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Project Noah Nature School
Murraya koenigii
The flowers are small, white, and fragrant. (For more details see my posting on The Curry Tree Fruits at http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/171...)
Found in Dindigul, Tamil Nadu, India
From my archives, I could not get a photo of the flowers on the curry tree without a butterfly on it, though I had over hundred photos of the flowers.
Spotted on Nov 22, 2010
Submitted on Jan 17, 2013
4 Comments
Dear Leuba, I am not sure. Just assuming or, you can say, imagining! In the case of the curry tree and the neem tree at least, they flourish and flower more profusely in hot and dry climate. Even a slight fall in temperature (at night) makes the neem leaves suddenly dry up. Strange! Anyhow, I am no more in Dindigul. I am now at Alathur in Palakkad and doing some part-time job in Coimbatore.
I've learnt something interesting from you Mr Vanur - about drier places having more butterflies. Must look into that. That's probably why pamsai, another ProjectNoah spotter, from Thiruvannamalai sees such beautiful butterflies !
It's also good to know Dindigul has such pretty creatures ( we always drove through there in Summer when it was dry and very hot) - still all very nostalgic..
Thank you, Leuba. It is the climate, I think, because, here in Kerala, few trees have flowers and, even when they flower, few butterflies come. In Dindigul, which is a dry place, all trees flower profusely and butterflies are always on the flowers. Actually I realized it now when I was looking for some flower photos to post in Project Noah.
Wonderful plant - can't imagine cooking my curries without it. It's great to know that they attract such lovely butterflies. Haven't seen any on my plant here in Melbourne - it's the climate I guess. Lovely pictures -thanks.