Wildflowers for Wednesday and for Butterflies

I have not been posting for Wildflower Wednesday, as i normally forget the 4th Wednesday of the month. But i remember it when it is not time to post. Now i suddenly realize it and thanks circumstances that tomorrow is the 4th Wednesday. I am in time for the link of Gail's Clay and Limestone. Now the problem is to search for my wildflowers still scaterred in my so many files.

Here are some of them as remnants of our rainy season growths. I warn you they are mostly taken because of butterflies!

Above and Below is Plumbago zeylanica, an endemic white plumbago species in the country. I found this in the wild and amazed that a butterfly is ovipositing on its young flower buds. I have lots of the red plumbago, but i haven't observed any butterflies nectaring on them or any larva eating them.

Zebra Blue or Plumbago Blue, Leptotes plinius leopardus, a lycaenid

 the clump of Plumbago zeylanica

a hover fly and a wasp moth nectaring on the Mikania micrantha

 Mikania micrantha, (Mile-a-minute weed as called in Singapore), is an introduced species, a vine, and as expected from alien species they are very invasive. It can easily kill a native plant that it can totally cover during the rainy season. At least it has some function as nectar plants for the butterflies and other insects.

Dwarf Crow and Grey Glassy Tiger on porter weed, Stachetarpheta jamaicensis

 Glassy Tiger, Parantica vitrina vitrina and Snow Flat, Tagiades japetus titus

 a large clump of porter weed, Stachetarpheta jamaicensis on a fallowed grassy area

a blue weed

this Tiny Grass Blue, Zizina hylax pygmaea, is the tiniest butterfly in my area that is less than a centimeter both in length and in width. It is so frantic and sometimes difficult to photograph as it alights again after minutes. But when it is still early they can be easily posing with the camera and later when they feed and oviposit on the very short grasses. 

 this is the NOID blue flowers with also very short stems

Aerva lanata (Amaranthaceae), only a few insects alight on them, yet i find them pretty too. We have lots of this in our property and on adjacent uncultivated lands. I just realized upon learning its name that it has lots of medicinal properties and antioxidant components. There are even dried plants being sold formally in the internet and on ebay. 

Aerva lanata growing abundantly in our property

Another low weed that flowers profusely and loved by tigers and skippers. This Grey Glassy Tiger, Ideopsis juventa manillana, kept on coming back and forth from this lump of flowers.

 This is the whole stand of the weed as it starts to produce flowers, just about 2 ft tall. The dry season has started and this seems to be just starting to reproduce. At least the butterflies have alternatives from the flowers that already finished maturity for the rainy season.

Wildflower Wednesday

Camera Critters

Saturday Critters

Through My Lens

Wild Flowers at the Foot of Mt Gulugod Baboy

I just realized i have not been blogging the whole Christmas Holidays. It is not because i did not want to but our internet connection in the province is too weak, besides it seems work in the province while you are supposed to be on vacation is real endless. One work pile on top of another. After finishing one, there is again another which you have been thinking to do for so many months. And of course, my camera hasn't been working too. Only my hoyas get more of my attention. They are seemingly in the downside, flowers are very seldom seen these colder months, so my camera is resting too, also on holidays.

My sisters and niece suddenly wished to climb our backyard mountain, Mt Gulugod Baboy, Mabini, Batangas. Imagine, one of my sisters hasn't been there! So that night we arranged for a tricycle which now can bring people near the peak. A couple of years ago, it was still a longer hike of about 30-40 minutes from the end of the road. It is now friendly to us who are not as agile as we used to be. It now takes only about 10 min hike to the top, following a different path than we used to. (I will have a separate post about this climb). On the way home from the mountain, it was already an easy downward walk, tricycles not needed anymore. 

 Mt Gulugod Baboy (Pig Spine), viewed from the west approach is not as tall as from the East. But it is more friendly at this side. Those two figures are my 2 sisters, and i always lag behind because of so many photo subjects on the way.

It is usually foggy in the early mornings during these colder months, today the fog disappeared at 10:00 am, when we set to leave. Cows are tethered in these areas, as grasses are plenty this time.

