The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 plus 5 letter word CABBAGE WHITE
C
A
B
B
A
G
E
W
H
I
T
E
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "butterfly" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case butterfly = cabbage white.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.