Cinnamon butterfly
Caterpillars that strip the young flush of a cinnamon bush.
- Pest
- Caterpillar of a swallowtail butterfly
- Attacks
- Young leaves and new flush
- Sign
- Pale yellow caterpillars with dark side stripes
- Control
- Hand-picking in the nursery; 0.05% quinalphos spray
Overview
The cinnamon butterfly (Chilasa clytia) is listed by the Karnataka State Spices Development Board as a pest of cinnamon. Its caterpillars feed voraciously on young leaves and can defoliate a plant, which is why it matters more than it looks: the flush they eat is the flush that would have become the shoots cut for bark 18 to 24 months later.
Nursery seedlings and freshly coppiced bushes, which are mostly new leaf, suffer most. Older bushes with a full canopy usually shrug off a small attack.
How to identify it
- Pale yellow caterpillars with dark stripes along the sides of the body, sitting on tender leaves.
- Young leaves eaten away from the edges, and in a heavy attack a plant left almost bare.
- Damage concentrated on the new flush after rain or after coppicing, not on old hardened leaves.
What causes it and when
- The butterfly lays on the tender flush, so attacks follow every new wave of growth.
- Nursery beds and newly coppiced bushes are the most exposed, because almost all their leaf is young.
Prevention and organic control
- Walk the nursery and the young plants while the flush is still small and hand-pick the caterpillars.
- Keep nursery beds spaced so you can see into them, rather than a dense mat of seedlings.
- Leave the natural enemies alone — do not spray the whole garden for a few caterpillars on a few plants.
Chemical control
- The Karnataka State Spices Development Board advises spraying 0.05% quinalphos.
- Spray only the affected plants and only while the flush is being eaten.
- Confirm the currently registered product and dose with your state horticulture department or KVK before spraying, and keep the waiting period before any bark harvest.
Crops most at risk
Where this problem is called out in our crop guides — open a crop for the full package of practices.
Varieties to consider
Named seed varieties whose resistance or susceptibility to this problem is documented on their own variety page.
Frequently asked questions
Caterpillars have eaten the new leaves on my cinnamon plants. Will the bark crop be lost?
Not usually, if you act on the flush. The plant pushes a fresh flush once the caterpillars are off it. Hand-pick them on nursery plants and small bushes; on a bigger attack the Karnataka State Spices Development Board advises a 0.05% quinalphos spray. What you want to avoid is losing flush after flush, because those shoots are the ones you would cut for bark 18 to 24 months later.
Is the cinnamon butterfly the same as the leaf-eating caterpillars on other crops?
No. Chilasa clytia is a swallowtail whose caterpillars feed on cinnamon and related trees of the laurel family. Cinnamon also gets a leaf miner, a shoot and leaf webber, tussock caterpillars and loopers, which look different and are treated differently, so identify the caterpillar before you spray.
Symptoms and control measures follow ICAR, KVK and state agricultural-university package-of-practices; any named chemical is a registered use. Always read the product label and confirm the dose for your crop and zone. editorial policy.