Leader for today’s ramble: Linda Chafin

Authors of Today’s Report: Linda Chafin, Don Hunter

Today’s Emphasis: Seeking what we find, mostly pollinators, in the Visitor Center Plaza fountain and Heritage and Flower Gardens

The photos that appear in this report, unless otherwise credited, were taken by Don Hunter. Photos may be enlarged by clicking them with a mouse or tapping on your screen. Not all of Don’s photos from today’s ramble made it into the ramble report, so be sure to check out his Facebook album at this link.

Nature Ramble rainy day policy: We show up at 9:00am, rain or shine. If it’s raining, we will meet and socialize in the conservatory (bring your own coffee); if there is a break in the rain, we’ll go outside and do a little rambling.

Number of Ramblers today: 27

Ramblers at the Visitor Center Plaza fountain. Photo by Bill Sheehan

Announcements:
Athens-Clarke County Leisure Services is developing a Master Plan and wants your input! In this quick survey, they want to hear your preferences related to the facilities, programs, and activities managed by Athens-Clarke County Leisure Services. Take the survey here.

Ramblers’ photos to be highlighted in a Botanical Garden art exhibit! Photographs taken by six nature photographers — Heather Lickliter Larkin, Don Hunter, Bill Sheehan, Sandy Shaull, Rosemary Woodel, and Diego Huet — five of whom are current or former Nature Ramblers, will be on display in the Visitor Center from August 18 to November 13. In Heather’s words: “I wanted to show off the beauty of the tiny things…All of the subjects in the images are less than four inches tall or wide and invite people to appreciate the natural beauty of tiny bugs or other things they would normally walk right by.” Come to the opening reception on Sunday, August 18, 12noon to 2 pm. Food and drinks will be provided.

Avis recommended an episode of Georgia Outdoors, on Georgia Public Television, titled Beltline Arboretum, about the Atlanta Beltline’s series of unique pocket parks, each featuring a different aspect in the life of Atlanta’s trees.

Roger C. introduced his sister, Hilda, visiting from Alabama, and announced that he will reprise his talk “Before There Was a Botanical Garden,” about the land use history of the Botanical Garden, for an OLLI class on September 13 at 11:00 a.m., the Riverbend Building on College Station Road. You must join the OLLI program to register for this class at the OLLI website.

The Power of the Flower: Shape, Colour, Scent … and SEX! Click here.

Gary reminded us that this Saturday is the 55th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing and that Athens has its very own “moon tree” (which has its very own website here). The Moon Tree was just a seedling when it journeyed to the Moon and back, and now, as an adult Loblolly Pine, it lives at the Athens-Clarke County Planning Department, 120 West Dougherty Street.

Roger N. announced that the Oconee River Land Trust will hold a herpetology hike on August 24, 2024, from 9:00 a.m to 1:00 p.m. for members of the Land Trust. You can join and register for the hike on their website.

Chris mentioned a recent article in Emergence Magazine by Sam Lee, talking about the song of the Nightingale found in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Sam is the author of “The Nightingale,” and a prize-winning English folk singer. Ramblers took the opportunity to brag about our own version of the nightingale, the Wood Thrush, which has been treating us to its lovely songs all summer (listen here). It is sometimes called the American Nightingale. If you’re like me and have never heard the European Nightgale, listen here. It doesn’t hold a candle to the Wood Thrush, just saying. Also, congratulations to Chris on his recent installation as the newest member of the Sandy Creek Nature Center Board of Directors!

Show and Tell: Roger N. showed us a Post Oak leaf and pointed out several small holes in the leaf resulting from insect activity in the trees. Oaks in the white oak group, including Post Oak, are host to hundreds of caterpillars, which provide critical protein to birds. He said that everyone, where possible, should have large native trees in their yards to provide habitat for all critters. This leaf was on the ground — trees are beginning to drop leaves as the weeks of drought stretched out. Hopefully, this week’s rain will slow and reverse this process.

Today’s Reading: Linda read a poem, “From Blossoms,” by Li-Young Lee.

From blossoms come
this brown paper bag of peaches
we bought from the boy
at the bend in the road where we turned toward
signs painted Peaches.

From laden boughs, from hands,
from sweet fellowship in the bins,
comes nectar at the roadside, succulent
peaches we devour, dusty skin and all,
comes the familiar dust of summer, dust we eat.

O, to take what we love inside,
to carry within us an orchard, to eat
not only the skin, but the shade,
not only the sugar, but the days, to hold
the fruit in our hands, adore it, then bite into
the round jubilance of peach.

There are days we live
as if death were nowhere
in the background; from joy
to joy to joy, from wing to wing,
from blossom to blossom to
impossible blossom, to sweet impossible blossom.

