Butterfly Flowers

Type of  Flower

Butterfly:

A native flower of South Africa.Family,lamiaceae (fomerly Verbenaceae) The flowers occur in loose panicles (clusters) as inflorescenses borne at the ends of long, arching branches. Each flower is about 1" (2.5cm) long and composed of 5 lobed petals, of which 4 are pale blue and 1 violet-blue. There are 6 showy stamens made up of 6 long arching pale blue filaments and dark blue anthers. It blooms continuously throughout summer and fall. In the tropics, it blooms the whole year through. Each flower lasts only a day. The evergreen leaves are bluish-green, opposite, elliptical and strongly toothed, about 7-10cm long.The flowers which are nectar-rich attract a lot of butterflies and carpentar bees, wasps and even the occasional humming birds. They just can't stop loving them.

It has many common names: 

English : Blue Glory Bower, Blue Butterfly Flower, Clerodendron, Blue Butterfly Wings, Butterfly 

Bush, Oxford Bush, Cambridge Bush 

Chinese : 紫蝶花 (zi die hua) meaning Purple Butterfly Flower.