The Butterfly Pea

Clitoria ternatea, commonly known as the Butterfly Pea is a twining plant which belongs to the pea family, Fabaceae. This specimen was photographed in a weed lot in Besant Nagar. The plant bears beautiful large flowers which are a pretty shade of cobalt blue with a white throat. The flowers bear a striking resemblance to the female pudenda and hence the scientific name. It is a native of Asia and subtropical America.

Clitoria ternatea

The vine can reach a height of 9 feet. The flowers are produced in late summer. The pea pods can be collected and sown in the following year.

In Malayalam, the flower is known as ‘Shanku pushpam’. Alcohol extracts of C. ternatea demonstrated anti-depressant, anti-convulsant and anti-stress activity. Its roots are used in the ayurvedic system of medicine.

Update: Here is a shot of the white cultivar of the Butterfly Pea which I photographed on 5/12/2009.

Clitoria ternatea ‘Alba’

The Sea Hibiscus

Another beautiful flowering tree from the Theosophical Society Gardens. The Sea Hibiscus, Hibiscus tiliaceus is a species of flowering shrub or tree belonging to the mallow family, Malvaceae. The tree is quite easy to confuse with the Portia Tree, Thespesia populnea. The blossoms are typical hibiscus flowers; funnel-shaped with five petals and a prominent central column on which the stamens and pistil are borne. The flowers are a beautiful bright yellow with a deep red centre upon opening. During the course of the day, the flowers deepen in colour and finally become orange-red before they fall.

Hibiscus tiliaceus

It is a shrubby tree 15 to 25 feet high with large leathery cordate leaves which are up to 8 inches in length. The leaves are green above and whitish beneath. The yellow flowers cluster near the ends of the branches appearing as cup-like bracts which turn orange to red by night. Polynesian islanders use the inner bark for rope/tapa cloth. The wood is used traditionally in Hawaii for building outrigger canoes. It is also a favourite with bonsai growers.

The Mottled Emigrant

The Mottled Emigrant, Catopsilia pyranthe is a medium sized butterfly of the Family Pieridae. Pieridae is a large family of butterflies. Most pierid butterflies are white, yellow or orange in coloration, often with black spots. The pigments that give the distinct colouring to these butterflies are derived from waste products in the body and are a characteristic of this family.

The Mottled Emigrant and the Common Emigrant, C. pomona gets their common names from their habit of migration. Males of many species exhibit gregarious mud-puddling behavior.

Catopsilia pyranthe on Lantana camara

The host plants of the species include Cassia spp., Senna spp. and Sesbania spp. Since the entire development period takes only about a month, as many as 11 or 12 generations are possible in a year.

Blue Banded Bee

Managed to Photograph this Blue Banded Bee, Amegilla Spp. in a weed lot near my friend’s house. The bee was a hyperactive blue bullet as it sped from one flower to another in the bright sunny morning. Amegilla is a solitary bee belonging to Anthophoridae family.

The Blue Banded Bee has a very distinctive appearance. Unlike the honey bee, it has pale blue stripes on its abdomen instead of yellow. In size, the Blue Banded Bee can grow from 10 to 12 millimetres. Its appearance includes a brown head with bulging compound eyes that have multiple lenses. They have six sticky legs and a long tongue to help extract nectar and pollen from flowers. Scientists believe that male bees have brighter blue stripes to attract female bees.

Amegilla Spp. foraging on Lantana camara

Though these bees can sting they are not as aggressive as other bees. The males cling to plant stems during the night. Like the whole anthophoridae family, they are extremely fast and agile fliers.

Blue Banded Bees tend to nest in burrows, old clay homes and in mortar between bricks. Cells at the end of tunnels contain an egg with a pollen/nectar mixture for emerging larvae.

White Alder

White alder, Turnera subulata is a very common perennial herb found in abundance in Kalakshetra and TS Gardens. About 1 to 2.5 feet in height, with a strong taproot. Though native to West Indies, Brazil and Central America, it is naturalized in the Indian subcontinent.

The plant produces masses of white flowers with yellow halos around the black centres. The flowers are visited by butterflies, bees and wasps. In several plants in Kalakshetra, I noticed flowers and leaves being consumed by caterpillars of Tawny Coster, Acraea terpsichore.

Turnera subulata

Leaves are not crowded; ovate-elliptic or ovate-oblong in shape and distinctly dentate-serrate. The cylindrical stems are densely hairy and when mature become woody.

The Lemon Pansy

The Lemon Pansy, Junonia lemonias is a common nymphalid butterfly found in South Asia. It is found in gardens, fallow land, and open wooded areas. This specimen was photographed near the Sri Arupadai Veedu Murugan Temple in Besant Nagar.