Roadsides are teeming with these white daisy-like flowers with golden centers. Bees and butterflies are plenty too.

close-up of the daisy-like flowers, ID i still dont know

This white flowers are also plenty, becoming more like bushes

They are loved by butterflies and bees but not by animals

Neptis mindorana ilocana

a grove of blue porterweed, Stachytarpheta jamaicensis

Catopsilia pyranthe pyranthe

Those spikes are lovely when still green, but eventually they turn brown during the dry season, when fruits dehisce and conquer other land patches.

 zinnia  that might have attached to some hikers shoes, eventually finding their lives here

 This celosia has very minute seeds, so easy to be carried elsewhere, no wonder they 

find habitat at the foot of the mountain

This Impatiens balsamina is also a domesticated flower, but somewhat invasive with their small seeds. We don't have this in our garden, so my sisters gather some mature pods for home. We only have the single petaled violet and white at home. Next year this pink will also be seen with them.

Wildflower Wednesday

Nature Notes

Our World Tuesday

Outdoor Wednesday

Wildflowers in the hot tropics

Here are some grasses in our property that attracted my attention. I am looking for butterflies, but in these chaotic weed growth it is difficult to photograph butterflies. Even if they alight on some plants for a few minutes, it is still difficult to maneuver myself through the growths, so i would rather wait for them again to come near me in the clearing.

These are invasive weeds species. They tag on clothes whenever you come near them. When they happen to touch your skin, there will surely be scratches, and they are painful when taking a bath. They also tag along the hairs of goats, cattle and horses. That is their way of colonizing and spreading the species.

 This is an invasive introduction to the country, Chromolaena odorata. They have strong and deep roots that can withstand our long dry season, and they will be the first one to grow when the heavy rains come. They easily cover an area when left uncultivated. The sad thing about this is its  poisonous effects with ruminants.

This is another introduced species, flowers not as lovely as the previous one, and also quite invasive. However, i still don't know the name, probably this is Mikania micrantha.

 This is Wedelia trilobata, or Singapore daisy. I wonder if it came from Singapore to have that name. But it is used as groundcovers before, so might have escaped cultivation and invaded the marginal sidestreets. This is easy to eradicate, so i love it. Besides, the butterflies love nectaring on their flowers.

I found this single petal Clitoria ternatea in a second growth forest when we passed to the other side of the ravine. I very well know it being used favorably these days in Edible Landscaping. There is a multipetal of this too. They are used in salads and also source of color for making blue rice, while the blended juice is also a good colorful thirst quencher. There are resorts and restaurants that cultivate this for their commercial business.

 This is also a bushy weed, but i am not familiar with the identity. It lends beautifully through a macro lens, but the flowers are just 1 cm long, not very attractive to humans, but lovely for butterflies and other insects. The stem has a high tensile strength enabling goats to be tied on them when grazing. I guess this is of the Malvaceae family.

This Ipomoea pes-caprae is a cousin of the sweet potato . It is covering the smaller bushy weeds near the roadside. I wonder if maybe some butterfly larvae are eating the leaves. If time allows, i will observe them for longer periods.At the moment, i can only take its photo.

Wildflower Wednesday

Floral Friday Fotos

Fertilizer Friday

Out for Early Morning Hunt

Sometimes I am so early in posting for the Wildflower Wednesday, but most of the time i forgot all about it. And this is one of those days, when i forget it totally, so I have to be quick. I searched for older photos from my already 'archived' external drive, I know there's a lot of  images still waiting there! Sure enough, a new set of wildflowers and landscapes emerge before me. They seem to be new, as if i haven't seen them before. I guess beauty can always evoke a new meaning of beauty!

I woke up early that day to look for some things to shoot, walked for about 10 min and waited for the sunrise. And while lingering around I noticed a different perspective, a landscape unfolding with its inhabitants.

Our sunrise in the province always come with the sea, because we are on a high ground.

The grasses are fully swaying with flowers, spikes with reddish brown florets dangling with pollen grains.

The flower spikes are very different in color than its yellowish hue background.

Despite the invisibility, I sense and know that billion pollen grains are soaring with the wind in the expanse of this meadow. Every stem of grass is ripe to fulfill its purpose of preserving its species, go forth and multiply!

