Clitoria Ternatea, also known as Butterfly Pea, - I am still working on cutting and removing Leucaena trees, also known as River Tamarind trees, that have taken over this area of my property. Actually, I really like the shades of green provided by Leucaena trees because they bring more other vegetative and plants to the area that I discovered some other plants and trees that I didn't plant growing in the area. Perhaps the seedings of those plants and trees will come by air or by birds that devoured the seeds. Butterfly pea is one of those plants that grows but never gets planted. Butterfly Pea is native to South East Asia, where its growth flavors by the warm climate. It is one of the best nitrogen-fixing crops for improving soil conditions. Furthermore, the Butterfly Pea flower is edible and a great blue coloring agent for foods and cosmetics. It can be sun-dried for tea or later used for other purposes. The Butterfly Pea flower in my photo is not of a good variety, and I consider it to be a wild Butterfly Pea. The best variety Butterfly Pea has 5 petals and is quite valuable when sundried, selling for USD 5 per Kilogram.
4 comments
Gorgeous! My favourite shade of blue 💙
Yes, it is pretty blue.
I used to have a few meters of fence covered by this plant. Many people harvest its flowers every morning. I like it's taste even when eaten raw.
I used to plant it at a commercial scale and it was my easy money for me at that time.