Leader for today’s Ramble: Dale 

All the photos in this report are compliments of Don Hunter, unless otherwise attributed. Here’s the Link to Don’s Facebook album for this Ramble

Number of Ramblers today:  40
Today’s emphasis:  Seeking what we find on the Orange Trail and Orange Trail Spur
Reading:  Omitted due to time constraints

Show and Tell:

Kathy holding her Seminole pumpkin.

”       Kathy Stege brought a Seminole pumpkin, purported to have originated in Florida.  The Seminoles traded with the Creeks and Cherokees and the Seminole pumpkin found its way into Georgia. The flesh has a sweet taste and the seeds can be  roasted to make pepitas.  She also passed out seed packets to those that wanted them.
Continue reading →

Leader for today’s Ramble: Linda
Link to Don’s Facebook album for this Ramble
Number of Ramblers today: 27
Today’s emphasis:  Trees and other vegetation on the flood plain
Reading:  Bob Ambrose read his poem, To Bring You Beauty.

I would bring you beauty
if I only knew how.
I would slip into spirit,

dissolve into autumn breeze
which carries the scent
of crimson sage

to clouds of yellow butterflies
in the afternoon light
of their lives.

As the press of obligation fades,
the busy pings, the urgent beeps,
and rumble of distant machines –

I hover with a bumblebee
in the spell of a purple aster.
I drift in scented air

on a lilting riff of mockingbird-song,
the swerve of a skipper,
a toddler’s giggle

through the elusive realm
where beauty infuses all being.
I would bring you a portion

but, reaching, it slips
through re-embodied hands
and recedes like time itself,

its lingering afterglow
reflected in clouds
of evening gnats.

Show and Tell:

Overcup Oak Acorns

Linda brought a short terminal branch from an Overcup Oak with leaves and several acorns. She fooled us all when she asked what oak group the Overcup belongs to, White or Red? Those brave enough to guess called out Red, but Linda corrected us by showing that the pointed lobes didn’t have bristle tips.

Ravenel’s Stinkhorn

Kathy Stege brought a stink horn fungus, pale in color and the upper third covered in dark slime that contains the fungal spores. (The technical term for the slime is “gleba.”) Stinkhorns attract flies with their odor. The flies eat the gleba, ingesting the fungal spores as well, and then fly off to other places. The spores pass through the fly’s digestive system unharmed.
For more information (and photos) check out this photo essay by a regular reader of this blog:
Stinkhorns: Fungi No One Can Love? by Dr. Robert Wyatt

Announcements/Interesting Things to Note:

        Emily reported that the minimum number of Nature Rambler t-shirts had been ordered, so if you were holding back, you can still place your order before the first of November. Two shades of blue, Navy and Sapphire, and several styles. You can either pickup your order or have it mailed to you for a small additional charge. Remember, the more you order the more the Garden will get to support the new Butterfly Trail.

Today’s Route:   We left the Pergola using the walkway beside the Children’s Garden comfort station heading over to the mulched path just below the Forest Play area.  This joins the White Trail Spur which we followed to the Orange Trail Spur, which we followed to the Middle Oconee River floodplain.  At the river, we turned left on the Orange Trail, going downriver to the beaver marsh boardwalk.  We returned back to the Purple Trail, taking it back to the Visitor Center.

OBSERVATIONS:

Ramblers paused on the Orange Trail above the river, to discuss the characteristic landforms of a many southeastern floodplains. Standing on the toe slope above the floodplain we could easily view the flooded slough, the river levee, and the river itself. Many Piedmont rivers are lined with low, sandy berms called levees. These form when the river repeatedly overflows its banks and soil carried in the floodwater is deposited on the floodplain. The heaviest and largest soil particles – sand – fall out first, forming sandy levees along the river’s bank. As the floodwaters continue to move across the land, finer soil particles – clay and silt – settle out, forming deep layers of fine-textured soil. Semi-permanently flooded areas called sloughs or back swamps form in the lowest areas of the floodplain. These are a distinctive feature here at the Garden. Gary told us about an old Native American term for a slough – a “yazoo” – for which the river and town (Yazoo City, Mississippi) are named (and also a national wildlife refuge in the Mississippi Delta).

Anyone interested in learning more about the ecology of southeastern river ecology, can read a great report written by Georgia’s own Charlie Wharton in 1982: http://npshistory.com/publications/usfws/biological-reports/81-37.pdf

Dr. Wharton also wrote a report on the natural communities of the Botanical Garden available here.

View of floodplain from Orange Spur Trail

Several species of flood-tolerant trees occur in abundance in the Middle Oconee River floodplain, including Tulip Tree, Sweet Gum, Red Maple, Green Ash, Box-elder, River Birch, and American Sycamore.  Most of these trees can also thrive in uplands but may be outcompeted by upland hardwoods such as oaks and hickories.

Trees in flooded habitats often have buttresses and swollen bases which increase stability and may help to aerate the root system. The top of the swollen area corresponds to the depth of the flooding.

Red Maple with burls all over its trunk. When cut, these burls make the much-prized bird’s-eye maple lumber.

Silverbell

Hop Hornbeam

Two understory trees that are often found on toe slopes above floodplains are Silverbell, with its distinctive striped bark, and Hop Hornbeam with rows of holes drilled by Yellow-belled Sapsuckers.

Large, female Joro spider on her web. Very small male directly above her.

Entering the floodplain, we encountered a large Joro spider female on her web. Directly above her was a very small male. This disparity in size between male and female spiders is especially common among the orb-weavers. In non-orbweavers the two sexes are more nearly the same size.  So why should sexual size disparity have evolved in the orb-weavers? There have been many hypotheses suggested, but, to date, none have been convincing enough to have answered the question. A good recent review, written for a general audience, is available here.

Green Ash leaf

Green Ash is abundant in the wetter part of the floodplain. Its leaves are opposite and composed of 5 – 9 leaflets and its twigs are a dull, gray-green.

While walking the trail on the toe slope, we happened upon two graduate students from the Warnell School of Forestry who were surveying Green Ash trees for an exotic and invasive beetle known as the Emerald Ash Borer. One of the students, Mitchell Green, explained that their goal is to help develop a plan to battle this insect which began devastating ash trees in Michigan in 2002 and has recently been found in Georgia. Currently, they plan to import a species of parasitoid wasp as a form of biocontrol. Woodpeckers also like the larval form of EAB and can be a source of natural control. For more info, see: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/publications/plant_health/faq_eab_biocontrol.pdf.

Emerald Ash Borers kill trees by laying their eggs in the bark; when the larvae emerge they bore into the ash trees and feed on the living tissues under the bark, disrupting the movement of water and nutrients throughout the tree. An infested tree dies within 2-4 years.

Emerald Ash Borer beetle

Tunnels made by EAB larvae feeding just under the bark.

Box-elders are abundant in the floodplain and can be easily identified year-round by the clusters of branches that emerge from the lower part of the trunk. These branches arise from dormant buds under the bark that are stimulated to sprout by some kind of stress, such as branch breakage. Young branches and twigs are bright green all year. During the summer, look for opposite, compound leaves, usually with 3 or 5 toothed leaflets. The three-leaflet leaves look a lot like Poison Ivy leaves. And just to complicate matters, sometimes Poison Ivy grows up a Box-elder tree! Look for Poison Ivy’s hairy stem to tell them apart.  

Poison Ivy growing at the base of Box Elder.

Clusters of paired samaras on Box Elder Note: the “wing” is not bilaterally symmetrical.

A single samara of Green Ash; the “wing” is more symmetrical than that of Box Elder.

Box-elder fruits are paired and winged, betraying the fact that it is actually a species of maple. Compared with the winged but much narrower fruit of Green Ash, which does not occur in pairs.

Red Mulberry leaves

Red Mulberry trees, another understory tree typical of bottomlands, are found in somewhat elevated parts of the floodplain where water does not stand for long stretches. Most Red Mulberry leaves are more or less heart-shaped and sandpapery to the touch. Some leaves may have a mitten-shape with one or two deep sinuses. In that case, it’s possible the tree is a hybrid with White Mulberry (Morus alba), a native of east Asia. White Mulberry, the tree that supports the silk moth, was brought to Georgia in 1733 by Oglethorpe as an effort to develop a non-cotton, slave-free agricultural alternative for the new colony. Sadly, Oglethorpe’s dream of a slave-free colony collapsed in less than a decade under pressure from farmers who saw their neighbors in South Carolina reaping the profits to be made in cotton cultivation by enslaved Africans. White Mulberry leaves are generally smooth and hairless, or only slightly rough to the touch, and usually have multiple lobes and sinuses.

A fallen River Birch

Fallen River Birch trunks are seen all along the levee and the adjacent Orange Trail. Typically found on levees, these trees have toppled as the riverbank erodes. The curling, papery bark is a distinctive indicator of this floodplain species.

Frosted Aster??

Small White Aster??

There are at least two species of fall-flowering white asters along the Orange Trail. They and two other common white asters are very hard to tell apart. Our best guess is that these are Small White Aster and possibly Frosted Aster. Kathy reported that these species make great garden plantings, becoming quite large and bushy under cultivation. And the flowers last a long time!

Cut-leaf Coneflower is still flowering though clearly on its way out.

Winged Elm is a bottomland tree and also an upland tree, quite happily thriving along interstate highways and upland ridges as well as in wetlands. The small, rounded oblong plates that make up its bark make some people think of tongue compressors.

Winged Elm leaves

Winged Elm bark

Pokeweed is still flowering and setting fruit even as older fruits are withering on nearby plants.

Climbing Hempweed

 Climbing Hempweed uses pokeweed and other vegetation as a natural trellis. Although a member of the composite family, this species lacks ray flowers, but its showy curved styles branches and mildly sweet scent call in the pollinators.

Sensitive Fern

Sensitive Fern has not yet succumbed to cooler night-time temperatures but will be one of the first to wither in the cold when it comes.

Tearthumb flowers

Tearthumb stem

Tearthumb flowers attest to their membership in the smartweed genus Persicaria, but nothing else in this genus (or in this habitat) has the sawtoothed stems that really will tear your thumb, not to mention hands and arms.

