The Pea Blue (Lampides boeticus)
The Pea Blue is a butterfly that can be found at Gardens by the Bay. This Lycaenid flies fast and erratic on hot sunny days, but can also be spotted resting amongst the shrubbery in the early morning hours, and also in the vicinity of its caterpillar host plants, Crotalaria retusa and Crotalaria mucronata - both "Pea Plants".
In this shot, taken on Sunday at Gardens by the Bay, ButterflyCircle member Nelson Ong managed to capture a portrait of a Pea Blue feeding on the flower of the Coat Button plant (Tridax procumbens). Considered a weed, the Coat Button is a flowering plant from the Asteraceae family (or Daisies). The plant is believed to have medicinal properties and used in traditional Indian medicine as an anticoagulant, hair tonic, antifungal and insect repellent, in bronchial catarrh, diarrhoea, dysentery, and for healing wounds.
