Crown flowers (Calotropis gigantea) have a long history in Hawaii and have many uses including in leis. This solitary plant was growing in the lava near Kiholo, so they’re hardy too.
Posted for Terri’s Flower Hour. See more responses here.
Hawaiian Crown Flowers (Calotropis gigantea) came from India originally, and became popular here because they were favored by Queen Liliuokalani, the last ruler of the Hawaiian monarchy. The purple flower was the one first introduced here, back in the 1880s, with this white variety arriving some 30 years later.
The plant gets its name from the shape of the flowers, which are used in making leis. As members of the milkweed family, they also host Hawaii’s Monarch Butterflies. The plant has a milky sap that is toxic, but that Monarchs, and their caterpillars, are immune to. The caterpillars are voracious eaters, decimating the Crown Flower leaves, but the plant will bounce back after the caterpillars pupate. The plant is drought tolerant and does well on the dry side of the island here.
This week’s Sunday Stills color challenge theme is ‘Pastels.’ See more responses here. Captions on the photos.
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘All about bugs.’ See more responses here.
Also posted for Becky’s Squares: Seven. See more responses here.
The bugs in the next gallery were all on the same Monstera leaf, which had accumulated falling flowers from a palm tree.
This Monarch Butterfly caterpillar was busy munching its way through an Hawaiian Crown Flower plant. But all that eating means it poops a lot. That poop, politely known as frass, is what those greenish nuggets on the left are. My first thought when I saw them was, ‘those are big poops!’
I saw this praying mantis on a crown flower recently. It’s undoubtedly the smallest I’ve ever seen. It might also be the fastest moving mantis I’ve seen. It was zipping around, mostly trying to shake me off, I think!
A Monarch Butterfly caterpillar munches along the edges of an Hawaiian Crown Flower (Calotropis gigantea).
I found this Hawaiian Crown Flower (Calotropis gigantea) occupied by a Variable Lady Beetle, which gives a good idea of how small the flower is.
Graham's Island 