PlantFiles: Butterfly Pea, Blue Pea Vine
Clitoria ternatea

Wonderful vine that gives color to a winter garden in Florida. Attracts butterflies, bees and is easy to grow.

In India, Butterfly Pea is commonly known as Gokarn or Kajli. i have this vine in my private garden since four years. and at present, it has reached height of 9 meters by creeping on a nearby tree. now all i do is water it once a day. during rainy season, i avoid watering lest it may rot.

once the Butterfly Pea flower dries itself on the vine, it turns into a bean pod and seeds from these pods can be planted for a fresh vine. if the soil is favorable, the plant reseeds itself.

The Butterfly Pea grows in places I cant get the grass to grow here. It is pretty (my Mom loves it), and I don't have to take care of it.

I found this vine growing in the woods behind my house in Mississippi. It took awhile to find out what it was.

There is also a white clitorea butterfly.. I have it!

This is one tough little vine! I found it growing wild along the side of the road outside of the central landfill in Kahului, Hawaii (on the island of Maui). The rainfall there is about 18 to 19 inches a year. Everything else around it had turned brown and died from lack of water. This little plant was green and blooming! I tried to dig it up, but the ground was as hard as cement. I half pried and half yanked and got a few small clumps of the plant. I separated the plants at the roots and planted several in pots. They grew! I also took some of the seedpods and tried to grow the plant from seed, though the pods were still green. They didn’t grow.

I did have the same issue as bijoux2 had with yellowing leaves and dieback on a couple of the plants, but I increased the water and fertilizer and the yellow leaves greened up and the plant began to thrive again.

Easy to grow vigorous annual or perennial in frost free areas. Propagate from seed, plants bloom in 7-10 weeks from germination. Easy to germinate from seed, soak the seed over night, germination from 7-10 days usually 100%. Great for quick fence cover. The plants become leggy quickly so pinch out the terminal buds to keep the plant bushy and flowering where you can see it. Like all pea plants the roots fix nitrogen and improved the soil fertility. Can be grown as a green manure and dug into the soil after 2-3 months. Its edible and can also be used to feed animals. In frost areas collect the seed to replant the next year. Tolerant of a wide range of soils and including alkaline soils. In very hot climates 45C, 113F it appreciates some shade from the afternoon sun.
Anne Muscat, Oman, Middle east

I purchased 3 of these plants (double flowers) from Home Depot to grow on 3' x 9' trellises. While they started out growing beautifully up the trellis, certain parts of the plant are now wilting, turning yellow and starting to die. Other parts of the plant are still thriving with dark green leaves and an abundance of flowers. I have been cutting away the dying parts of the plant, but I don't now why this happening. I want these plants to cover the trellises, but I am having a lot difficulty. Thinking I should replace them with something else, but they are so beautiful (the parts that are thriving) I don't want to remove them. Any suggestions? Thank you.

It is more of a shrub than vine here in lahore Pakistan. It blooms from June till October. I have one with double blooms and blue color. I am growing it in a clay pot. This is my first experience with this vine. Its leaves are very beautiful. It is fast growing vine. it has reduced flowers in extreme summer heat of over 100F specially in full sun. It is called "Neelofar" locally.

Edible purple food dyes are also extracted from the butterfly pea flower ("anchan" flower) in Thailand, and used in making desserts.

To make your own purple dye from butterfly pea flowers in the Thai way, begin by placing a flower in the bottom of a small glass. Add a little bit of water, then push and grind at the flower with a spoon (the way you would use a mortar and pestle). The water will appear blue at first.

Then, slowly add a few drops of an edible acid (such as lemon or lime juice) until the solution turns purple.

When added to food, the result is a beautiful and demure shade of light purple. Enjoy!

I found the Butterfly Pea last year growing under a Cedar out in the woods. Until recently though a total mystery flower. I have a walking path around the woods and past where It's growing. I hadn't noticed it prior to last year (2006). I searched and asked around but nada. A week ago, I sent a picture around to my family and my daughter replied -- "it looks like..." And voila, I did a search, found Dave's site and it's no longer a mystery. The soil out here, 60 miles east of Dallas, is sandy clay pH unknown. With all the rain and cooler temps we've had this year there are lots of flowers and I'm collecting seeds. The plan is to start it growing close to the house for all to enjoy. Enjoyed looking at all the pictures and uploaded one I took recently.

