painted lady

noun

• 1a migratory butterfly with predominantly orange-brown wings and darker markings.

  • Genus Cynthia, subfamily Nymphalinae, family Nymphalidae: the widely distributed C. cardui, with black-and-white markings, and the American painted lady (C. virginiensis), with markings resembling eyes on the undersides of the wings

• 2South African term for gladiolus.