Passionflowers (कृष्णकमळ)

There are many species of Passionflower climbers. They belong to Passifloraceae family. Most have very beautiful flowers. Some are highly scented. They are ideal for growing on an arch or on a trellis. These climbers have tendrils, which grip to support firmly and enables the plant to climb. Passionflower climbers can be propagated with stem cuttings. Some species bear fruit; these seeds can be used to make saplings.

Passiflora amethystina

Passiflora caerulea 

Passiflora coccinea 

Passiflora edulis

Passiflora foetida

Passiflora holosericea 

Passiflora incense

Passiflora misera 

Passiflora quadrangularis

Passiflora seemannii  

Passiflora trifasciata

Passiflora spp.

Tendrils

Passionflower climber grown on a fence

Fruit of some species have saffron coloured pulp. This pulp has excellent flavour. The pulp is used for making sherbets, squashes, jelly, milk shake & ice cream. However, since the pulp is quite sour, very small quantity of the pulp should be added while making milk shake or ice cream.

Tawny Coster laying eggs

Tawny Coster caterpillars on Passionflower leaves

These climbers are host to Tawny Coster butterfly caterpillars. A swarm of these butterflies settles on the leaves and lay clusters of eggs.Tawny Coster butterfly larvae feed on these plants voraciously. Apart from this pest, there are hardly any other pests for this plant.

Butterfly caterpillar with 5 pairs of legs?

We all know that the insects have 3 pairs of legs. The photograph is of a caterpillar of a butterfly; as such it must have only 3 pairs of legs. But in the image posted, you can clearly see that this caterpillar has 5 pairs of legs. Can you guess why?

5 pairs of legs?

It is true that all insects have 3 pairs of legs. What we see as 5 pairs of legs are not legs at all. They are called as 'Pseudolegs' -- false legs. With these false legs the caterpillar grips the surface on which it crawls. Keep a caterpillar on your hand and you will understand how firmly these pseudolegs hold your skin. True legs of an insect caterpillar are quite small and are incapable of gripping and for walking. At maturity, pseudolegs disappear and only true legs remain. In the caterpillar stage true legs are quite small. You might have notices that even newborn human babies have very short hands; if raised they just reach the head.

It has only 3 pairs of legs

Tawny Coster (Acraea terpsicore)

It is a medium size butterfly which is normally found flying with slow fluttering of wings. It also does not fly very high. Tawny coster butterfly's larval food is any species of passion flower climbers. In a garden hundreds of these caterpillars completely denude these climbers. These butterflies, unlike Lemon butterfly, which goes on depositing a lone egg at a time, Tawny coster female lays eggs in large groups. Also many of these congregate in breeding season & have a sort of egg laying competition. These are quite bold butterflies and can be observed very closely, without getting disturbed.

Normally other predators do not dare to harm this butterfly or its caterpillars. It is because they exude certain repulsive chemicals if attacked. However, I had not only seen but even videographed a praying mantis happily feeding on the caterpillar of this butterfly.

I was lucky to cover their whole life cycle in one season only. All the photographs are shot in one season only but on different days.