A super-large clump of Common Blue Violet dwarfs a smart phone. Take that, Big Tech!

Leaves of an American Sycamore tree growing near the riverbank.

Downy Lobelia

The sinewy trunk of a Musclewood tree, another member of the understory along riverbanks.

The old beaver marsh is lovely in the low light of autumn.

Rice Cutgrass dominates the grassy marsh. . .

. . .it too will leave your fingers in shreds if you rub your hand along the stiff hairs on its stem.

Japanese Beauty-berry

Japanese Beauty-berry, with its small leaves and berries, is planted elsewhere in the Garden and has escaped and become established at the edge of the marsh.

Duck Potato is common throughout the marsh.

A single plant of Buckthorn Bumelia, growing at the base of the Purple Trail.

As the trail turned upslope, typical upland species, such as Chalk Maple, began to appear.

Rusty Blackhaw

Rusty Blackhaw; Lower leaf surface midvein.

Rusty Blackhaw, another upland species, growing along the Purple Trail. Its name comes from the clumps of rust-colored hairs along the midvein on the lower surface of the leaves.

The V-shaped formation of migrating geese flying above the river is a harbinger of cooler weather.

SIGN OF THE TIMES.

Help!! I’m falling!

SUMMARY OF OBSERVED SPECIES:

Overcup Oak                        Quercus lyrata   

“Ravenel’s Stinkhorn”           Phallus ravenellii

Eastern Leaf-footed Bug      Leptoglossus phyllopus
American Beautyberry         Callicarpa americana
Tulip Tree                             Liriodendron tulipifera
Sweetgum Tree                    Liquidambar styraciflua
American Sycamore             Platanus occidentalis 

 Red Maple                           Acer rubrum
Winged Elm                          Ulmus alata
Mountain Silverbell               Halesia tetraptera
Hop hornbeam                      Ostrya virginiana
Joro Spider                           Trichonephila clavata
Box Elder                              Acer negundo
Poison Ivy                             Toxicodendron radicans
Red Mulberry                         Morus rubra
River Birch                             Betula nigra 

Small
White Aster                  Symphyotrichum racemosum

Frosted Aster                         Symphyotrichum pilosum
Dotted Smartweed                 Persicaria punctata
Green Ash                              Fraxinus pennsylvanica
Trumpet Vine                          Campsis radicans
Cut-leaf Coneflower                Rudbeckia laciniata
American Pokeweed               Phytolacca americana
Sensitive Fern                         Onoclea sensibilis
Climbing Hempweed               Mikania scandens
Tearthumb                               Persicaria sagittata 

Common Blue Violet               Viola sororia
Downy Lobelia                         Lobelia puberula
Chalk Maple                             Acer leucoderme
Duck Potato                             Sagittaria latifolia
Rice Cutgrass                          Leersia oryzoides
Beautyberry                             Callicarpa sp.
Buckthorn Bumelia                  Sideroxylon lycioides

Rusty Blackhaw                       Viburnum rufidulum

Leader for today’s Ramble: Dale
Number of Ramblers today:  32
Today’s emphasis:  Trees on the White Trail, old access road and Green Trail
Note: Don was unable to attend today’s Ramble, so there will be no Facebook album to document what we observed. Instead, I’ve used his photographs from past Rambles and photos sent to me by fellow ramblers. If there is no attribution for a photo, it was taken by Don Hunter.

Reading:  Bob Ambrose read an Emily Dickinson poem suggested by Sandy Shaul:

Two butterflies went out at Noon —

And waltzed upon a Farm —

Then stepped straight through the Firmament

And rested, on a Beam —

And then — together bore away

Upon a shining Sea —

Though never yet, in any Port —

Their coming, mentioned — be —

If spoken by the distant Bird —

If met in Ether Sea

By Frigate, or by Merchantman —

No notice — was — to me —

Announcements:

1. It is time to order your Nature Ramblers t-shirt! They need to be ordered before Nov. 1 (Last day to order is Oct. 31.)  Here is link for ordering.

http://natureramblers.satisfactoryprinting.com/nature_ramblers/shop/home 

All profits from the t- shirts will go to the Botanical Garden to support the new Butterfly Trail.

2. Please join the Friends of the Georgia Museum of Natural History. As UGA charts the future Museum’s future, your membership in the Friends is vital to demonstrate public support for the Museum and natural history. You can join online and pay through PayPal or with a credit card.

Once you join or if you are already a member, you are invited to an outdoor members only event on Sunday, October 24 from 4-6, On The Hill. RSVP at events@gmnhfriends.org.

3. Dan Williams will lead a Tree Ramble at Sandy Creek Nature Center on Wednesday, November 3rd at 9 AM. We will meet at the front of the Education and Visitors Center. Bring a mask and your enthusiasm!

Today’s Route:

Sidewalk
from the Pergola to mulched path through the Dunson Garden. Across paved
road on White Trail spur, across ROW to point inside the woods where
White, Green and Blue trails join. Then follow White Trail to access
road, take access road toward the river to the Green Trail crossing; the
Green Trail back to junction with White Trail.

OBSERVATIONS:

American Beech trees with smooth, gray bark		.

American Beech leaves with “wavy” edges.

American Beech terminal bud; shaped like a pointed cigar.

American Beech
   The first thing that strikes you about a Beech tree is its smooth, gray bark. (And, often, the declarations of love inscribed in that bark by adolescent boys with pocket knives.) There are other features that are unique to Beeches: Their elongate, pointed buds at the ends of each branch or at the base of most of the leaves. The leaves have wavy edges, each “wave” bearing a tiny prickle.
   A good mnemonic for remembering the leaf edge: “Where do you find waves? At the beach (Beech).”
Etymology
   Avis told us that the word Beech has the same root as the word Book, indicating that people have been writing on Beech trees since the dawn of time, or something like that.  Online Etymology Dictionary confirms it: “German Buch ‘book’ and Buche ‘beech’; see beech), the notion being of beechwood tablets on which runes were inscribed; but it may be from the tree itself (people still carve initials in them).” 
Smooth bark
   Trees have two sets of embryonic tissues called cambiums; the vascular cambium and the cork cambium. These are like stem cells in animals. When they divide either both daughter cells remain cambium cells or one remains a cambium cell but the other differentiates into a different specialized cell that is incapable of further cell division.
   The vascular cambium cells form a sheath that surrounds the entire tree, trunk, branches and twigs. It causes the tree to increase in diameter. The vascular cambium produces the cells that become the woody part of the tree, the xylem. Xylem tubes conduct water from the roots to the rest of the tree, branches, twigs, flowers, fruits and leaves. Each year the activity of the vascular cambium adds approximately 1/16 to 1/8 inch to the diameter of the trunk.
   Outside the layer of vascular cambium is a layer of different embryonic tissue, the cork cambium. This layer of cells produces the bark. The cells it produces on the outer surface pile up and die, becoming a layer of corky cells of variable thickness. (Wine corks are made from the bark of the Cork Oak.)
   If the cork cambium can keep pace with the vascular cambium the resulting bark is smooth and thin, like in the Beech. If it can’t keep up with the vascular cambium the bark is stretched and finally breaks apart. The bark pattern that is formed depends on the difference in reproductive rate of the two cambiums and the strength of connection between the dead cork cells in the bark, giving each tree species a different bark pattern.
Marcescence 

   Some young trees and lower limbs of older trees hang onto their dead leaves throughout the winter, a phenomenon called marcescence. Cells in the outer abscission layer do not completely break down (see image below from Linda’s winter tree class handout that shows the abscission zone). 

   Trees in our area that practice marcescence: American Beech, Oaks, Hop Hornbeam, Musclewood and Chalk Maple.

Abscission zone at base of leaf petiole. If the separation layer doesn’t break the leaf will hang on the tree until spring. (Illustration compliments of Linda Chafin.)

   This phenomenon is something of a puzzle. Why should a plant retain dead leaves over the winter? There are around a dozen hypotheses, none of which are clearly correct, or clearly wrong. This website has a summary of them.
   Jim told us that the retained leaves of Beech become paler and paler during winter, appearing to him as “ghosts of the forest.”
   For an explanation of why and how trees drop their leaves check out this Nature Rambling post.

Mockernut hickory 

Mockernut Hickory bark (photo by Susan Brown)

Left, Mockernut Hickory fruit; note thick husk and large nut. Right, Red/Pignut Hickory with smaller nut and thin husk.

   Mockernut hickory has very distinctive braided bark. The nut is surrounded by a very thick husk. Linda prepared a guide to identification of our local Hickories. It can be downloaded from this location: Hickories in the Georgia Piedmont.

   Gary Crider told us about boiling Mockernut nutmeats and finding them tasty as opposed to
the literature which says they are bitter. 

American Toad (not the one we saw today, but it has similar coloration). The swellings just behind the eyes are parotoid glands that contain a cocktail of toxic substances.

American Toad

   Someone discovered an American Toad near the base of the Mockernut Hickory. This was no mean feat. The toad had a reddish-brown coloration that perfectly matched the soil as well as the leaf litter. If it hadn’t moved we would have missed it.
Toads are famous for being warty, but they don’t cause warts if handled. There is a different reason to avoid rough handling. Behind the eyes, on the top of the head are a pair of swollen lumps, the parotoid glands. (Not to be confused with the parotid gland, which is a type of salivary gland in the mouth.) Parotoid glands secrete a very toxic, milky white fluid when the toad is roughly handled. (You may have heard of the death of dogs in Florida and Australia after attempting to eat a large species of toad, the Cane Toad, Rhinella marina (formerly Bufo marinus). Australian snakes and mammals have also died from attempts to eat Cane Toads.)
   If you’ve ever picked up a toad you probably got your hands wet when it emptied its bladder. This is probably worse for the toad than for you. Toads are in danger of dehydration and the loss of all that bladder water could endanger it. Gentle handling will not cause the release of the toxins from the parotoid gland. They have to come in contact with your mouth membranes to be absorbed. After handling a toad, wash your hand, just in case.
   Linda noticed the toad’s throat moving up and down and wanted to know if it was breathing. The short answer is yes, but the long answer is more interesting. When humans breath two groups of muscles are involved: the diaphragm and the rib muscles. When the rib muscles contract they pull the ribs upward. When the diaphragm contracts it drops downward. Both movements increase the volume of the thoracic cavity, lowering the pressure on the lungs. This lowered pressure draws air into the lungs. When the diaphragm and rib muscles relax they return to their resting position, which squeezes the lungs, expelling the air. You probably remember this from grade school. Frogs and toads can’t breathe this way – they don’t have ribs and they don’t have a diaphragm. So how do they breathe?

