Summertime Blues 2 - Blue Butterflies

More summertime blues - (although they fly all year) - are tiny butterflies. The Cassius Blue and Ceraunus Blue butterflies breed in the yard, and it's possible that we have had visits from Eastern Pygmy Blues, since we are not far from the salt marshes where they and their larval plants thrive.

Generally the Florida Blues fly very close to the ground. Their flight is fast and erratic, and they don't seem to perch long enough for me to id them. Blink and you'll miss them. Their underwings are drab, and they fold their wings when perching. But you glimpse flashes of startling blue when they flutter to another spot.

They are tiny butterflies. The Ceraunus Blue has a maximum wingspan of  0.7 - 1.2 inches. The Cassius Blue is the same size or a little larger at the bottom range. The Eastern Pygmy Blue, one of the tiniest butterflies in the world, maxes out at  0.7 -0.9 inches.

They are among the "Gossamer-Winged" butterflies, and the delicate iridiscent blue of their upper wings makes that a very apt description. Black and white banded antennae are another characteristic of butterflies in this family, Lycaenidae, which also contains the Hairstreaks.

Ceraunus Blues and Neptunia pubescens

The Ceraunus Blue is quite common in Florida. It breeds as far north as central Florida, west to Texas and California, and south to Central America and the West Indies. Both males and females have one eyespot on each hindwing. The eyespot is quite prominent on the underside of the wing because it is large in relation to the size of the butterfly, and partially ringed with bright orange. Males are a shimmery true blue on top, while females are darker and can appear almost black.

Garden abundance of Ceraunus Blues is said to be low, but we seem to have a resident population. One of its larval host plants is Neptunia pubescens, "Tropical Puff" or "Yellow Puff."  We have a large clump or colony on one side of the driveway. This prostrate spreading legume has a delicate fern-like appearance due to its bipinnately compound leaves and tiny leaflets. When it thrives it arches and tumbles all over itself, and from a distance looks dense. However its fine texture does allow grasses, sedges and other weeds to invade it, so it requires a little maintenance - no water.

When it gets ratty looking I cut it back to the ground, and it regenerates beautifully. Indeed, care should be used in introducing it into the garden because it can be difficult to eradicate. Surrounded by concrete and brick, ours is pretty well neutralized, but I do need to trim it periodically to keep it out of the roadway. Neptunia is a "sensitive" plant, and the leaflets collapse as soon as they are touched - that poses some problems in drawing it!

The butterflies lay their eggs on the flower buds. The eggs, larvae and pupae are so tiny I've never been able to find even one. Neptunia flowers occur in "powder puff" heads, with bright yellow petals and numerous stamens. It doesn't produce enough flowers at one time to be truly showy, but evidently it flowers enough to sustain the Blues.

Perching Cassius Blues can be identified by the "zebra" striping on their underwings. This may be hard to see in my photo, but I can't enlarge it more without losing even more detail. They have 2 eyespots on the hindwing. Both sexes are blue on their topwings, though the female is paler wiith more brown than the male. This species is common throughout Florida, excluding the panhandle. They also range from south Texas, the West Indies, and south to Argentina.

Cassius Blue on Plumbago scandens

They lay their eggs on various legume and leadwort species. I used to have more of them because I grew the Florida native Plumbago scandens. This plant is problematic in the yard because it  resists training and scrambles over anything and everything in its path. Its small white flowers are attractive, but the buds and seed pods are extremely sticky, and if you or your pet gets them tangled in hair/fur, the only solution is to cut them out. I took out most of it, but one plant somehow escaped my grim reaping, so I am going to try once again to train, or at least contain it, just for the butterflies.

Milkpea (see my Jan.8, 18 post), a plant I vainly try to eradicate in the yard, is another larval host for Cassius and Ceraunus Blues. I called a temporary truce until  they had a chance to bring up a brood or two, but the milkpea is getting totally out of control in some places, so that's going to end soon.

Blues like to nectar on Phyla nodiflora, "Fogfruit," among other flowers. Phyla is also a magnet for the beautiful White Peacock butterfly, which uses it as a larval host. This plant, another member of the Verbena family so popular with pollinators, can be trained into a beautiful hanging basket. One of my brothers had a trick of looping the flower stalk around itself and then sliding it up quickly to pop off the head. He used to shoot the heads at me while we waited for the school bus. I tried, but never managed the snap.

Phyla nodiflora and Ceraunus Blue

Sources: Butterflies through Binoculars: A Field, Finding and Gardening Guide to Butterflies in Florida. Glassberg, Minno & Calhoun. Oxford U. Press, 2000. Plate 16 and facing page, pp. 78-81.

Florida Butterfly Gardening. Minno & Minno. U. Press of Florida, 1999. pp. 75-77.

Florida's Fabulous Butterflies. Emmel & Kenney. World Publications, 1997. pp. 18-19.

Weeds I Like IV - Spigelia anthelmia

I love the weed Spigelia anthelmia, "West Indian Pinkroot," for its combination of grace and energy. The arch of its stems and its dramatically veined leaves make it stand out, even in a sea of green. Some plants are taxing to draw, no matter how beautiful. But I always find great pleasure in sketching Spigelia, because I can have fun with it. It really lends itself to exuberant gesture drawings.

Spigelia anthelmia, West Indian Pinkroot

The pinkish tinge in the roots of the plant depicted above is a trick of my very inexpert Photoshop Elements editing. Otherwise I never have found anything evenly remotely pink about the roots of this plant. "Pinkroot" seems to be a frequent common name for plants in this genus, so I assume that the roots of at least one species are, indeed, pink.

The species epithet "anthelmia" indicates that this plant will kill worms, and it is used for that purpose where it is either native or naturalized. However, the leaves are highly toxic, so it's not anything for amateurs to try.  Spigelia anthelmia  is a component of several homeopathic remedies available on the Internet, and said to be useful in treating headache, migraine, nerve pain, sinus discomfort, constipation and indigestion, among other ailments.

The plant is native to Florida, the West Indies, and the New World tropics, and naturalized in many Old World tropical climates. It is a member of the family Loganiaceae, which also contains Gelsemium sempervirens, "Carolina or yellow jessamine," a beautiful but toxic vine native to much of the US, and the "strychnine tree," Strychnos nux-vomica, of India and SE Asia. Not a family you want to mess around with too casually!

Leaves and Flowering Spikes

Spigelia anthelmia can grow as an annual or perennial, and in our yard is most common in spring and summer. It likes moisture, and pops up most frequently in the gravel swale, the lowest, and hence, wettest part of the yard. The rock also keeps the roots cool. The swale is right under the utility lines, so all manner of interesting things can crop up there.

Pencil Sketch

This plant flowers, but its habit and foliage are the real attention-getters. Stems are upright, usually with some curvature, and topped with 2 pairs of dark green opposite leaves. One pair of leaves typically is larger than the other. The plant can reach 23 inches in height, but the ones in our yard are shorter. Leaves can be anything from 2 to 6 inches long, and three-quarters to 3 inches wide.

The top surface of the leaves is textured like fine-grit sandpaper. "Scabridulous" is a lovely botanical term for that. ( I tried to count the number of words in botanical Latin for varioius degrees and forms of hairness/thorniness, but there were so many that I gave up). The undersides of the leaves are smoother and paler green, with prominently raised veins. Stems may be single or several, branched or unbranched.

Flowering spikes emerge from the junction of the leaves, and produce flowers and seeds on one side only. The flowers open from the bottom up. They are very small, and white with maroon stripes. The petals are joined in the corolla tube. I think the flower buds resemble phillips-head screwdrivers. The flowers are only about 3/8 inch long, and about half as wide.

Spigelia anthelmia buds and immature seed pods

Open Flowers

The seed pods are warty, and turn gray brown when mature. Seeds are shiny and black, and are expelled with some force.

A relative, Spigelia marilandica, which has a much wider distribution in the US, is far showier. Its flowers are red with yellow interior, and also considerably larger. In Florida it occurs only in the panhandle.