  
Red Bay Tree  
Sassafras Shrub  
Spicebush Shrub  
Sweet Bay Tree  
Tulip Tree (Liriodendron tulipfera) Tree Yellow
Tawny Emperor Hackberry Tree Inconspicuous
Texas Crescent Dicliptera    
Ruellia    
Shrimp Plant (Justicia brandegeana) Perennial Red, Yellow
Viceroy Cottonwood, Poplar, Willow Tree  
Zebra Longwing Passionflower Vine Purple with white
References
  1. Houston Museum of Natural Science, Cockrell Butterfly Center
  2. Native Plant Society of Texas, Houston Chapter