Another butterfly visits my Bougainvillea plant to sip nectar from the flowers. This time it is the Plain Tiger (Danaus chrysippus chrysippus).
We grow many cultivars of Bougainvillea all over Singapore mainly to provide colours to our Garden City. This is because of their prominent blooms, especially after a dry spell.
But these plants also have a role in attracting biodiversity – in this case butterflies.
This is the third butterfly species posted here that visits the flowers for the nectar. The earlier two are Peacock Pansy (Junonia almanac) and Lime Butterfly (Papilio demoleus malayanus).
YC Wee
Singapore
November 2015
3 Responses
I never see any butterflies visiting the bougainvillea that’s grown by the roadsides, especially those in the centre of roads. Is this because of the pollution from traffic? Are butterflies particularly sensitive to air pollution and other emissions?
Also, I read before that seeing dragonflies is an indicator that the ecology of an area is sound. Can a similar conclusion be drawn if butterflies are seen? And likewise, if no butterflies come even if these flowers are present, does that indicate there’s something “wrong”?
Butterflies appear when the sun peeps out from behind the clouds… Only this I know…