It is a brown butterfly with numerous eye-spots as well as black and lemon-yellow spots and lines on the upperside of the wings. The underside is a dull brown, with a number of wavy lines and spots in varying shades of brown and black. There is also an eyespot on the lower side of the forewing.

The photograph shows the wet season form of the butterfly. In the wet season form, the markings are distinct and vivid and the wing shape is a little more rounded.The dry and wet season forms differ considerably in coloration and shape. In the dry season form, the markings are obscure and pale especially on the underside and the wing margin is more angular and jagged. This helps it camouflage in the dried leaf-litter.

Junonia lemonias

The Lemon pansy is an active butterfly and can be seen basking with its wings open facing the sun. It sits very low to the ground and can be approached easily. It feeds with its wings half open. It is a fairly strong flier and flies close to the ground with rapid wingbeats.

The Common Lime Butterfly

The Common Lime Butterfly, Papilio demoleus is a widespread swallowtail butterfly. It is one of the most widely distributed swallowtail butterflies in the world. Unlike most other swallowtail butterflies, it does not have a prominent tail.

I photographed this while returning home from my morning walk in Kalakshetra. As the butterfly ages, the yellow markings on the wings deepen to orange. The lack of orange and the pristine condition of the wings show that this particular butterfly is newly emerged. The host plants are usually citrus species such as the lime and hence the common name of the butterfly. However, the butterfly thrives on quite a few other host plants. Unlike most other swallowtail butterflies, it does not have a prominent tail.

Papilio demoleus

When I was an entomology student in Delhi University, Prof. K.N. Saxena’s laboratory used to do a lot of work on this butterfly species. I still remember gaping open-mouthed when a student tickled a mature larva with a blade of grass and it suddenly displayed its osmetrium from just behind its head. This vividly orange-coloured organ, besides its visual impact, also has a strong smell which acts as a disincentive to the predator.

Egg laying is also fascinating to watch as the female butterfly goes hurriedly from plant to plant, laying a single egg at a time on top of a leaf, and flying off immediately thereafter. The first few instars of the caterpillar resemble bird droppings and this helps them escape predation while remaining in moderately open places.

Dayflower (Commelina Spp.)

The pretty tiny blue flowers of Commelina are common in Kalakshetra and TS Gardens. Commelina species are commonly called dayflowers due to the short lives of their flowers. The Asiatic dayflower, Commelina communis is probably the best known species in the West. It is a common weed in parts of Europe and throughout eastern North America. Several species, such as Commelina benghalensis, are eaten as a leaf vegetable in Southeast Asia and Africa.

Commelina Spp.

The dayflowers are herbs that are characterized by their zygomorphic flowers and the spathes that surround the flower stalks. These spathes are often filled with a mucilaginous liquid.

Species identification is problematic because many members of the Commelina genus are weeds with worldwide distribution. Identification is also compounded by the fact that this genus has been taxonomically revised several times and many senior and junior synonyms are there in scientific literature.

Cape Honeysuckle

Another common plant grown in gardens in and around Besant Nagar is the Cape Honesuckle or Tecoma capensis. It is a scrambling shrub native to Africa.

Tecoma capensis

It grows to about 6 to 9 feet in height. In tropical climes, it is normally an evergreen shrub. Leaves are opposite, slightly serrated, green to dark-green, pinnate with 5 to 9 oblong leaflets. Flower colour ranges from orange to orange-red to apricot and are produced at different times throughout the year. These are tubular, narrow, about 3 inches long. They are grouped in terminal clusters that are 4–6 inches long. The nectar found in the flowers attract butterflies and sunbirds.

Giant African Land Snail

Giant African Land Snail, Achatina fulica browsing on vegetation in the Theosophical Society Gardens. The snail makes a pretty picture in the dew-drenched sun-dappled light of the TS Gardens, but this large air-breathing land snail is one of the worst invasive species in the world. It is a serious pest in many of the countries where it has been introduced. The species is quite well established in India. Adults and young ones can be seen in many damp places in and around Besant Nagar and Adyar. Being a hermaphrodite species it is particularly difficult to eradicate as even one individual can reestablish a breeding colony.

Achatina fulica

Achatina fulica has a narrow, conical shell, which is twice as long as it is wide and contains 7 to 9 whorls when fully grown. The shell is generally reddish-brown in colour with weak yellowish vertical markings but colouration varies with environmental conditions and diet. A light coffee colour is common. Adults of the species may exceed 20 cm in shell length but the average is about 5 to 10 cm.

Like many other gastropods, A. fulica uses its radula, which is a minutely toothed, chitinous ribbon for scraping and feeding on vegetation. The action of the radula can best be compared to that of a rasp.

Achatina fulica is a threat to crop agrosystems as well as native ecosystems. Native plants and native snails are affected adversely. Native snails in fragile island ecosystems such as Hawaii and the French Polynesian islands are particularly susceptible.