   Breathing begins with getting oxygen into the blood. In humans the lungs are where this happens. In frogs and toads there are three places where oxygen enters the circulatory system: lungs, skin, and the the lining of the mouth. All these locations bring numerous fine blood vessels (capillaries) into close contact with a moist surface exposed to air. It is there that oxygen diffuses into the red blood cells of the circulatory system. 

   Of the three sites in frogs and toads, oxygen absorption at the skin continues constantly. 

   The other two locations, mouth and lungs involve some other structures: the nostrils and the glottis.The glottis is a valve in the esophagus that opens to allow air to pass into and out of the lungs. The glottis sits atop the larynx in frogs and toads as it does in humans. (At one time or another we’ve all had food go down the wrong way. That was a failure of the epiglottis, a flap that keeps food from getting into the lungs — when it works properly.) In frogs and toads the glottis just opens or closes, there is no epiglottis.

   Frogs and toads can open and close their nostrils. You and I can’t.

   We’re ready to find out how frogs and toads breathe.

   Mouth respiration, which Linda observed, occurs when the nostrils are open, the glottis is closed and the floor of the mouth is pulled down by muscles, enlarging the mouth cavity and lowering the air pressure in the mouth.  This draws air in through the open nostrils and mouth capillaries pick up the oxygen in the fresh air that enters the mouth. This mouth breathing is what Linda noticed — the toad’s “throat” was fluttering rapidly up and down.

   How does air get into the lungs? First, nostrils open, glottis closed, mouth floor drops further than when just mouth breathing. Then the nostrils close and the glottis opens as the floor of the mouth rises. The air can’t get out through the closed nostrils so it gets pushed into the lungs through the open glottis. Reversing this process moves air out of the lungs into the mouth. Then the glottis is closed and the nostrils open. When the floor of the mouth moves up it pushes the stale air out the nostrils. What moves the air out of the lungs? The lungs are elastic bags with a few muscles. When the lungs are filled and the glottis opens the lungs relax, expelling some of the air into the mouth cavity. Like a partially inflated balloon expells air when it’s opened.

White Oaks or Red Oaks
   The Oaks in our area fall into two groups: the Red Oak group and the White Oak group. Here are some of the differences:
 

Comparison of White Oak and Red Oak leaves. Left: White Oak leaf; note rounded lobes. Right: Red Oak leaf; note pointed, bristle=tipped lobes.

White Oak group:
        Leaf lobes: rounded, no bristle tip
        Acorns mature in their first year
        Acorns germinate in fall of first year
        Acorns have lower tannin content
Red Oak group:
        Leaf lobes: pointed, with a bristle tip
        Acorns mature in their second year on tree
        Acorns germinate in spring of following year
        Acorns have higher tannin content

Tannins are bitter tasting compounds. If you’ve ever tasted a persimmon before it’s ripe you know how it “puckers” your mouth. That was tannin that did that. When squirrels are preparing for winter they gather acorns and bury them for later retrieval and consumption. But squirrels frequently eat White Oak acorns, instead of being buried. When they are buried, the squirrel will often bite off the bottom end of the acorn, where the plant embryo is located, thus preventing the acorn from germinating. Red oak acorns are buried intact.
   Jim told us about another difference between the Red and White Oak groups. The water conducting cells of trees, the xylem, are replaced every year. The older cells are dead and, in the White Oak group, are filled with balloon-like structures called tyloses. Red Oak xylem tubes remain unfilled. If you take a piece of Red Oak wood and put your lips to one end, you can blow cigarette smoke out the other end. This stunt fails with White Oak wood.

White Oak leaf; note the rounded lobe tips and lack of bristles		.

   Linda told us about the outbreak of Black-dotted Brown Moth on White Oaks in Athens 10 years ago.
The affected trees lost their characteristic pale gray bark because
birds were flicking the the loose plates off the trunks to get at the
millions of caterpillars that were hiding under the bark. Fellow Ramblers
talked about how people coated the trunks of oak trees in their yards
with Crisco shortening to deter the caterpillars. Also download this pdf file about the Black Dotted Brown Moth.

Comparison of Red oak group leaves From Left to Right: Southern Red Oak (sun leaf) Southern Red Oak (shade leaf) Scarlet Oak Northern Red Oak

Northern Red Oak is one of the commonest oaks in the garden. The trunk has “ski trails.” The ridges of bark are smooth and reflect light, giving the impression of ski tracks going up and down the trunk. The leaves are broad with shallow sinuses and each lobe end in a sharp point.

Southern Red Oak is found in dry, upland sites. The leaf undersurface is white, due to the density of white hairs that reflect the light and slows moisture loss. Leaves are thick and hang perpendicular to ground and parallel to sun. They are also more variable in shape, ranging from elongate with slightly curved main vein, like the blade of a scythe, to a bell shaped (rounded) leaf base and a prominent “clapper.”  The bell shape of the shade leaves provides another mnemonic: bell-shaped leaf base = Southern Bell(e) = Southern Red Oak. The trunk lacks the “ski trails” of the Northern Red Oak.

White ash 

Linda pulled out her pocket knife and sliced off a think sliver of bark to show us the inner bark color orangey-tan. White ash grows in more upland sites while Green Ash grows in moister situations, like flood plains and stream banks. They can told apart by details like the location of the lateral bud relative to the leaf scar or the shape of the samara with its seed.

Sun leaf vs shade leaf
   Leaves, even on the same tree, vary a lot. The position of the leaf on the tree makes a difference in its structure. Leaves low on the tree or on the north side get less sunlight than leaves at the top or on the south side. As a rule of thumb: the more light received, the smaller, thicker and darker green a leaf is. Less light: leaves are larger, thinner and paler green. These differences are adaptive. Leaves exposed to higher winds need to be smaller to reduce water loss. At the same time, on the top of a tree, they can pack in extra layers of green, photosynthetic cells to capture more of the intense light. Leaves in the shade are not exposed to high winds and can have a larger surface area to capture the attenuated sunlight.

Burls distort the trunk of a tree.

Burls were seen on several trees (the photo is from a previous ramble). They are woody, rounded masses on the trunks and roots of trees caused by a pathogen – bacteria, fungi, or virus that has invaded the live tissue beneath the bark. The pathogen releases chemicals that stimulate the production of tumor-like tissue. This tissue isolates and contains the invader so that the damage is limited to the burl. Burls are usually not fatal and will continue to grow with the tree, laying down annual rings like the rest of the tree. Burls are much sought after by wood turners, who turn the crazy growth pattern of burl cells into works of art.

Scarlet oak 

Scarlet Oak leaf Note the very deep sinuses (the space between the leaf lobes.) My finger and thumb are inserted in the first pair of sinuses.

   Scarlet Oak is a member of the Red Oak group. It’s leaves are lobed, with bristle points at the end of lobe. The sinuses (the space between adjacent lobes) are much deeper than those of Northern Red Oak. Like the Northern Red, the Scarlet Oak has “ski trails” on the bark. Some people think they are narrower, but I’ve never been able to confince myselt that’s true. The acorns have a faint ring around the end opposite the cap.  

Part 1; End of a Scarlet Oak shoot. The other end is seen in the photo below. Both photos were taken by Susan Brown.

Part 2; Scarlet Oak shoot This is the end of the shoot that was closest to the tree.

We found a complete current year shoot of a Scarlet Oak that recently broken from the tree. Part 1, above, shows the end of the shoot furthest from the tree; Part 2 shows the part of the shoot closest to the tree. My finger and thumb are holding the branch by last year’s growth (2020). Moving along the branch, away from the tree end, you can see a change in texture of the shoot. It is a different shade of brown and is glossier. That marks the beginning of this year’s growth. Everything to the left of that mark appeared in 2021, including the unique parts shown in Part 1.

   Moving to Part 1. The gray objects you see at the base of most of the leaves are axillary buds, so called because they are in the “arm pit” of the leaf petiole. (Axilla is the anatomical name for human arm pit.) Axillary buds will usually give rise to leaves the following year.

   Still in Part 1. At the very end of the branch you’ll see a much larger bud. This is the terminal bud of the branch. Next spring it will give rise to a new shoot (branch) like the one we’re looking at right now. (Or, it would if it were still connected to the tree.) If you coulc look into the terminal bud right now you would find next year’s shoot in miniature — every tiny leaf in microscopic miniature.
   The next paragraph explains this more lucidly than I can, so you should read it, especially if I confused you.
Shoot Growth in trees:

“Within the bud, two growth habits are possible, fixed growth and free growth. Fixed growth occurs in species such as pines, hickory, and oaks, where the buds contain a preformed shoot. All of the components of next year’s shoot are contained in the bud formed this year; the number of leaves and nodes is predetermined by this year’s environmental conditions. The length between leaves and nodes is influenced by the environmental conditions the tree encounters next year. 

Free growth, in species such as cottonwood, willow, and silver maple, occurs when buds contain shoots with some preformed leaves, but which are also capable of forming additional leaves. These species can continue to grow as long as environmental conditions are favorable.”

Source.

Shagbark Hickory bark plates are loose at top and bottom.

Shagbark hickory

   Three Shagbark Hickories
grow in the shallow ravine between the Green and Blue trails. Their
shagginess is due to their bark’s vertical plates turning loose at
both top and bottom and curling away from the trunk. White
Oak bark is also shaggy, but its

bark plates loosen along the side, not the top and bottom.

   Shagbark nuts are much smaller that Mockernuts and have a
very thin husk compared to Mocckernuts thick husk. 

   Shagbark occurs in this
ravine because the soil there likely has a higher pH due to a band of
amphibolite that angles across the Garden from the nearby ridgeline all
the way to the river. Amphibolite is high in calcium and magnesium which
raises the pH of soils that develop over it. Calcium-loving plants
(calciphiles) such as Shagbark Hickory are often found over amphibolite
bedrock.

Blowdowns

   There are a large number of “blowdowns” along the trails in the Botanical Garden. These are due to a large number of factors, but a prominant one is 19th century agricultural practices. They stripped the topsoil from the hills and now oak trees are only shallowly rooted, making them vulnerable to windthrow.

   Windthrown trees create “tip ups,” the term applied to the turned up root mass of the tree. The space occupied by the roots is now a pit and the soil adhering to the roots is a new microenvironment. The forest may have lost a tree, but it gained new habitat that can be utilized by a variety of plants and animals.

SUMMARY OF OBSERVED SPECIES:

 
Mockernut Hickory    Carya tomentosa
Southern Red Oak    Quercus falcata
Scarlet Oak               Quercus coccinea
Northern Red Oak     Quercus rubra
American Beech        Fagus grandifolia
American Toad          Bufo (Anaxyrus) americanus

Leader for today’s Ramble: Linda
Link to Don’s Facebook album for this Ramble. All the photos in this post are compliments of Don Hunter, unless otherwise credited.

Number of Ramblers today: 30
Today’s emphasis: Learning to identify grasses
Reading:
Linda read the entry for September 23 from An Almanac for Moderns, by Donald Culross Peattie:

   How much of any landscape is due to the grasses is a quality in scenery that the best descriptions rarely admit. Orchard grass lends to any land that it inhabits something ample and light and gay. To the marshes the reed, Phragmites, gives long slant rainy-looking lines, and from their grasses the pampas and the steppes must surely take full half of their contour.
   It is in autumn that the grasses hereabout come forth in their full beauty; they fill the meadows like some fluid till they are become wind-swirled living lakes. But above all they give the meadow scene its dominant color. There is not one of our sterile upland fields or abandoned farms where the beard grass, Andropogon, does not show its soft terra-cotta sheaths, its glaucous blue stems, and woolly gray puffs of downy seed half bursting from the spike. The misnamed redtop troops across the fields, its purplish stems standing rank to rank, the panicles turning a dull gold as the seeds fall, reflecting the mild sunlight of hazy Indian summer mornings. In the woods and old fields the Indian grass has begun to bloom-as enchanting as any flower that, can boast calyx and corolla, with its golden brown spikelets, its dangling orange anthers, the whole plant turning to a sun-burnished bronze in its old age.

Sandra and her sisters made a surprise appearencel

Special Visitors:  Sandra Hoffberg, a former Nature Rambler who is a post-doctoral researcher at Columbia University, paid us a surprise visit this morning. Sandra received her Ph.D. from UGA in 2017, studying invasive species like Wisteria and Kudzu. She continues to work on invasive plants, this time on amaranths, at Columbia.  Her last Ramble with us was on July 20, 2017, so we were surprised and delighted to see her today.

Show and Tell:

The first of Halley’s Georgia Asters to bloom this year.

Halley brought some “first of season” Georgia Asters from her yard

Today’s Route:   We left the arbor and headed into the Lower Shade Garden via the sidewalk nearest to the Visitor Center.  We exited the Shade Garden and headed up the White Trail Spur connecting the paved road and the ROW.  We worked our way up the ROW via the two-rut road for a bit then turned around and headed all the way down the ROW to the paved road.  Once we were at the road, we took a left and headed back to the Visitor Center via the road, stopping briefly at the Passionflower vines on the Dunson Garden deer fence.

OBSERVATIONS:

Arbor:

This Joro on its web is illuminated to show the arrangement of the capture threads.

Don is trying to understand how the Joro webs are built. Here’s what he thinks, so far:

1. First, a wide, square or rectilinear based grid of silk threads is laid down.  It is on this silk framework that the sticky capture thread is attached. As the spider walks across the framwork she keeps a constant distance from the center of the web so the capture thread is laid in a circle, or would be, if the spider completly walked around the web.
   
2. Insterd, she only walks about 3/4 of the way and then reverses her path but lays the silk a short distance outside the first line she just finished producing.
3. She continues this pattern, reversing her direction four or five times, after which she begins to lay another set of silk threads, but starting just a little fit further outside the previous group. (Look at the photo above and pick one thread. Follow it and you will find where she doubled back on her path. You may be able to find more reversals or other variations in the silk patterns.
   
4. In many of the webs, the upper quarter lacks capture threads due to the spider reversing her direction.
5. In addition to the two dimensional capture orb there are chaoticly organized, three-dimensional strands of silk that surround the area within which the orb is located.  Don say’s he doesn’t yet know how and/or when these messy strands of silk fit into the construction of the capture web proper.
   

Heather found a tiny Keeled Treehopper on goldenrod.

You can barely see the spindly legs of this Daddy Long Legs hiding in the Rattlesnake Master seed heads.

Yellow Garden Spider waiting on its web for an insect to blunder into the web. The dense, white zig-zag is the stabilimentum.

Lower Shade Garden:

Just before leaving the Lower Shade Garden, Halley pointed out a single Jackson’s Slender Caesar mushroom, an amanita, popping out of the duff.

White Trail Spur (paved road to ROW):

Linda wrote at beginner’s guide to identifying grasses for Tipularia-Journal of the Georgia Botanical Society in 2014. It’s available for downloading as a pdf file here.
With that guide in hand this report will not repeat all the things Linda told us about grasses today. Grasses not mentioned in the article are shown and discussed below.

Bowl and Doily spider web made visible by dew.

Because of the heavy dew this morning, spider webs were especially prominent.

Big Top Love Grass

.

Big Top Love Grass and its close relative Purple Love Grass are especially noticeable on dewy mornings.
    

Eastern Fork-tailed Damselfly, chilled and hanging from Purple Top Grass seeds. (Damselflies don’t eat seeds; they eat other flying insects.)

An immature  insect on Purple Top Grass seeds.

Northern Yellow Sac Spider ??

Split-beard Bluestem

Split-beard Bluestem stems are red and the leaf sheaths are blue-green, creating a two-tone barber-pole effect.

Split-beard Bluestem with “split” seed head

Rabbit Tobacco

Rabbit Tobacco is scattered over much of the ROW. The flower heads are barely open even at maturity.

Horseweed

Horseweed stem and leaves

Horseweed flowers

Horseweed flower heads as open as they will ever be.

One Horseweed plant had very hairy stems and lower leaves. Another nearby one was hardly hairy at all. This species frequently shows up in recently disturbed ground.

Beaked Panicgrass with its pointed (“beaked”) seed heads

Saw Greenbrier is common in open sunny areas.

Grasshopper with “Summit disease”

Infected grasshopper closeup The white encrustations are fungal spore-producing structures.

Heather found two examples from a grasshopper horror movie. The grasshoppers were dead but clinging tightly to the stems of grasses, head upward, as if the they had been trying to reach the top. This is the symptom of “summit disease,” in which grasshoppers infected by a fungus (Entomophaga grylii) climb up a grass stem or other vertical vegetation and die, tightly gripping the stem. The fungus emerges through the thin cuticle between the body segments and leg joints, dispersing its spores. Visit this website for more details.

Blue Mistflower in the Nash Prairie

A low hairy ligule and patch of long hairs mark the transition from the leaf blade to leaf sheath of Silver Plume Grass

Stand of Silver Plume Grass at the edge of the woods..

Mature Thimbleweed seed head in the Nash Prairie

Decomposing Thimbleweed leaves

Maturing Thimbleweed seed pods

Brilliant Jumping Spider hunting on Rabbit Tobacco

”       Linda….share the wire grass story… I missed most of it.  

Dog Fennel; a natural bug repellent?!

Roger, who grew up in south Georgia, told that when he was working outside he would grab a handful of Dog Fennel and put it behind his ears as a bug repellent. 

Clasping Aster in the Nash Prairie

Maryland Goldenaster in the Nash Prairie

Yellow Indian Grass in the restored prairie

Coral Bead twining on Dog Fennel

Blazing Star in the Nash Prairie

Lined Orbweaver?

Hibiscus Scentless Plant Bug nymph

While we were examining the Passionflower vines on the Dunson Garden deer fence, Richard noticed that many of the brown, dried hibiscus seed capsules were teeming with Hibiscus Scentless Plant Bug nymphs, some early stage, barely visible red dots, but most mid- to late stage but still wingless.

SUMMARY OF OBSERVED SPECIES:

Joro Spider     Trichonephila clavata
Spinyback Orbweaver     Gasteracantha cancriformis
Keeled Treehopper     Entylia carinata
Goldenrod     Solidago sp.
Daddy Longlegs/Harvestmen     Arachnida: Opiliones
Rattlesnake Master      Eryngium yuccifolium
Yellow Garden Spider     Argiope aurantia
Jackson’s Slender Caesar mushroom     Amanita jacksonii
River Oats     Chasmanthium latifolium
Bowl and Doily spider     Frontinella pyramitela
Big Top Lovegrass     Eragrostis hirsuta
Purple Top Grass/Grease Grass     Tridens flavus
Eastern Forktail damselfly     Ischnura verticalis
Northern Yellow Sac Spider (tentative)     Cheiracanthium mildei ?
Splitbeard Bluestem grass     Andropogon ternarius
Rabbit Tobacco    Pseudognaphalium  obtusifolium
Horseweed     Conyza canadensis
Beaked Panicgrass     Panicum anceps
Saw Greenbrier     Smilax bona-nox
Grasshopper (no ID)     Order Orthoptera
Blue Mistflower     Conoclinium coelestinum
Silver Plume Grass     Saccharum alopecuroides
Thimbleweed     Anemone virginiana
Brilliant Jumping Spider     Phidippus clarus
Dog Fennel     Eupatorium capillifolium
Maryland Goldenaster     Chrysopsis mariana
Clasping Aster     Symphyotrichum patens
Purple Fountain Grass     Pennisetum setaceum rubrum
Fescue     Festuca sp.
Yellow Indian Grass     Sorghastrum nutans
Carolina Moonseed AKA Coral Bead Vine     Cocculus carolinus
Dense Blazing Star     Liatris spicata
Lined Orbweaver     Mangora gibberosa
Passionflower Vine     Passiflora incarnata
Hibiscus Scentless Plant Bug      Niesthrea louisianica

Leader for today’s Ramble: Dale
Link to Don’s Facebook album for this Ramble. All the photos in this post are compliments of Don Hunter, unless otherwise credited.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=don.hunter.56&set=a.5103239919692532
Number of Ramblers today:  25
Today’s emphasis:
Reading:  Karen Porter read two poems:
Cicadas at the End of Summer by Martin Walls
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42476/cicadas-at-the-end-of-summer
For the Chipmunk in my Yard by Robert Gibb:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/53932/for-the-chipmunk-in-my-yard
Show and Tell:

One of Gary’s “Joro sticks”

Gary showed us two sticks he uses to take down Joro spider webs.  The golden color of the silk was very obvious when densely wrapped around the sticks.
 