Speaking of peaches, Chris added that the Athens branch of the Atlanta-based Concrete Jungle has a pick-and-share program where locally grown fruit and produce are picked and shared with those in need in the area. From their website: “Concrete Jungle Athens works closely with local farmers to glean produce throughout the growing season. We are deeply rooted in our community and depend on our wide volunteer base for regular weekly fruit picks, farm and orchard gleaning, grocery store food rescues, and farmers market produce collections.” For more information on Concrete Jungle and its programs, click here.

Today’s Route: From the Children’s Garden arbor, we headed to the Visitor Center plaza fountain. From there, we went through the Visitor Center and made our way through the Herb and Physic Gardens before following the walkway past the Pawpaw patch and across the wooden bridge into the Heritage Garden. There, we took the steps down into the Flower Garden. We wandered along the paths to the lower Flower Garden, and eventually headed up the steps on the far side, coming back into the Heritage Garden and thence to the Visitor Center where cold drinks were available.

Today’s Observations:

The fountain pool in the Visitor Center plaza supports a population of the floating, aquatic Eastern Mosquito Fern, common throughout the southeast and south into the tropics. In Georgia, it is found only in freshwater Coastal Plain wetlands and ponds. Its lacy leaves (below) come and go from year to year in the fountain pool and, this year, the tiny fronds are few in number. Whether this is a natural boom-and-bust cycle or is due to maintenance, I don’t know – it spreads rapidly by division and forms dense mats so occasional thinning may be required in such a small space. The floating leaves can form layered mats up to 4 cm thick, giving rise to the myth that they are thick enough to prevent mosquitoes from laying eggs in the water. Actually, mosquitoes can deposit eggs through the mat but the resulting larvae are prevented from reaching the water surface and die of suffocation.

Asian species of Mosquito Fern are the only ferns of major economic importance. For at least 1500 years, it has been used in rice paddies as a free “green manure.” Tiny pits on the stems and upper leaf surfaces hold a cyanobacterium called Anabena that “fixes” nitrogen (i.e. converts atmospheric nitrogen into a form that is usable by plants). The fern uses some of the nitrogen for its own growth, then when it dies and decomposes, it releases nitrogen to the soil that can be used by other plants, such as rice. Rice farmers also turn the nitrogen-rich mats into the soil when they drain their paddies. Ducks in the paddies eat the ferns then release their nitrogen-rich feces into the paddies. Mosquito Fern mats in south Asian rice paddies have been shown to produce as much as 40 pounds of nitrogen per acre. The dense mats also prevent competition from weeds.

I’m not sure which species this Spider-lily is but it is in the same genus, Hymenocallis, as the very rare and endangered Shoals Spider-lily, as well as the common Woodland Spider-lily which grows in moist forests and floodplains. Spider-lilies’ spectacularly beautiful flowers are unusual in having a “corona,” a membranous cup fused to the six stamens. (Hymenocallis literally means “beautiful membrane.”) The six long “spider legs” radiating from the base of the flower are three petals and three look-alike sepals. The flowers open in the afternoon and persist through the night and following morning, after which they begin to wither. They are pollinated by butterflies and bees during the day and by moths at night. If insect pollination has not occurred by the time a flower withers, self-pollination may occur as the collapsing flower brings stigma and stamens into contact. Despite the name, Spider-lilies are not true lilies but are in the Amaryllis Family.

Blackberry-lily is planted in the vicinity of the Physic Garden. It’s a native of East Asia but occasionally shows up around Athens, mostly at Rock and Shoals granite outcrop and in other dry woodlands. Like the Spider-lilies, these are not lilies at all, but, in this case, are irises. A quick look at the leaf arrangement confirms that; the leaves are “equitant,” overlapping and flattened at their bases, forming a fan shape that is characteristic of irises. Lily Family plants have leaves that may be alternate, opposite, or whorled, but they are never flattened into a fan shape. The name Blackberry-lily comes from the fact that the seed clusters are black and shiny.

Just past the Pawpaw patch, we found a planting of Autumn Fern, an Asian species that is starting to pop up in natural areas. A rambler pointed out that just last year Southern Living Magazine placed Autumn Fern at the top of a list of invasive fern species in the southeast. I’m glad to see Autumn Fern getting some bad press. It has the potential to become much more invasive than it is now – the number of sori, packed with sporangia (right), on the lower leaf surfaces is pretty scary!

Sorghum (below), a grass native to Africa, is a great species from which to learn about grass flowers because its reproductive parts are large and conspicuous. The dangling stamens, with their thread-like filaments and pollen-laden anthers, ensure that every passing breeze picks up some pollen. The female flowers consist of brush-like styles that comb pollen out of the air plus a plump ovary, which is the developing fruit (aka kernel or grain). The fruits are tipped with a twisted spike that catches in animal fur and also holds the seeds in place once they find their way to the ground.