These grow as cool season annuals here in zone 7/8, going by what I have seen and read online. They reseed so easily that I am happy to have them as annuals. I had the white (alba) variety when I moved to this house last May and was given seeds for the blue last fall (2005). I planted the blue in the spring '06, but with the dry conditions we had this summer, I was afraid I wouldn't get any blooms and might even lose them. Luckily I had one survivor and today I seen my first bloom on it!

planted it here in z 6 outdoors will update w survival info next spring!!cross your fngers as i see a neighbor of mine in longwood gardens had it return!! I get many many so called tender perennials back here so am trying this & black bamboo this yr...

Lovely vine, have searched for it since I picked up a few seeds at a local botanical garden here in Florida. So happy to know its name etc. It has given me much pleasure =just moved to a new home and will plant again.

Growing beautifully at Lonwood Gardens, zone 6.

This is a favorite perennial in my Florida garden where my original plant is several years old. And I do know it is the original and not a dropped seedling. It has been through freezes and come back from the roots. In a frostless year it is evergreen, but bloom production does fall off alot in Feb and Mar. Just starting to put on plenty of bloom now in April. This is the wonderful double variety. I also have single which does not seem to be as hardy and has to be replanted. And I have the single white in a plant going on 3 years old.

This vine has a remarkable ability to thrive in small pots, or moss lined hanging baskets.

It is a lovely vine to have, esp. the blue one and in particular, the double blues. Flower colour is stunning, easy to start from seed and grow. It can tolerate some neglect. Seed pods have to be removed when it is fully ripe -- you can know by shaking the pod to hear the seed rattle. When pressed along the edges, it opens out like a coiled spring. If seeds are not removed, they can reseed easily and the following growing season, you may find lots and lots of seedlings many feet around it, since the pods throw open with great force to disperse. All in all, it is a beauty.

Blue butterfly pea vine never fails to attract attention. It grows easily here in central Florida. It sometimes overwinters, as Thunbergia alata will. It is tolerant of acidic soil and drought, but shows its appreciation of enough water by growing and flowering with abandon. You can sew seeds directly here in cooler weather. It grows much more easily for me than Morning Glory ever did!

Would like to share this interesting note:
This flower is very popular with Nonya (a culture of people from intermarriage of Chinese and Malays living in Singapore and Malaysia) as a natural (blue)food colouring often used in their kuehs (traditional rice cakes)and jelly. A few flowers are boiled in a little water to extract the colour.
Very easy to grow from seeds from pods that dried and browned on the plants. Commonly grown as hedge plant here in Singapore. As I am helping in kid's school garden, I have recently successfully grown 2 pots from seeds, 3-4 plants in 8" diameter pots, as they have soft stems. Pinching tops often will encourage bushier growth. Flowers bloom for 1 day only, so pinch off flowers in early evening to store in container in fridge to maintain freshness if not used that day, else leave on plant to develop into pods.
I noticed many varieties on various websites. The one used here bluish purple with a hint of yellow in the middle.

Butterfly pea has naturalized on my property over the past 8 years. It is so a joy to so easily get that gorgeous blue color. It grows in all soil types and is drought tolerant. It does need some sun to flower. Each plant will produce beans that don't taste good, but contain seeds. The germination of these seeds is about 100%. Anyone can grow this vine!

I have searched the internet for 3 days looking for this exact vine. I absolutely LOVED this vine. The flowers are a beautiful blue and the foilage is a consistent gorgeous medium to dark green. Mine did beautifully on the south side of the house where it got about 5 hours of direct mid day sunlight. It grows well without much fuss. (We have a huge oak tree that soaks up most of the water and nutrients from the soil, which has caused a problem for everything else, but not this vine) It could take over the flower bed easily, and that would be o.k. by me. We moved to Arizona and leased our house out and I some how ???? I forgot about the vine until I really got back into taking care of our yard again and I can not wait to have this vine again!

These are tender climbing vines. The leaves are made of 5 to 7 leaflets, each growing up to 4 inches long. The flowers resemble peas and are solitary, bright deep blue with light yellow markings to 2 inches long by 1½ inches wide. This vine is a quick cover for lattice, trellis, arbor and chain-link fences