The Orange Tip eats several types of food, especially Cuckooflower (Cardamine pratensis) in damp meadows and Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) along road verges and ditches. Occasionally, it eats Hedge Mustard (Sisymbrium officinale), Winter-cress (Barbarea vulgaris), Turnip (Brassica rapa), Charlock (Sinapis avensis), Large Bitter-cress (C. amara), and Hairy Rock-cress (Arbis hirsuta). In addition it lays its eggs on Honesty (Lunaria annua) and Dame’s-violet (Hesperis matronalis) in gardens, but larval survival is thought to be poor on these plants.