Sunday, January 29, 2012

Butterflies of lahore - Pioneer white butterfly

This post is another one in the series of "Butterflies of Lahore". You can see previous posts on butterflies in the menu of this website.
Pioneer white butterfly(Belenois aurota) is also a common butterfly of lahore. It is mostly seen in lahore in winter and spring. You can see it often in the Chyrsanthemum flower show flowers.
Pioneer white butterfly on trumpet honeysuckle
It is often found on flowers instead of foliage or in open sun. Most of the times it is in gardens but i have seen it on my terrace as well. Like all butterflies it is always found in full sun. All these pictures of pioneer white butterfly are from Lawrence gardens lahore

Belenois aurota pioneer white butterfly on chrysanthemum flower

Because it is a common butterfly in lahore, i guess it is also found in other parts of Pakistan. Probably it migrates from higher mountains to lower plains in winter.
Pioneer white butterfly in lahore

Apart from "Butterflies of lahore", there will be a post on "Butterflies of Murree hills" soon.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Butterflies of lahore - Common lime butterfly

This is another articles in the series of "butterflies of lahore". This one is one of the most common butterflies of lahore. And as it is a rather slow moving butterfly, very easy to capture. Technical name is Papilio demoleus. It is a swallowtail butterfly but without a tail!!!!! This was the first butterfly i captured when my interest developed in butterflies.

common lime butterfly on terrace

It is widely spread in Asia. The common name is based on its presence on citrus family plants. A butterfly you can never miss. The back view with its spread wings is difficult to capture. Found in lahore almost whole year except winter. Found in urban population as well.

Papilio demoleus
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Sunday, January 15, 2012

Amaryllis(hippeastrum) forced blooms

Amaryllis(hippeastrum) naturally bloom in spring here and these flowers shown below are forced blooms. These are not grown by me, but an expert gardener of lahore, Dr. Amir yar khan. These shots are taken from his lawn. Enjoy the flowers.
amaryllis apple blossom

amaryllis papilio

amaryllis hippeastrum lime

amaryllis hippeastrum double red

This post is part of Garden bloggers bloom day at May dreams gardens

This post is also included in today's flowers at Flowers from today

Monday, January 9, 2012

Abutilon magic

Abutilon belong to the Malva family. They are a close relative of hisbiscus and it is very clear from the flowers shape as well. These are also called chinese lantern. The most beautiful abutilon are megapotamicum but i am yet to get my hands on that. These are abutilon hybirdum i think.
abutilon flower yellow

Although blooming in winter right now, i expect them to bloom till spring and then in the late fall as well. I doubt that they will flower in intense heat of mid summer. They need to be prevented from monsoon rains as they dislike heavy rains.
abutilon flower red

Abutilon make excellent shrubs. They get tall as much as wide around 4-6 feet. Pruning is required on older plants to get in shape. This is my first year with these plants, i hope they stay long with me.

This post is included in Macro monday by Lisa's Chaos so do visit her blog for more macro images

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