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Clitoria ternatea

Butterfly Pea

Multimedia & Additional Resources

Type	Description	Download
Image:	Leaves and flower	85KB
Image:	Leaves, flowers and fruit	39KB

General Information

COMMON NAMES: Butterfly Pea, Blue Pea, Blue Vine, Pigeon-wings; German Schmetlerlingserbse

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE uncertain ?Asia, ?trop.America

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Introduced - Recent, Naturalised; Land, lowlands

SIGNIFICANCE LIST: Cover; Weed - minor

KEY FEATURES: A sprawling or climbing vine to about 3m. LEAVES alternate, pinnate, 2-4 pairs LFTS plus 1 terminal. LFT wide-oval, 6x4cm, hariy beneath. FLOWERS axillary, 1(2). FL corolla vivid blue or white with blue margins, wavy edge, 5cm long; FR flat pod, 12x1cm, longitudinal ridge of each valve, 5-10 seeds. SEEDS ovoid, 8x4mm, dark brown. Varities: double-flowered and white flowered forms known. Leaves fodder and green manure, and a green dye; flowers a blue dye for rice and cloth in se.Asia

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: Present Makatea:
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
	-	-				-		-

Northern Group:
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
-	-	-	-	-	-

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Scientific Taxonomy

Clitoria ternatea Linnaeus
TAXONOMY: PLANTAE; ANTHOPHYTA (=Angiospermae); MAGNOLIOPSIDA (=Dicotyledones); ROSIDAE; Fabales (Legumes); FABACEAE

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
None Recorded.

References:
p.656 Wagner et al.- Flowering Plants of Hawaii
p.456 Neal - In Gardens of Hawaii
p.287 Hortus 3rd
p.269 Royal Hort. Soc. Index of Garden Plants
p.544 Tropica
p.3/233 A.C.Smith - Flora Vitiensis Nova
p.57 R Wilder - Flora of Rarotonga

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM03a, zupM03b, zD02

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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