Black Swallowtail Butterfly Pink Echinacea Flowers Postcard

You can really see the beautiful colours of this female black swallowtail butterfly as she flits from flower to flower. The plants are pink echinacea, aka crazy pink echinacea, purple coneflower. They're in the same family as daisies and sunflowers. This image is slightly soft focus which adds to the dreamy charm of the butterfly drinking her fill of nectar on a warm summer day. Her wings are partially open, displaying lovely colours of orange, yellow, blue set off by black or dark tones. The swallowtail is named for the extensions on her lower wings. Her latin name, Papilio polyxenes, comes from Polyxena. In Greek myth she was the youngest daughter of the king of Troy. She's known for giving her brothers vital information about Achilles, ie that he was under divine protection and his only vulnerability was his heel. In this way Polyxena got revenge on Achilles for killing her brother. What fun. Butterflies can also be spirit animal guides or totems. They represent happiness, beauty, solar power and the Sun, society, dreams and the arts. In some cultures they are considered to be wandering souls and harming them is unlucky. A butterfly is also a sign of happy blessings coming your way, and if a butterfly lands on you and you are single, it will fly off in the direction of your true love. Original black swallowtail butterfly photo by M Sylvia Chaume, Canada.