Orange and Olive-green Cleaners. Asian Ladybird, Harmonia axyridis, on Artemisia absinthium, Absinthe or Wormwood, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Ladybirds are useful garden insects, and although the Asian variety is an exotic here, it has much the same lifestyle as 'our' own kinds. So it's helpful as well in keeping aphids and other fungal pests at bay on garden plants.
Here's an Asian Ladybird in its late larval form on Artemisia absinthium, Absinthe or Wormwood (for another earlier larva see my www.flickr.com/photos/87453322@N00/43354130102/in/photoli...).
An adult is in the lower right inset, and a small flower of Absinthe in in the upper right. Absinthe, of course, is an additive to a notorious alcoholic drink. But it was once also medicinally used both as a purgative and as an antidote to intestinal worms (hence one of its common names). It's foliage is an attractive olive green; the flowers are tiny and yellow.
Orange and Olive-green Cleaners. Asian Ladybird, Harmonia axyridis, on Artemisia absinthium, Absinthe or Wormwood, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Ladybirds are useful garden insects, and although the Asian variety is an exotic here, it has much the same lifestyle as 'our' own kinds. So it's helpful as well in keeping aphids and other fungal pests at bay on garden plants.
Here's an Asian Ladybird in its late larval form on Artemisia absinthium, Absinthe or Wormwood (for another earlier larva see my www.flickr.com/photos/87453322@N00/43354130102/in/photoli...).
An adult is in the lower right inset, and a small flower of Absinthe in in the upper right. Absinthe, of course, is an additive to a notorious alcoholic drink. But it was once also medicinally used both as a purgative and as an antidote to intestinal worms (hence one of its common names). It's foliage is an attractive olive green; the flowers are tiny and yellow.