Some closer scrutiny shows some distinct inhabitants far from their own kinds, as if they become the muse in the expanse of the landscape, or an intruder depending on your perspective. But this Mimosa diplotricha lone flower is beautiful among the ordinary.

At the next patch of growths are the blooms of this invasive species (Chromolaena odorata),  but it is loved by butterflies.

These are blooming spikes of another invasive species, that purposely made to attach to anything that lingered in their world. Those spikes are full of a lot of seeds, no need to convince you that this is invasive. 

At the side of the meadow are patches of this very ornamental-looking bushes. Those light green bracts contains the flowers, all hiding from public view. Those bracts eventually turn brown when the seeds mature. This is Flemingia strobilifera, or wild hops. 

Do you agree that an idle land is so full of life and beauty? I still haven't shown you the other inhabitants of this landscape, and you will be amazed when i will show you the smaller inhabitants. Stay tuned!

 Wildflower Wednesday

A Macro Weed Bloom

This is a leguminous weed flower, not very conspicuous on its own to humans. But put it through a macro lens and it becomes a different subject! Do you agree?

Macro Monday2

I Heart Macro 

Wildflower Wednesday

Floral Friday Fotos

Hoya Cousin in our Property!

Whenever I am home in the province, which are normally once-a-month, I roam around the vicinity. Upon waking up in the mornings it is always my habit to walk our streets, clutching eyeglasses and camera. There's a lot of lovely subjects through that circuitous road from our house. Sometimes i have the wide angle lens mounted and suddenly i found some wonderful insects, or minute flowers along the roadsides. It is difficult to carry other lenses on these walks, much more a tripod. I always plan to make it just a leisurely walk, but it always end up very tiring. Most of the time the insects are near the ground, and i need to make body contortions to photograph it. My lazy body not accustomed to long stretchings react badly to these. Sometimes my legs suddenly get cramps because of muscle stretchings.

Our property is also a very good source of biodiversity. I find there many unusual plants, insects, mushrooms, ferns, flowers, etc. I don't know most of the things i see there, because mostly the unknown catch my attention. Last year i found an orchid, which i learned the ID only this year through some specialized Facebook groups. This month a plant again caught my interest. Maybe it's because i am now hooked on collecting hoyas, since i realized it has many species endemic and indigenous to the Philippines.

The flowers of this vine is so similar to hoyas, so i wont let the chance to document it. The expanded golden corolla is so attractive, with the corona also golden but a bit darker. The young flowers are shaped distinctly the same as the hoyas i am familiar with. The habit however is facing up or negatively geotropic, but some hoyas are like that too. I am so intrigued so i get a lot of angled shots including the position where the peduncles arise, the habit of the vine and the shape and position of the leaves in relation to the stem. 

I am sure you will agree that the flowers are beautiful and interesting.  However unlike most hoyas, the flowers in a single peduncle are blooming with a staggered maturity. 

The vines have long internodes  of more than one foot with half a centimeter diameter.  It just creeps on the ground, which so happened to have piles of coconut husks left after getting the meat for copra production. I am not sure how to describe those leaves, but as laymen i will call it 'heart-shaped'. LOL. That means there is a distinct notch at the side of the petiole. There is also a distinct venation that meets at the tip, i suppose they call it 'anastomosing', I am just guessing that term here! 

The leaves are opposite, meaning two leaves arise from the opposite sides of one node. 

Immediately, i uploaded the photos to the FB group listing all the endemic flora of the Philippines. It led to my confirmation that it belongs to the hoya family, Apocynaceae. I also posted it in the international hoya group, which led me to its Scientific name, Heterostemma cuspidatum. Its photos in the internet are still not available, although old references already mentioned the provinces it is formerly found, which included ours. The main taxonomist-administrator of the Co's Digital Flora of the Philippines asked for these photos to be included in the compilation, he is a New Zealand scientist at the University of Canterbury. Now, Heterostemma cuspidatum, already has a face in the internet. At least one weekend provided some worthy cause, I am so elated to have discovered it in our property. And I am glad to have provided the photos, that otherwise are non-existent. I retained the copyright to the photos, by the way! 

  Our World Tuesday

  Nature Notes

 Wildflower Wednesday

Floral Friday Foto