Butterfly Pea (Clitoria ternatea)

Butterfly Pea is an perennial or annual creeping vine with a shrubby habitat. Once established, this plant is incredibly easy to grow and requires little attention aside from helping to train it up a trellis.  When in bloom, the Butterfly Pea is covered in bright blue blossoms. The blue flowers are used to make tea and as a natural dye for food and even hair products. When used in liquid form, the color morphs depending on the ph.  For example, the blue-purple color changes to bright pink when lemon or seltzer water is added and the acidity is raised. Very cool!

As a legume, its roots form a symbiotic association with soil bacteria known as rhizobia, which transform atmospheric N₂ into a plant-usable form (a process called nitrogen fixing), therefore, this plant is also used to improve soil quality through the decomposition of nitrogen rich plant material. Butterfly Pea is well-known for it's traditional healing properties in Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine.