Clitoria Ternatea Blue Sails and Ultra Marine Flower
The respectable botanist Linnaeus thought the flower of this plant from south-east Asia resembled a clitoris and named the genus Clitoria. The photograph was taken on the island of Ternate in the Moluccas. It was there that botanists discovered the climber and named it after the island (and not after the tripartite leaves). In cooler climates, the plant is best known as a perennial climber for heated winter gardens. It cannot tolerate temperatures below 50 °F. More and more frequently, however, it is also treated as an annual and sown indoors early in the year. From June onwards, the plants may be put out-of-doors in a container or planted directly in the garden against a trellis. In autumn, they die off or are taken indoors. The species and cultivars are rarely on sale and the seed is expensive. Clitoria ternatea ‘Blue Sails’ has double, purple flowers; those of Clitoria ternatea ‘Ultra Marine’ are blue.
Clitoria ternatea is a vine native to tropical and equatorial Asia, but has been introduced to Africa, Australia and the New World. It grows well in moist neutral soil and requires little care. It is grown as an ornamental plant and as a revegetation species (e.g., in coal mines in Australia). It fixes nitrogen and is therefore also used . in southeast asia the flowers are use to colour food. In Malay cooking, an aqueous extract is used to colour glutinous rice for kuih tekan (also known as pulut seri kaya) and in nonya chang. In Thailand, a syrupy blue drink is made called nam dok anchan. Some varietes also have white flowers.