Today’s Route:   We left the arbor and headed into the Lower Shade Garden via the sidewalk adjacent to the new Children’s Garden comfort station.  We left the sidewalk and took the mulched path (White Trail Spur), veering off of it on to the mulched path leading down to the Dunson Native Flora Garden.  We cut directly across the Dunson Garden and exited via one of the gates in the deer fence and headed down the road to the Passionflower vines.  After lingering there, we slowly made our way towards the Mimsie Lanier Center for Native Plant Studies on the access road.  When we were done there, we headed back to the Visitor Center via the road.
 

LIST OF OBSERVATIONS:

Arbor:
 

We saw examples of three common orbweaver spiders and their webs.  

Joro spider on web

Joro spider web showing detail of the sticky capture threads.

Red-femured Spotted Orbweaver (this one is actually in the Dunson Garden)

Spinyback Orbweaver Closeup of the white colored variant

Spinyback Orbweaver web

Bird’s Nest fungus

Bird’s Nest Fungus fruiting bodies

Heather discovered numerous Bird’s Nest fungi growing on the mulch that borders the arbor. Each tiny “cup”, less than 1/2 inch in diameter, contains several spherical “eggs.” Together, the “cup” and “eggs” look like a bird’s nest you might find in a doll’s house. This bird’s nest is the fruiting body of a fungus that is decomposing a chunk of mulch. Y’all will remember that the job of a fungal fruiting body is to reproduce via the production of spores. Here the “eggs” contain the spores and falling raindrops cause the “eggs” to be ejected into the surrounding shrubbery where they stick to whatever they land on. Some have been found on leaves as far as 3 feet above their cup. While attached to their new location the “eggs” release their spores which are dispersed by the wind.
There are other species of Bird’s Nest fungi in our area, but these are the only ones in our area that have white “eggs.”
Sources:
Elliott, TF & Stephenson, SL. 2018. Mushrooms of the Southeast. Timber Press. p.: 343
Kuo, M. (2014, February). The bird’s nest fungi. Retrieved 9/25/2020 from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/birdsnestshtml
 

Hillside Mulched Trail, Dunson Garden:

Onion-stalk Parasol (Lepiota) mushrooms

Same mushroom showing gills under cap and annulus around stalk.

Several small clusters of Onion-stalk Parasol (Lepiota) mushrooms are growing on the roots of a rotting tree stump just off the path through the Dunson Garden. This is another fungus usually found on decaying wood. It has a finely scaly, bell-shaped cap and a partial veil. A partial veil is a delicate layer of tissue that extends from the edge of the cap to the stem and protects the spores as they develop within the gills on the lower surface of the cap. When the spores are ready to be dispersed, the veil disintegrates, often leaving a ragged ring around the stem, the annulus.

Deer Fence at Road:

Two weeks ago we checked the Passionflower vines and found not caterpillars and no sign of feeding on the leaves. Today many of the vines were stripped of leavess and only a few, small Gulf Fritillary caterpillers were found, indicating that the missing caterpillars had wandered off to find a place to pupate.

Gulf Fritillary caterpillar

Many green, immature “maypops” were hanging from the vines, most perfect for popping, and a few were beginning to ripen. The mature fruit consists of a tough, wrinkled, yellowish rind and numerous dark seeds, each seed enclosed by and aril, a sac filled with sweet-tart juice. 

Passionflower leaves and roots were used by Native Americans and early European colonists to treat a variety of ailments, including boils, wounds, earaches, and liver problems. Currently, dried Passionflower leaves are included in teas that aid anxiety and insomnia.

Virginia Tiger Moth caterpillars are variable in color and appearance as well as food plants. Here are three examples, two from the Passionflower vines in the Dunson Garden deer fence and one from the road into the Mimsie Lanier Center.

Virginia Tiger Moth caterpillar on Passionflower. Red color, sparser hair

Virginia Tiger Moth caterpillar on Passionflower White color, denser hair

Virginia Tiger Moth caterpillar on Morninglory Red, dense hair

ROW and Road to Mimsie Lanier Center:

Scarlet Morning-glory

The bright orange-red of Scarlet Morning-glory flowers caught our attention, twining around the shrubby vegetation along the road to the Mimsie Lanier Center.  One vine could be seen 25′ to 30′ up in a large pine tree. (Photo of flowers) There are two other morning-glories in our area with bright red flowers: Scarlet Creeper (Ipomoea hederifolia) and Cypress-vine  (Ipomoea quamoclit). With their bright color and long floral tubes, the flowers of all three attract hummingbirds and butterflies. Here’s how to tell them apart:
Scarlet Morning-glory: leaves are somewhat heart-shaped, sometimes with low teeth but not deeply lobed. Flower orange-red with a yellow throat. Native to southeast U.S.
Scarlet Creeper: leaves heart-shaped or three-lobed like English Ivy leaves, often both shapes on one plant. Flower red with a yellow throat. Native to Central and South America.
Cypress-vine: leaves fern-like, divided into many narrow segments. Flower dark red throughout.

As we made our way down the road towards our destination, we saw examples of Yellow Crownbeard and Common Wingstem growing close together and compared their main characteristics (wings, alternate vs. opposite leaves, flowers) (Photos of three characteristics of each) 

Common Wingstem with torpid Bumble Bee Note that the disk florets are arranged in a hemisphere. There ae only a few ray florets per flower head in this example.

Yellow Crownbeard The floral parts are loosely arranged — only a few disk florets in each flower head.

Common Wingstem Alternate leaves

Yellow Crownbeard Oposite leaves

Tall Thistle

Our native Tall Thistle is a butterfly magnet in late summer and an important seed source for finches in the winter. It is distinguished from other thistles, native and non-native, by the white coating on its lower leaf surfaces and by the relatively few spines along the unlobed leaf margins.

Fall Webworm Moth caterpillar on Sweetgum

Heather found a Fall Webworm Moth caterpillar (FW) on a Sweetgum leaf. These caterpillars are often confused with those of Eastern Tent Caterpillars (ETC). Here’s how to distinguish them. Both create silken nests, ETC in the spring only and FW mostly in summer and fall, but rarely in spring. 

Location of the nest: 

    ETC: crotch of tree branchs, not surrounding leaves. Caterpillars travel to ends of branches to feed on leaves, then return to nest to digest their meal.

    FW: nest surrounds the ends of branches, covering leaves that will be eaten.

Leaf-footed Bug (Note: this photo is from a different Ramble and clearly shows the white line and expanded tibia of the male bug. At the top of the photo is a nymph with black legs and scarlet body.)

Heather captured an Eastern Leaf-footed Bug,These
true bugs are found throughout the year. Two features are especially obvious:
the expanded and flat parts of the hind legs and the white line that runs
across the body. Why do the legs bear these leaf-shaped enlargements? No one
seems to have studied this aspect of Leaf-footed bug biology. But we can
speculate. Male bugs seem to have the largest hind legs, suggesting that the
“leaf” structure might be used in sex recognition or as a dominance signal.
This can only be determined by careful observation and recording of the bug
interactions. Here’s a project for an amateur entomologist. 

We’ve
seen Leaf-footed bugs gathered on the Yucca at the foot of the Dunson Garden in
spring. They are broad ranging pests of garden vegetables, fruits of many kinds,
pine seeds. The damage they cause depends on their abundance; if you have a
home garden and see a large number you may want to discourage them by drowning
them in water with a little detergent added.  

One
thing to be aware of: Leaf-footed bugs have a gland on their thorax that emits
a strong odor that is will cling to your fingers. Most people find it
disgusting, so if you’re going to handle them, wear gloves.

Strawberry Bush / Hearts-a-bustin’

Several Strawberry Bush/Hearts-a-bustin’ shrubs, loaded with their bursting seed capsules, are in full glory along the road to the Mimsie Lanier Center. Local naturalist and forester Walt Cook refers to Strawberry Bush as “Deer Ice Cream” because deer browse every leaf and tender stem they can reach. Although known to reach 12 feet in height, it is rare to see a tall specimen so loaded with fruit in this deer-ridden part of the state. Both common names refer to the warty, dark pink fruit which bursts open to reveal the bright reddish-orange seeds.

Eastern Tailed Blue butterfly

Heather, with a lot of patience, coaxed a tiny Eastern Tailed Blue butterfly into a viewing tube. This tiny butterfly has wings that are about the size of a finger nail. It normally sits with its wings held together above its back, concealing its upper wing surface, which, in males, is a beautiful blue. The color of females is a rather drab grayish brown.

