The Thunberger flowers open early in the morning and close in the evening of the same day. Carpenter bees are frequent visitors, creeping into the flowers for pollen and nectar while black ants are present probably as nectar scavengers. Flowers will eventually develop into inconspicuous, elliptical, brown seed capsules, 1 cm long by 4 cm wide, each containing two to four seeds. This is a very young seed capsule of Thunberger with black ants.

Musa ornata (flowering banana) is one of more than 50 species of banana in the genus Musa of the family Musaceae. Most of these species are large tropical evergreen perennials, mainly from lowland areas with high temperatures and humidity. Musa ornata originated in southeast Asia, and is cultivated for its commercial and ornamental value. The fruit is attractive but tends to be inedible.(Wikipedia). Shot at the Singapore Botanic Gardens.

The leopard lily is a flowering perennial of Chinese origin, and is locally used in Chinese villages for its medicinal values. Currently, studies are underway to investigate its apparent potential against prostate cancer. The dried rhizome has long been used in East Asia to treat throat troubles, asthma, swollen liver and spleen, gonorrhea, malaria, and arrow poisoning. Picture taken at the Singapore Botanic gardens.

Peonies tend to attract ants to their flower buds. This is due to the nectar that forms on the outside of the flower buds, and is not required for the plants’ own pollination or other growth. Growing in a garden in London, not only ants are attracted to the nectar if you look closely!

Shot this while at Tongsai Bay in Koh Samui island, Thailand. There were lots of water lilies, and ample opportunities for picture taking.

Jatropha is an evergreen shrub or small tree with glossy leaves and clusters of star shaped bright scarlet or vermilion flowers. The flowers are about 1 in (2.5 cm) across and are borne in multi-flowered terminal clusters almost all year round. All parts of the Jatropha are toxic if ingested, and the latex-like sap it produces is an irritant – something to keep in mind for those with small children or pets. The oil from Jatropha curcas is mainly converted into biodiesel for use in diesel engines.

These are the anthers and stigma of a yellow hibiscus flower. While looking through the macro lens I spotted this almost barely visible tiny beetle crawling amongst the unripe anthers containing pollen grains. The beetle was literally a tiny dot, but the macro showed it up! I also never realized the red stigmas of the hibiscus flower had such beautiful delicate fine hairs!

Spathoglottis plicata is a species of terrestrial orchid found from tropical and subtropical Asia to the western Pacific including Hawaii, Tonga and Samoa. It is commonly known as the Philippine Orchid, Philippine Ground Orchid, or Large Purple Orchid. Picture taken after a rain at a resort in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia.

Taken in Borobudur, Central Java, Indonesia, at our stay in a resort on April 2012. The resort had a huge elevated lily pond along it’s entire frontage, and I spent quite a lot of time in the mornings trying to capture pictures of the water lily flowers. Plenty of bees around to make the subject more interesting.