OCIMUM BASILICUM & COMMON BLUEBOTTLE

I have always love the Sweet Basil or the Ocimum basilicum with the purple bracts and white flowers. The contrast in colour and its leaf fragrance, especially when crushed, are alluring. I am glad I planted it in the Malay Garden and can enjoy the sight of this wonderful plant when going about my rounds.

On a separate note, I saw a beautiful butterfly with a very obvious blue streak across its wings at the Colonial Garden on last Friday. I suspect it was a Common Bluebottle (Scientific Name: Graphium sarpedon; Family: Papilionidae) which hosts on the Cinnamomum iners tree. What surprised me was the fact that this butterfly is a forest species and to see it here in the new gardens was just amazing.

MICHELIA X ALBA

From the Magnoliaceae Family, this is actually a beautiful tree that was hybridized between Michelia champaca and Magnolia montana. Hence, the other accepted name is Magnolia x alba. The common names include White Champak and Banana Shrub.

When in bloom, the white flowers are highly fragrant. In fact, this tree is the host plant for one of the native butterflies Tailed Jay (scientific name: Graphium agamemnon agamemnon). Check out the links and ButterflyCircle website below to learn more about the plant and butterfly.

1. http://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/michelia_alba.htm
2. http://toptropicals.com/html/toptropicals/articles/trees/tropical_magnolia.htm
3. http://www.butterflycircle.com/checklist2/index.php?page=butt_details&butt_id=172

TAILED JAY

This Tailed Jay (Graphium agamemnon) butterfly photo was taken on 3 Feb 10 near the forest edge across the Ginger Garden.

Though this butterfly is not as showy compared to the other more colourful butterflies, we still need to do our part to protect the forest to conserve them to ensure the continual survival of all butterflies on our little island.