Recently emerged individuals have one or two fine, hairlike projections on the hind wings. At the base of these “hairs” is a colored spot. Together, the spot and hairs vaguely resemble an eye and and antennae. In other words, this part of the wing has a false head. To make the illusion more realistic the butterfly will slide the hind wings up and down, causing the fake antennae to wiggle up and down. It is thought that this movement will cause any nearby predator to attack the pseudo-head, enabling the butter fly to escape with its life, minus a piece of its wings. Consistent with this idea is that collections of butterflies with similar false eyes and antennae frequently also have wedge-shaped pieces of their hind wings missing.

Dogbane Saucrobotys Moth caterpillar??

A tiny orange caterpillar, barely noticible, even by Heather’s keen eyes, on Common Wingstem.  The wingstem is not one of the preferred host plants for this moth (either dogbane or milkweed), so Don says that this ID is tentative and his best guess after comparing the photo with on-line resources.

Sumac Gall Aphid    

Sumac Aphid Galls

On the south side of the road there is a group of Smooth Sumac plants with clusters of swollen growths on their leaves. These are the work
of the Sumac Gall Aphid. In the spring, as the sumac
plant is producing leaves, it is visited by an aphid that lays a single egg,
usually on the mid-vein of a leaf. The plant reacts by enveloping the egg with a
growth of tissue that begins as a small, spherical swelling. Inside this growth the egg
hatches and the aphid nymph begins to feed by sucking plant juices from the gall. As the nymph
grows it will shed its skin (exoskeleton) five times. The last molt
produces a mature aphid that produces more aphids parthenogenetically;
i.e., without benefit of a male. Those aphids, in turn, produce more
aphids and the number of aphids within a single gall grows exponentially.

This exponential growth produces thousands of aphids in a single gall. Since each adult aphid has molted 5  times you can imagine how many shed skins accumulate inside the gall. We discovered how many when we opened a gall and found it stuffed with a powdery white substance. What was it? All those skins that were shed during the summer! 

A single gall, opened to show the accumulation of cast off skins.

Close up of opened gall showing winged aphids. (click on photo to see enlarged view)

Toward the end of the growing season winged aphids are produced. They leave the gall and fly to an alternative host where they overwinter. The winter host is, strangely enough, a moss!
In the spring male and female aphids are produced, mate, and the females fly off to find more sumac, starting the cycle again.
https://bygl.osu.edu/node/1112
Visit this website for additional excellent photographs of the galls and the aphids.

Mimsie Lanier Center for Native Plant Studies:

Deceiver Mushroom

As we neared the greenhouses and hoop houses, occasional patches of small Deceiver mushrooms could be seen growing in the grass.  The common name comes from its highly variable appearance and it is considered a “mushroom weed” by the mushroom crowd because of it’s abundance. 

”       A plump, orange Virginia Tiger Moth caterpillar was seen under one of the leaves on the vine. 

Late-blooming Boneset and Mist Flower

Common Evening Primrose

*(Photo of the Virginia Tiger Moth cat on the morning glory vine)

Georgia Basil

Georgia Basil is a low shrub in the mint family, one of only a few woody mints found in Georgia. It has wonderfully aromatic leaves and small, pink flowers with a patch of darker dots forming a nectar guide. 

Stone Mountain Daisy

Bright and cheery patches of Stone Mountain Daisy are found throughout the grounds of the Mimsie Lanier Center. Stone Mountain Daisy is in the sunflower genus Helianthus, and is one of the few native annual sunflower species in the southeast. It thrives in the thin, dry, gravelly soils and hot temperatures of granite outcrops and is found in abundance on the granite outcrop at Rock and Shoals here in Clarke County. In older field guides and manuals, you will see it named Viguiera porteri. It was also called Confederate Daisy in the past because of its association with Stone Mountain and the carving of confederates on the side of the mountain, but now has the less controversial name.

Great Blue Lobelia

Cardinal Flower

Cut-leaf Coneflower

Spotted Bee Balm

Great
Black Digger Wasp     Sphex pensylvanicus

A torpid Great Black Digger Wasp on Spotted Bee Balm

After
mating a female wasp excavates a tunnel with multiple cells in soft, sandy soil. After she finishes digging she hunts for katydids, paralyzing
them with her sting. Each katydid is still alive and is flown by the wasp back
to the tunnel and placed in a cell. Each cell can hold two or more katydids.
When all the cells are full, the wasp lays a single egg on one katydid in each
cell and then fills the tunnel with soil.The eggs hatch and the grubs feed on their katydid food, finally emerging as adult wasps in late summer of the following year. (You may think that I misspelled the species name — shouldn’t there be two “n” in “pensylvanicus?” When this wasp was given its name Pennsylvania was spelled with a single “n.” The rules of scientific nomenclature only permit changing a name in the case of typographical error. Once the name is properly published it is, in effect, written in stone.)

Green Lynx Spider with egg sac

The Green Lynx spider, difficult to see in the photo above, is an active predator, similar to a wolf spider, but usually hunting in shrubby vegetation. Unlike wold spiders it continuously spins a “drag line” of silk. The female remains with her egg sac, aggresively defending it. Several spiders were seen in a shrub in front of one of the hoop houses.

Flower flies mating on spiderwort

Three-lined Flower Moth on Dog Fennel

Difoliate Orbweaver spider     Acacesia hamata

Difoliate Orbweaver (Photo, courtesy of Heather)

Heather spotted this spider nestled in the tip of some vegetation. It’s pose is unusual: the first two pairs of legs bunched together and pointing forward, alongside the head. L. L. Gaddy reports, in Spiders of the Carolinas, that the species is nocturnal, building a 10 to 12 inch wide orb web.

Three-lined Flower Moth on Dog Fennel

SUMMARY OF OBSERVED SPECIES:

Joro Spider     Trichonephila clavata
Red-femured (Spotted) Orbweaver     Neoscona domiciliorum
Spiny-backed Orbweaver     Gasteracantha cancriformis
Common Bird’s Nest Fungi     Crucibulum laeve
Onion-stalk Parasol (Lepiota)     Leucocoprinus cepistipes
Passionflower Vine     Passiflora incarnata
Gulf Fritillary (caterpillar)     Agraulis vanillae
Virginia Tiger Moth (caterpillar)     Spilosoma virginica
Scarlet Morning Glory     Ipomoea coccinea
Yellow Crownbeard     Verbesina occidentalis
Common Wingstem     Verbesina alternifolia
Common Eastern Bumble Bee     Bombus impatiens
Tall Thistle     Cirsium altissimum
Fall Webworm Moth (caterpillar)     Hyphantria cunea
Eastern Leaf-footed Bug     Leptoglossus phyllopus
Princess Tree     Paulownia tomentosa
Strawberry Bush/Hearts-a-bustin’     Euonymus americanus
Camphorweed     Heterotheca subaxillaris, syn. H. latifolia
Eastern Tailed Blue butterfly     Cupido comyntas
Dogbane Saucrobotys Moth (caterpillar)     Saucrobotys futilalis
Smooth Sumac     Rhus glabra
Sumac Gall Aphid     Melaphis rhois
Deceiver mushroom     Laccaria laccata
Difoliate Orbweaver spider     Acacesia hamata
Late Flowering Boneset     Eupatorium serotinum
Common Evening Primrose     Oenothera biennis
Georgia Basil     Clinopodium georgianum
Stone Mountain Daisy     Helianthus porter, syn. Viguiera porteri
Great Blue Lobelia     Lobelia siphilitica
Cardinal Flower     Lobelia cardinalis
Cut-leaf Coneflower     Rudbeckia laciniata
Spotted Bee Balm     Monarda punctata
Great Black Digger Wasp     Sphex pensylvanicus
Green Lynx Spider     Peucetia viridans
Syrphid fly     Diptera: Syrphidae
Spiderwort     Tradescantia sp.
Grass-leaved Goldenaster     Pityopsis graminifolia, syn. Pityopsis nervosa
Dog Fennel     Eupatorium capilifolium
Three-lined Flower Moth     Schinia trifascia

Leader for today’s Ramble, Dale
Number of Ramblers today:  25
Don’s Facebook album with today’s photos is here. All the photos in this post are compliments of Don, unless otherwise credited.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=don.hunter.56&set=a.5052896818060176
Show and Tell:

Kathy showed us her Joro spider killing apparatus, a heavy duty cleaning glove, used to grab and squish the spiders.  She initially thought the Joros were squeaking when she squished them but later discovered, much to her relief, it was just air moving around inside the gloves.
 

Gary told of his efforts at removing the Joro spiders from a two to three acre area of the Garden.  He has killed the spiders, or most of them, and there have been no new webs created to replace the ones he has taken out.  Any new spiders seem to be smaller examples.
 

Heather told us the Garden has now endorsed and is encouraging the killing/removal of Joro spiders from areas where they are found at the Garden. Before killing any spider you should be certain of its identification. No guesses tolerated!
 

Carla brought a Sicklepod plant (Senna obtusifolia) from her garden.

Reading: Catherine read an excerpt from Charles and Emma:  The Darwins’ Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman.  It described their journey to Stonehenge, where Charles was eager to observe the worms in the soil around the giant stones and Emma was interested in the giant stones themselves, (To get to Stonehenge) 

“It would be a two-hour train ride and a 24 mile ride in a coach.  Emma was eager to see the stone monuments and the cathedral church at nearby Salisbury Plains.  But Charles was bent on going, chiefly for the worms.  He like the action of worms in different types of soils.  When they arrived at Stonehenge, the guard allowed him to dig as much as he wanted.  Charles was probably the only tourist, adult anyway, that paid more attention to the ground at Stonehenge than the monoliths”

Announcements:

hybrid event
TUESDAY: September 14
ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS SEMINAR SERIES

Darrel Morrison, CED Dean (1983-1991) and Professor emeritus
Designed Landscapes Inspired by Native Plant Communities

• IN-PERSON: September 14, 5:30 p.m., Jackson Street Building, Room 125
• VIRTUAL OPTION: Max. 500 attendees, free registration below.

*Register in advance for this webinar:
https://uga-ced.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_SPT_qbb0TcSdTor-QYGcIQ
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about
joining the webinar.