While we were intently studying the Sorghum flowers, someone spotted a regal Red-tailed Hawk perched atop the gazebo. While we watched, a small group of Titmice began to harass the hawk, who maintained its imperturbable pose, even when a titmouse smacked its head! Photo above by Heather Larkin, photos below by Don.

The Lantanas in the Flower Garden, below, were swarming with butterflies, particularly skippers. Dun Skipper, below left, Fiery Skipper, right.

Why are some Lantana flowers yellow while others are orange and some pink? This article, “Flower Colour Changes in Lantana camara,” explains that Lantana flowers change from pink buds to yellow newly opened flowers then to orange, red, and magenta aging flowers. The trigger for color change is pollination. In the authors’ experiments, “Even the presence of one pollen grain on the stigma of a yellow flower was sufficient to cause colour change.” The yellow flowers are pigmented with carotenoids; after pollination, the carotenoids are masked by the arrival of anthocyanin, the plant pigment responsible for pinks, orange-reds, reds, and purples in plants. Butterflies and skippers are attracted to yellow flowers; it’s in the best interest of both the insect and the plant to discourage visits to flowers that are already pollinated.

The Zinnia bed near the All-American Selections Garden was buzzing with pollinators.

Gulf Fritillary (left) and Spicebush Swallowtail (right)

Horace’s Duskywing (left) and Western Honey Bee (right)

Long-tailed Skipper (left) and Painted Lady (right), Both photos by Heather Larkin

Dale illuminated the life cycle of the Sumac Gall Aphids in the Ramble Report of August 2, 2022. “In the spring, as the Sumac is producing leaves, it is visited by a female aphid that lays a single egg, usually on the mid-vein. The plant reacts by enveloping the egg with a growth of tissue that begins as a small, spherical swelling. The egg hatches and the aphid nymph begins feeding by sucking plant juices. When the nymph becomes sexually mature it starts to produce more aphids parthenogenetically; i.e., without benefit of a male. Those aphids, in turn, produce more aphids and the number within a single gall grows exponentially. Ultimately the aphids exit the gall [leaving behind cast-off exoskeletons and waxy secretions] and migrate to mosses that may be growing nearby. There they over-winter and in the spring male and female aphids are produced, mate, and the females fly off to find sumac, completing the life cycle.”

SUMMARY OF OBSERVED AND DISCUSSED SPECIES

Post Oak Quercus stellata
Clustered Mountain Mint Pycnanthemum muticum
Common Eastern Bumble Bee Bombus impatiens
Red-banded Leafhopper Graphocephala coccinea
Versute Sharpshooter Leafhopper Graphocephala versuta
Eastern Mosquito Fern Azolla caroliniana
Spider-lily Hymenocallis sp.
Pitcherplants hybrids Sarracenia spp.
Purple Pitcherplant Sarracenia purpurea
Yellow Trumpets Sarracenia flava
Blue Dasher Dragonfly Pachydiplax longipennis
Blackberry-lily Iris domestica, synonym Belamcanda chinensis
Tall Pawpaw Asimina triloba
Autumn Fern Dryopteris erythrosora
Zinnia Zinnia elegans, numerous cultivars
American Bumble Bee Bombus pensylvanicus
Fiery Skipper Hylephila phyleus
Cloudless Sulphur butterfly Phoebis sennae
Sorghum Sorghum bicolor
Red-tailed Hawk Buteo jamaicensis
Tufted Titmouse Baeolophus bicolor
Flowering Crabappl e Malus baccata
Lantana Lantana camara
Dun Skipper Euphyes vestris
Horace’s Duskywing Skipper Erynnis horatius
Wild Indigo ‘Royal Candles’ Baptisia australis x B. tinctoria
Genista Broom Moth (caterpillar) Uresiphita reversalis
Perilla Mint Perilla frutescens
Burnweed Erechtites hieracifolia
Lindheimer’s Bee-blossom Oenothera lindheimeri, synonym Gaura lindheimeri
Stilt Bug Jalysus sp.
Painted Lady Vanessa cardui
Western Honey Bee Apis mellifera
Gulf Fritillary Agraulis vanillae
Long-tailed Skipper Urbanus proteus
Spicebush Swallowtail Papilio troilus
Cabbage Whit e Pieris rapae
Lemmon’s/Mexican Marigold Tagetes lemmonii
Swamp Mallow Hibiscus moscheutos
Hibiscus Scentless Plant Bug Niesthrea louisianica
Red-headed Bush Cricket Phyllopalphus pulchellus
Smooth Sumac Rhus glabra
Sumac Gall Aphid Melaphis rhois
Christmas Fern Polystichum acrostichoides
Indian Shot Canna Canna indica
Carolina Anole Anolis carolinensis
Scarlet Beebalm Monarda didyma