Duranta erecta: Golden Dewdrop

Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery, Singapore 20120309

Duranta erecta is a species of flowering shrub in the verbena family Verbenaceae, native from Mexico to South America and the Caribbean. It is widely cultivated as an ornamental plant in tropical and subtropical gardens throughout the world, and has become naturalized in many places. It is considered an invasive species in Australia, China, South Africa and on several Pacific Islands.

Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery, Singapore 20120309

Common names include Golden Dewdrop, Pigeon Berry, and Skyflower. This plant attracts butterflies and sunbirds.

I like this cute simple little flowers 🙂
Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery, Singapore 20120309

Turnera ulmifolia: Buttercup Bush

Turnera is a genus of flowering plants in the passionflower family, Passifloraceae. It contains more than 100 species native to tropical and subtropical America. The name honors English naturalist William Turner (1508-1568).

Khoo Teck Phuat Hospital, Singapore 20120308

The Buttercup Bush [Turnera ulmifolia], a native to West Indies and Mexico, attracts butterflies to its yellow flowers which last only one day. The Buttercup Bush has antidepressant and anxiolytic properties.

Khoo Teck Phuat Hospital, Singapore 20120308

There is an old Chinese saying: Flowers have their rules for blossoming and withering. During its florescence, when the sun rises every morning at about 8 a.m., the flowers will bloom; and when the sun sets in the afternoon at about 6 p.m., the flowers will close. Why do sweet turnera flowers throw open punctually? This is because they have biological clocks, which is formed in long-term evolvement for the sake of fitting the changes of the environment.

Khoo Teck Phuat Hospital, Singapore 20120308

This variety of sweet turnera is Turnera subulata [Malay: Bunga pukul lapan], the ones we often see are yellow sweet turnera and white sweet turnera.

Dhoby Ghaut Green, Singapore 20120415

Night blooming waterlily

Night bloomers start unfolding in the evening and close the following mid-morning. Though they bloom in the darkness of night, they do need 5-6 hours of sunlight daily to flourish. Night blooming tropical water lilies the largest and widest spread of all tropicals. 3′-4′ spread.

Photo: Khoo Teck Phuat Hospital, Singapore 20120115.

Nymphaea antares has deep magenta blooms that are enhanced by green leaves infused with purple. The name Antares is the largest star and red in the constellation Scorpius and thus the name selected to represent this gorgeous species.

Photo: Khoo Teck Phuat Hospital, Singapore 20120308.

Nymphaea juno has white flowers and sepals. It has 12-13 inch green leaves that are blotched purple with brownish purple undersides. Nymphaea juno’s flower characteristics are fragrant, vintage, showy.

Chilades pandava pandava: Cycad Blue, Plains Cupid Butterfly

Chilades pandava pandava, belongs to the Lycaenidae family, they are small with average wingspan of the butterfly is 13-15mm.

They are among the few butterflies that breed on plants of the cycad family [Cycas revoluta: ornamental Sago Palm or other palms].

^ Courting dance 🙂

^ Upper wing

^ Translucent wings

More reading and photos about Chidales pandava pandava @ butterflycircle.com

Photos:  Dhoby Ghaut Green, Singapore 20110222; AHBT, Singapore 20120616.

Eurema hecabe contubernalis: Common Grass Yellow

The Common Grass Yellow is a small pierid butterfly species found in Asia or Africa. They are found flying close to the ground and are found in open grass and scrub habitats.
Plant shown in this photo is Stachytarpheta indica: Indian Snakeweed, Blue snakeweed, Nettle-leaved vervain.

This butterfly has bright lemon yellow wings with black bordering on the upperside and dark brown markings on the underside. Average wingspan 35-45 mm

“I spy a yellow butterfly” 🙂
Plant shown in this photo is Pithecellobium dulce. This plant could grown as a tree that reaches a height of about 10 to 15 m/33 to 49 ft. Its trunk is spiny and its leaves are bipinnate. The flowers are greenish-white and fragrant. The flowers produce a pod with an edible pulp.

All photos taken @ Dhoby Ghaut Green, Singapore 20110222.

Small Whitish Moth

It looks like the Simple Wave [Scopula junctaria] in the size of a Small White Wave [Asthena albulata]. This moth is likely a member of the Geometridae family.

Stamford Green, Singapore 20120416.

This tiny moth resting on a blade of grass. It was a ‘white trapezoid’ jumping on the grass. I could not see what it really is until I view it on my computer screen.

The wingspan is less than 2cm.

Stamford Green, Singapore 20120416.

Source: Wikipedia.

Elymnias hypermnestra agina: Common Palmfly butterfly

^ Pasir Ris Nature Reserve – Boardwalk, Singapore 20160228.

^ Stamford Green, Singapore 20120416.

Elymnias hypermnestra agina, Common Palmfly butterflies, could be found where there are many plants of the Palmae species [larvae feeds on Coconut, Arecanut, Date and other palms]. They avoid bright sunlight and rarely come out into the open. Distribution: India, Sri Lanka , Bangladesh , Myanmar , Malaysia , Thailand , Indonesia and the Philippines.

Stamford Green, Singapore 20120416.

Genus Elymnias are medium sized butterfly with wingspan of 7-8 cm but very delicate and fragile wings.

Elymnias hypermnestra agina [left] and Mycalesis perseus cepheus [right] sharing  a fallen rose apple fruit [Syzygium jambos]. Photo: AHBT, Singapore 20120616

Read more about Elymnias hypermnesta agina @ butterflycircle.com

Early Stages @ ButterflyCircle’s blog article – The Life History of the Common Palmfly.

Junonia almana: Peacock Pansy butterfly

Stamford Green, Singapore 20120416.

The Peacock Pansy [Junonia almana] found in South Asia.

Stamford Green, Singapore 20120416.

The butterfly has a bright orange upperside with prominent eyespots on the hindwings. The undersides are somewhat paler, but with the eyespots still rather prominent. The adult butterfly has a wingspan of 54–62 mm [2.1–2.4 in].

Photo: Internet

Ficus religiosa: The Sacred Fig

Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery, Singapore 20120309

Ficus religiosa, or Bo-Tree [from the Sanskrit Bodhi: “wisdom”, “enlightened”] is a species of banyan fig native to India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, southwest China and Indochina. It belongs to the Moraceae, the fig or mulberry family.

Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery, Singapore 20120309

Ficus religiosa is grown by specialty tree plant nurseries for use as an ornamental tree, in gardens and parks in tropical and subtropical climates. In Singapore Saplings of this tree can often be found growing on walls and roofs because birds eat the fruits and spread them around.

Photo: Internet

Buddhist legend tells of Gautama Buddha attained enlightenment [bodhi] while meditating underneath the Bodhi tree, a Ficus religiosa.

PhotoPlus by Rita Sim [photoplusbyritasim]

This is a collection of digital photographs that my husband and I took on Flora and Fauna from places we visited.

My first digital camera was Sony Mavica MVC-FD7 Limited edition [1999]. I remember carrying boxes of diskettes and more boxes when I changed to Sony Mavica MVC-FD91 as the images are getting larger. The diskettes were replaced by higher capacity memory sticks, compact flash cards plus and digital “wallets”.

Nowadays travelling light is the order, with FujiFilm FinePix HS20EXR.

Enjoy!