—————————————————————————————————————-

Here is the link for the First Friday Friends of the Garden video of the ZOOM meeting about Plant Records at the Garden.  The presenter is Emily James, Assistant Curator & Plant Records Manager.  Don highly recommends this presentation.
https://kaltura.uga.edu/media/t/1_svey7vys 

Today’s Route:   We left the arbor and headed into the Lower Shade Garden via the sidewalk adjacent to the new Children’s Garden comfort station.  We left the sidewalk and took the mulched path (White Trail Spur) below the Children’s Garden and headed down to the ROW.  After exiting the woods, we continued to the ROW, where we took a left and headed to the river.  At the river, we looked briefly down the Orange Trail to the left and up the White Trail along the river to the right.  We eventually headed back up the ROW to the road, stopping at the Passionflower vines on the deer fence at the Dunson Garden before we returned, via the road, to the Visitor Center.

LIST OF OBSERVATIONS:

Pergola (aka Arbor):

Spinyback Orbweaver closeup

This closeup of a Spinyback Orbweaver shows you where it gets its name. It and the photo below show some of the color variation in the species. Also seen in both  photos are two textures of silk: the thin silk and the fuzzier sections. This more conspicuous is called a stabilamentum, the same as the less scattered silk structures of other orbweavers. Its function is not known for sure. Many orb-weaving spiders “decorate” their webs with patches of different silk, but others leave their webs unadorned.  One hypothesis is that the stabilimentum makes the web more obvious so that birds will avoid flying into it. It’s a win-win situation. The bird avoids entangling its feathers with sticky silk and the spider doesn’t have to replace its web. This idea has some experimental support. Webs decorated with artificial stabilimenta were less frequently damaged than undecorated webs.

Spinyback Orbweaver with stabilimentum

Nearby the Spinyback web, at the edge of the Children’s Garden, is the web of a Joro spider, a species not seen in the USA until a few years ago. Since that time it has spread rapidly and the ecological consequences are as yet unknown.

.  

Joro spider on web A male Joro is just above the female.

Like most spiders, the Joro females are much larger than the males and are often eaten during the act of mating. Speaking of which, reproduction in orbweavers is pretty bizarre. Male spiders have a pair of short, leg-like appendages, called pedipalps, located near their fangs. Females have these, too, but they are smaller. The ends of the male pedipalps are swollen and contain complex coiled tubes. When a male is ready to mate he spins a special, small web of silk and deposits as drop of semen on it. It then dips the ends of the pedipalps into the drop and the seminal fluid is sucked up into the pedipalps. Now he is ready to go a’courting. He has located a female on her web and approaches her very carefully. She is much, much larger and, if she is hungry, is likely to make a meal of him. If he is lucky he will be able to insert the bulbous end of his pedipalps into her genital tract and  break off the end of the palp. The complex structures within the palp end pump the seminal fluid into the female’s reproductive tract. It is during this process that the female often seizes the male and begins to eat him. Some relatives of the Joro spider are known to break off one of their legs and offer it to the female. She enjoys the leg while he breaks off his pedipalp and escapes with his life and one pedipalp left for a future tryst.

White Trail Spur:

Shaggy-stalked Bolete

Bolete mushrooms generally appear from the ground. They have a distinct stalk and cap.The underside of the cap is where the spores are produced. Unlike the common grocery store mushrooms, this surface is not composed of gills in boletes. Instead, the spores are produced from the inner wall of thousands of tubes that make up the cap. All the tubes are oriented vertically, so when a spore is released it falls downward and exits the tube into the atmosphere. This dense packing of tubes gives the cap of a bolete mushroom a spongy feeling. Many boletes, including the Shaggy-stalked bolete, have a mycorrhizal relationship with tree roots.

A Snake worm, Crazy worm, Jumping worm, or what?

Here is a Link to a video that shows the white clitellum and behavior of a real Jumping worm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7EmmnHx3a8

Here is a link to an excellent NYT article on the ecological effect of Jumping worms: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/22/realestate/invasive-jumping-worm-garden-summer.html

Why I’m not sure this is a Jumping worm. In a true Jumping worm the clitellum is not raised, milky white in color and completely rings the body of the worm. In the worm we found the clitellum is not milky white. 

I’ve handled only two Jumping worms, 1 adult, about 6 to 7 inches in length and one smaller, about 3 inches long. Both were stout and muscular to feel as they struggled to escape. It’s a subjective experience, ordinary worms feel somewhat flaccid when you grip them. They don’t thrash much and their body feels like it is squeezing through your fingers. With the Jumping worm you’re surprised. It’s muscular and it’s trying to pry open an escape route, not just squeeze through an opening. I know this is a subjective description, but it’s the major reason that I don’t think this worm is the Jumping worm. It’s something else.

What is a clitellum? Most earthworms have a structure called a clitellum toward the front end of the worm. It is a swelling that encircles the worm’s body, as in the Jumping worm, or is just a saddle-like swelling. In either case, it produces the earthworm’s “cocoon.” This cocoon is secreted by the clitellum and slips foreward, like a toe-less sock, until it falls off the head end of the worm. In its journey foreward it passes the segments of the worm where the oviducts open. As the cocoon passes these segments the worm’s egg are discharged into the cocoon. When it slips off the head end the openings close and the cocoon is fully formed. It is a resistant structure, able to survive in the soil for a variable length of time. When conditions are right the eggs develop and the tiny worms escape into the soil. This is how worms can be easily dispersed when cocoon infested potting soil is transported to a new locality.
 

Violet-toothed Polypore fruiting bodies.

Violet-toothed Polypore Showing the underside of the fruiting body, the pore surface.

Violet-toothed Polypore fruiting bodies grow on dead wood. The spore-producing surface is porous. But the polypores are not mycorrhizal. Instead they rot the wood they grow on.

No violet color is apparent at this time but the pore surface on the undersides of the brackets look appropriately “toothy” with maybe a faint hint of purple on the thin edge 

ROW, including short section of in-the-open White Trail Spur exiting the woods:

Don introduced Dr. Carmen Blubaugh and her student, Avery Ryan. Dr. Blubaugh is an Assistant Professor in UGA’s Entomology department. Avery described the project they are working on. It will involve creating four planters in the ROW prairie, each with a single pollinator friendly plant. Each planter will have signage bearing information about the plants and their native habitat in the prairie.
 

Some of the candidate plants are currently blooming:

Verbesena virginica Frostweed (white flowers)

Verbesina occidentalis

Verbesina alternafolia

Helianthus strumosus Roughleaf Sunflower

Tall Thistle

Tall Ironweed

Tall Goldenrod

Goldenrod Soldier Beetle

Soldier beetles are commonly found feeding on pollen this time of year. Their wing covers are not hard, like many beetles, but leathery, like those of Fireflies, to which they are closely related, even though they lack a light organ.

Diamondback spittlebug

Heather noticed there were quite a few Diamondback spittlebugs in the tall vegetation.

Clavate Tortoise beetle larva

Heather found the larva of a Clavate Tortoise beetle on a Carolina Horsenettle.  

In the photo above the
larva is holding the brown object iver uts bacj, The brown object is a collection of dried fecal
material. The larva has a fork-shaped projection attached to its rear that
collects feces. This fork, with its load of poo, is held over the larva’s
back as either camouflage or a deterrent.

The adult beetle is just as strange.. Adult Tortoise beetles resemble their namesakes. Their body is surrounded by a carapace, an extension of the exoskeleton that extends outward enough to cover the legs and feet of the beetle. If it the beetle is disturbed its feet grip the surface and pull the carapace down until it’s snugly held against the leaf. It’s almost impossible to pry it off. The beetle sits tight until danger is past. Foe more information and great illustrations about this tortoise beetle visit this website.

Small White Morning Glory

Small White Morning Glory (It comes in pink, too.)

Velvet Ant female (Note: a wasp, not an ant.) (Perhaps a better mascot for UGA?)

Heather found a black and red Velvet Ant near the river bank. Velvet Ants are not ants — they are parasitic wasps.  Only the female wasps are wingless, the males have wings and, in many species, are colored so differently from the females that they were assumed to be different species. Females search the ground for the burrows of solitary wasps and, finding one, they enter the burrow and lay an egg on the pupa of the host wasp. After the egg hatches the larva devours the host insect and then pupates. The adult wasp appears the following year.

The exoskeleton of Velvet Ants is extra thick and strong, able to resist penetration by the sting of its prey if they should be encountered in their nest. Entomologists learn how thick the armor is when they bend their insect pins attempting to mount penetrate the body of a Velvet Ant. The sting is also very long, compared to other wasps. The sting is also quite painful. Justin Schmidt, author of The Sting of the Wild, describes it like this: “Explosive and long lasting, you sound insane as you scream. Hot oil from the deep fryer spilling over your entire hand.” Perhaps a little hyperbolic?

Orange Jewelweed Growing in the ditch next to the Canebreak

Short-wing Green Grasshopper Notice that the antennae are about as long as the face is high. This is typical of the true grasshoppers, family Acrididae.

Long-legged Fly

Root maggot Fly??

Spittlebug nymph

Avery discovered what he fondly called a “trashbug” on the vegetation. This is the larval form of a “nerve winged” insect, in the order Neuroptera. It was either a Green Lacewing or Brown Lacewing, (I didn’t hear the decision.) 
Lacewings are predators, both as larvae and adults. In addition to “trashbugs” the  larvae are also known as “aphid lions.” These names reference two aspect of their behavior: they kill and consume aphids and they decorate their back with the exoskeletons of their prey. 

A “trashbug” with its aphid victims on its back. The head with its sickle-shaped mandibles is at the bottom, center of the photograph.

The photo above shows the head of the Lacewing larva with its sickle-like mandibles that inject the aphid prey with digestive enzymes

Wolf Spider

Wolf spiders do not build webs. Instead, like their namesake, they actively hunt for their prey, running it down and catching it. Silk does play a role in their life — females make a spherical egg sac and carry it around attached to the spinnerets at the end of their abdomen. When the eggs hatch the young spiders ride around on their mothers back until they can fend for themselves. Their mother does not survive the winter; her offspring hibernate in leaf litter until the next spring.

