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Tuesday, October 23, 2012

An Exceptional Blue Flower


Pachyrhizus erosus 


I have been telling bloggers in my comments that blue and dark violet flowers are not common in our tropical climate, unlike in temperate climes. When I see them here, my attention will definitely be captured and I will not allow it unphotographed. I am still looking for the scientific explanation why blues appear mostly in cold climates, so they are called cold colors. Maybe more anthocyanins are assimilated there. If that is also correlated with the color of the spectrum absorbed by these plants, i still don't know. I hope there is someone who will give me the thorough explanation. 

On the other hand warm colors are really found so common in our warm climate. The reds, orange and yellows are widespread with us. This led me to clamour for the blues. I am so glad when i found this vine growing luxuriantly in our property, as a weed. I know it is a wild yam bean or locally called 'singkamas', Pachyrhizus erosus. The young pods are used as vegetables in the northern parts of the country. But the most commonly eaten are the roots of the more domesticated variety. These roots are also harvested at immature stage, when the vines are still about 1-2 ft tall. When the vines begin to climb, the roots are already mature and not eaten anymore. Literatures say that mature seeds are toxic to humans and animals. The leaves of the wild variety in our property are eaten by ruminants like cattle and goats.

I am so lucky to have volunteer plants like this in our backyard.



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31 comments:

  1. Beautiful! The flower spike reminds me of the blue Baptisias that bloom here in May in the prairie.

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  2. That is really a lovely shade of blue. Such a gorgeous color. The same here Andrea....orange and yellow are prominent and blue is rare:)

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    Replies
    1. ...because you are also in a warmer climate, you have the predominance of warm colors!

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  3. looks so much like a sweet pea & the blue ear pea

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  4. Lovely blue ones, yes they are rare color of flowers.

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  5. Those are lovely! Funny about the "tropical" vs. "colder" colors.

    You asked about why there wasn't butterflies on my goldenrod. I haven't seen many butterflies on these. Maybe because there's too many bees covering them! :-).

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    Replies
    1. ...or maybe because the goldenrod nectar is not very sweet for the butterflies! Thanks Gale for the visit.

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  6. Such wonderful color. I never thought about color defining their growing places.

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    Replies
    1. Blues are within the "cool colors" and orange-reds belong to the "warm colors", just as when we edit our photos!

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  7. what a fabulous blue..powdery blue almost periwinkle and then iridescent...that is a great blue flower to find!

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  9. I love blue. I did not know that blue flowers don't grow in tropical or hot climates. Your blue captures are beautiful.

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    Replies
    1. Blue actually grows in the tropics or hot climates, just that they are not as plenty as in colder climes!

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  10. So pretty and I am glad to learn something new on my journey of discovering helpful plants. :-)

    Thanks for your visit and blessings!!

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    Replies
    1. Your visit is also much appreciated, and am happy you get something new from me.

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  11. interesting ... blue is considered a cool colour and reds and oranges and yellows are hot. Also insects I think I read somewhere are particularly attracted to reds, and there are more insects where it is hotter. That is a lovely shade of blue.

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    1. Yes Catmint, that is why insects can go out only when the sun is already up, because they cannot fly easily with cold or humid environment. Here, we see them spreading their wings to heat their bodies up under the sun at early mornings. That is when they are easily photographed. In a short while they are already very active and fluttering non-stop!

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  12. thanx for sharing all that info - I was not aware of the 'cold' blueness....a very lovely flower....

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    Replies
    1. maybe that is the source when we edit photos as cold and warm, bluish and reddish, respectively.\

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  13. i'm also attracted to flowers in all shades of blue. i agree with your observation, we have more of the yellow, red, orange and pink flowers than purple and blue. this is my first time to see singkamas flowers---didn't even know singkamas has flowers.:p

    Balimbing blossoms

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  14. I agree, a very nice blue colour!
    Great photo!
    Have a nice day!

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  15. Wonderful photos. That blue flower is so very sweet.

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  16. That is a pretty blue flower. I live in Nebraksa, U.S.A. where we have warm to hot summers and cold winters. We can grow lots of colors of flowers here, both warm and cold colors.

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  17. Pretty blue flower. First time I've seen this.

    White Angel

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  18. Beautiful, reminds me of wisteria (pea-family)

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  19. Blue is so hard to find for the garden and this one is a beauty!

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