Fairly common on the Sierran West slope in rocky canyons and moist forest. Local in the North Coast Range and on the East slope of the Sierra, usually in rocky canyon sites. Resembles (and easily confused with) the Gray-Veined White in flight; probably underreported. The female is larger than the male, with broader wings and a more complete dark patrtern at the apex; otherwise similar. The genus Anthocharis is Holarctic ; there are related species in the eastern United States, Mexico, Europe and East Asia.

(See also A.s.thoosa and A. stella.)

This is the East slope representative of the Sara Orange-Tip. In our area it is uncommon, found on lava flows and sagebrush-bitterbrush shrub-steppe north of Lake Tahoe. It is a little smaller than A. sara sara and has the black pattern a little heavier. Females may be slightly yellowish.

There is one brood in early spring (March-May at 5000'). The host plants are Rock Cresses (genus Arabis) and Tansy Mustard (Descurainia). Adults visit flowers of the hosts, as well as Fiddleneck, Wild Onion, and other early-spring flowers of the upland East slope.

Similar to the Sara Orange-Tip but the ground color is very pale yellow in the male and a warmer yellow in the female. There are many detail differences in the wing pattern, as well as a consistent difference in the venation of the forewing. Stella was formerly considered a subspecies of sara and is still so listed in some books. However, it co-occurs with both A. sara sara (Sierran West Slope) and A. sara thoosa (East Slope) in some places without interbreeding, as shown by molecular genetic studies, so we conclude that it has attained biological species status.