AUTUMN COLOURS

Autumn is upon us and there are fruits and berries, flowers and leaves turning colour. The weather has been suitably mellow the last few days...

This post is part of the Monday Mellow Yellows meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme,
and also part of the Macro Monday meme,
and also part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

BUTTERFLY

A cabbage small white butterfly (Pieris rapae) feeding on Chinese plumbago flowers (Ceratostigma willmottianum).

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme,
and also part of the Camera Critters meme,
and also part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme,
and also part of the Friday Greens meme.

STRAWFLOWER

Xerochrysum bracteatum, commonly known as the golden everlasting or strawflower, is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to Australia. Described by Étienne Pierre Ventenat in 1803, it was known as Helichrysum bracteatum for many years before being transferred to a new genus Xerochrysum in 1990.

It grows as a woody or herbaceous perennial or annual shrub up to a metre tall with green or grey leafy foliage. Golden yellow or white flower heads are produced from spring to autumn; their distinctive feature is the papery bracts that resemble petals. The species is widespread, growing in a variety of habitats across the country, from rainforest margins to deserts and subalpine areas. The golden everlasting serves as food for various larvae of lepidopterans (butterflies and moths), and adult butterflies, hoverflies, native bees, small beetles and grasshoppers visit the flower heads.

The golden everlasting has proven very adaptable to cultivation. It was propagated and developed in Germany in the 1850s, and annual cultivars in a host of colour forms from white to bronze to purple flowers became available. Many of these are still sold in mixed seed packs. In Australia, many cultivars are perennial shrubs, which have become popular garden plants. Sturdier, long-stemmed forms are used commercially in the cut flower industry.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

SALVIA FARINACEA

Salvia farinacea (Mealy sage, Mealycup sage) is a herbaceous perennial native to Mexico and parts of the United States including Texas. Violet-blue spikes rest on a compact plant of typically narrow salvia-like leaves; however, the shiny leaves are what set this species apart from most other Salvia, which bear velvety-dull leaves.

This perennial forms a shrubby upright clump 60 cm tall by 30 cm wide, with white mealy stems and glossy green leaves. It bears deep, lavender-blue flowers on tall spikes from early summer to frost. Salvias are some of the showiest plants for containers, annual borders, and mixed borders. Butterflies (such as this Cabbage White, Pieris rapae) and hummingbirds love them.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

EVERLASTING DAISIES AND PAINTED LADIES

Xerochrysum (syn. Bracteantha) is a genus of flowering plants native to Australia. It was defined by Russian botanist Nikolai Tzvelev in 1990, preceding (and taking precedence over) Bracteantha which was described the following year. A 2002 molecular study of the tribe Gnaphalieae has indicated the genus is probably polyphyletic, with X. bracteatum and X. viscosum quite removed from each other.

Shown here is Xerochrysum bicolor, native to Tasmania, where it is found in wetter habitats near the coast. It was originally described by Lindley in 1835 as Helichrysum bicolor, before gaining its current name in 2001. It is a compact annual or perennial, which normally grows to about 40 cm in height and 50 cm wide, and is usually simple or few-branched. The leaves are lanceolate and range from 2.5 to 10 cm long by 0.3 to 1.4 cm wide. The flowerheads are on stalks and have a diameter of 3 to 4 cm.The inflorescence bracts are papery, the outer ones orange-brown in colour, and the inner ones yellow. It is distinguished from X. bracteatum by its narrower leaves.

Vanessa kershawi, commonly known as the Australian Painted Lady, is a butterfly that is mostly confined to Australia, although westerly winds have dispersed it to islands east of Australia, including New Zealand. There is debate surrounding the taxonomy of this species. Some believe that the Australian Painted Lady should be a subspecies to the Painted Lady due to the similarity in lifestyle and behaviour. Furthermore, the Painted Lady is found around the globe but Australia is the only location in which it varies enough to be considered a separate species. However, due to the distinct genitalia of the males, and variation in coloration, many others consider the Australian Painted Lady to be a separate species.

During spring, adult butterflies migrate south in large numbers from northern states of Queensland and New South Wales. In order to find mates, male Australian Painted Ladies exhibit territorial behaviour, which involves a male perching on vegetation in a sunny spot on a hilltop, waiting for females to fly by. Despite urbanisation and invasive plants altering its habitat, populations of Australian Painted Ladies have not been significantly impacted by these changes.

This post is part of the Nature Footsteps Winged meme,
and also part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

BUTTERFLY AND WALLFLOWERS

Erysimum cheiri syn. Cheiranthus cheiri (common name "wallflower") is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae (Cruciferae), native to Europe but widespread as an introduced species elsewhere. It is also widely cultivated as a garden plant. It is known as giroflée and revenelle in French, Goldlack in German, alhelí in Spanish and violacciocca in Italian.

This is a popular ornamental plant, widely cultivated for its abundant, fragrant flowers in spring. Many cultivars have been developed, in shades of yellow, orange, red, maroon, purple, brown, white and cream. It associates well in bedding schemes with other spring flowers such as tulips and forget-me-nots. It is usually grown as a biennial, sown one year to flower the next, and then discarded.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme,
and also part of the Nature Footsteps Winged meme.

MATING BUTTERFLIES

Butterflies reproduce the way other animals do - sperm from a male fertilises eggs from a female. Males and females of the same species recognize one another by the size, color, shape and vein structure of the wings, all of which are species specific. Butterflies also recognize each other through pheromones, or scents. During mating, males use clasping organs on their abdomens to grasp females.

Many male butterflies deliver more than just sperm to their mates. Most provide a spermatophore, a package of sperm and nutrients the female needs to produce and lay eggs. Some males collect specific nutrients to produce a better spermatophore in an attempt to attract a mate. Some females, however, don't have a choice -- in some species, males mate with females before they have left their chrysalis or swarm the chrysalis waiting for the female to appear. In most species, males and females look a lot a like, but females often have larger abdomens for carrying their eggs.

This post is part Nature Footsteps Winged meme.