The Large White, sometimes called the “Cabbage White,” is a familiar garden visitor with bright white wings, black wingtips that extend further down the forewing than in the similar Small White, and, in females, two bold black spots on each forewing. It is larger and more powerful in flight than its smaller relatives and is a common sight in gardens, allotments, parks, and farmland across Britain, often arriving in large migratory numbers from continental Europe each summer. As its nickname suggests, its foodplants are brassicas — cultivated cabbages and related plants — along with wild crucifers and nasturtiums.

Unlike most whites, the Large White lays its eggs in tight clusters of ten to a hundred or more on the underside of leaves, and the resulting caterpillars are gregarious in their early stages, feeding together in conspicuous yellow-and-black bodies covered in short hairs, capable of stripping a cabbage plant bare. Their bright warning colouration reflects the toxins they sequester from their foodplants, making them unpalatable to birds. There are two or three generations a year, with the species overwintering as a chrysalis, often attached to fences, walls, or tree trunks well away from the original foodplant.