Road, vicinity of split rail fence and deer fence at Dunson Garden:

Fruits of Virgin’s Bower

Red-femured Spotted Orbweaver

SUMMARY OF OBSERVED SPECIES:

Spinyback Orbweaver     Gasteracantha cancriformis
Joro Spider     Trichonephila clavata
Shaggy-stalked Bolete     Heimioporus betula
Asian Jumping Worm     Amynthas sp.??
Jack-in-the-Pulpit     Arisaema triphyllum
Violet-toothed Polypore mushroom     Trichaptum biforme
White Crownbeard     Verbesina virginica
Yellow Crownbeard     Verbesina occidentalis
Rough Sunflower     Helianthus strumosus
Tall Thistle     Cirsium altissimum
Tall Ironweed     Vernonia gigantea
Common Wingstem     Verbesina alternifolia
Tall Goldenrod     Solidago altissima
Goldenrod Soldier Beetle     Chauliognathus pensylvanicus
Diamondback Spittlebug     Lepyronia quadrangularis
Clavate Tortoise Beetle     Plagiometriona clavata
Small White Morning Glory     Ipomoea lacunosa
White-lip Globe Snail     Mesodon thyroidus
Red Velvet/Cow Killer Ant     Dasymutilla occidentalis
Orange Jewelweed     Impatiens capensis
Short-wing Green Grasshopper     Dichromorpha viridis
Root-maggot Fly (tentative ID)     Pegomya sp. ??
Long-legged Fly     Diptera: Dolichopodidae
Two-lined Spittlebug (nymph)     Prosapia bicincta
Lacewing (Aphid lion)     Neuroptera: Chrysopidae
Wolf Spider     Family Lycosidae
Virgin’s Bower Clematis     Clematis virginiana
Red-femured Spotted Orbweaver     Neoscona domiciliorum

 
Leader for today’s Ramble: Linda, Emily
Link to Don’s Facebook album for this Ramble, All the photos in this post are compliments of Don Hunter, unless otherwise credited.
Number of Ramblers today: 28
Reading:  Emily read the entry for September 6th in Donald Culross Peattie’s “An Almanac for Moderns”.

Continue reading →

Leader for today’s Ramble: Linda
Link to Don’s Facebook album for this Ramble
Number of Ramblers today: 28
Today’s emphasis & Route: Flowering plants in Elaine Nash Prairie Project/Georgia Power right-of-way, via the Lower Shade Garden and White Trail Spur.

Reading: Emily read the entry on Pawpaw from A Natural History of Trees of Eastern and Central North America by Donald Culross Peattie.

   The first reference to this curious species of an otherwise notably tropical family occurs in the chronicles of Desoto’s expedition in the Mississippi valley in 1541, for naturally an edible fruit of such size was important to a host of conquistadores always near starvation. But, after that, for two centuries the Pawpaw flourished unknown save by wild animals and red men, until Mark Catesby delineated it in his Natural History of Carolina, that master work whose plates are fresh with wilderness still.
   Once abundant in the Mississippi valley, where it formed dense thickets of wide extent, the Pawpaw is today in the northeastern stages only a scattered understory tree, though to the south it may become 30 to 40 feet tall, with a straight trunk more than a foot in diameter. Everything about it is odd and unforgettable. The leaves are among the largest in our sylva, and in autumn, when they turn a butter yellow, they are the mellowest of the season’s tones. The flowers, with their exotic look borrowed from tropical relatives, hardly seem to belong to the cool vernal world on which they open. At first green the petals soon turn brown, and then they become a dark winy color, with an odor to match, a remembrance of fermenting purple grapes. As to the fruit, the better it grows, the uglier, for it is only when it is thoroughly mature, in late fall, that it is edible. At first the skin is greenish yellow; gradually it darkens, and when it is nearly black. wrinkled, and looks unappetizing – in October or November – at last the yellow or orange flesh is soft, custardy, and palatable.
   Pawpaws have had their enthusiasts from the days of the Creeks. Cheraws, and Catawbas, who often planted them, to the present. Such wood-wise people know that there are good and bad trees, as to flavor, and have long insisted that selection would soon result in marked improvement of the fruit; in general, the orange· fleshed variety is considered much more tasty. Pawpaws were made into a jelly by the early settlers, and still in southern towns sometimes appear in the markets. The seeds contain a powerful alkaloid which, it has been noted, has a stupefying effect on the brains of animals, yet opossums are great Pawpaw eaters, and raccoons and gray squirrels also appreciate the fruit.
   For the wood there are no uses, but the inner bark was woven into fiber cloth by the Louisiana Indians, and the pioneers employed it for stringing fish. In its range a characteristic part of American country life, the Pawpaw, for all its exotic kinship, seems an intensely native tree, above all in the frosty autumn, when the leaves droop witherIng on the stem and the great plashy fruits hang preposterously heavy on the twigs.

Show and Tell: 

Pawpaw fruits showing variation in size. Contrary to Peattie’s description, these were ripe when the skin was turning yellow and the fruit felt soft.

Largest Pawpaw sliced open showing the yellow flesh and black seeds. The seeds are each surrounded by an aril, similar to persimmon seeds.

Over twenty years ago Emily and Dale planted three Pawpaws in their backyard. It took them fifteen years before that produced the first fruit, which disappeard before it could be harvested. The three trees have suckered profusely and they now have a real Pawpaw patch. It’s produced a lot of fruit and Emily brought samples for the Ramblers to taste. Dale didn’t think they were as delicious as the one he ate 62 years ago.

Dangerous eating

One of the Ramblers was interested in using Dog Fennel to spice up their salad because it smelled like Dill. DON’T DO IT. Dog Fennel is covered wtth a dangerous substance called a pyrrolizidine alkaloid. It can cause fatal liver damage if eaten. Cattle and horses have been killed by inadvertently eating Dog Fennel that was mixed with hay.
 

Announcements/Interesting Things to Note:
”       Sean Cameron, Education Coordinator at the Garden, talked to us about the joint State Botanical Garden-U.S. Forest Service iNaturalist native plant project to document native plants and their habitats on U. S. Forest Service lands in the piedmont and north Georgia.  The project is geared towards documenting existing pollinator habitat and identifying areas that can be developed with pollinators in mind. See this website for more information:
iNaturalist:    https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/georgia-grasslands-initiative-ggi

”       Roger mentioned that Sandy Creek Nature Center is still in need of trail guides.  Contact Kate Mowbray at 706/613/3615 or Katemobray@accgov.com

”       Several people asked about access to the new Porcelain Arts Museum. Sign up for a free tour with a docent here:  https://botgarden.uga.edu/porcelain-and-decorative-arts-museum-timed-access-now-available/

LIST OF OBSERVATIONS:

Lower Shade Garden:

Cardinal Flowers

It comes as no surprise that Cardinal Flower –  with its bright red tubular blooms – is pollinated by Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds, drawn to the copious nectar produced by glands on the inside of the tube. The flowers open from the bottom of the flower cluster up – this is obvious in Don’s photo where withered flowers are hanging on to the lower portion of the cluster while fresh flowers are open at the top. Each flower goes through two phases. First, the stamens, tipped with brush-like anthers, emerge from the tube and present their pollen (“male phase”), as you can see in the close-up photo below. Then, as that flower matures, the stamens wither and are replaced by the style and stigma in the same position (“female phase”). Meanwhile, freshly opened “male phase” flowers higher up in the cluster are beginning to present their pollen. Since hummingbirds work a flower cluster from the bottom up, they visit the lower “female phase” flowers first on a particular plant, ideally contacting the stigmas and leaving behind pollen picked up from the topmost “male phase” flowers of a previously visited plant. As you can see in Jen Goellnitz’s photo, the hummingbird’s head brushes nicely up against the upper part of the flower, either depositing or picking up pollen, depending on whether the flower is in its “female” or “male” phase.

Close-up of single Cardinal flower photo by Helen Lowe Metzman, public domain, https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/lobelia-cardinalis-3-cardinal-flower-howard-county-md

Image of Hummingbird hovering over a Cardinal Flower bloom, photo by Jen Goellnitz, https://www.flickr.com/photos/goellnitz/36414685015

Swallowtail butterflies are also attracted by the bright color of Cardinal flowers. Even though there is no landing platform for them to rest on while they sip nectar, they grasp the petals and insert their proboscis down the floral tube. However, their shape is not as perfectly fitted for the Cardinal flower as are hummingbirds and they are less effective as pollinators.

Virginia Jumpseed Style branches, with curled stigmas, protrude from the tips of the flowers

Variegated Virginia Jumpseed is a cultivar of the native Virginia Jumpseed (or Knotweed), horticulturally selected for its colorful leaves and flowers. Typical of all species in the Smartweed Family, there is a sleeve of tissue at the base of each leaf that wraps around the stem; this sleeve is called an ocrea. Although tiny, these inconspicuous flowers attract a variety of bees and wasps.

Surprise Lily aka Hurricane Lily, Red Spider Lily, and Naked Ladies is in the Amaryllis Family.

Bristly fruits of the Canada Black Snakeroot.

The exotic invasive, Sweet Autumn Clematis, has grown into the canopy of trees along the White Trail. As of this writing, Gary has treated the stout basal stem of this plant with herbicide. (photo by Gary Crider)

Sensitive Partridge Pea The leaflets fold up when touched, a reaction believed to discourage browsing.

Trailing Lespedeza is a mat-forming member of the Bean Family.

Arrowhead Orbweaver at rest on web.

Tom and Halley found this Arrowhead Orbweaver wrapping its prey in silk (multiple strands of silk emerging from spinnerets)

Elaine Nash Prairie Project/ROW:

Spotted Bee-balm (or Horsemint) flowers are yellow with maroon spots, but they are upstaged by the pink bracts that surround the base of each whorl of flowers.

Avis pointed out mud tunnels made by termites on the sides and top of a wooden stake in the edge of the ROW

If you ever see mud tunnels on the side of your house’s foundation you probably should call a Pest Control Service.

Seed heads of Big Top Lovegrass, one of the earlier warm-season grasses to flower.

Cone-headed Katydid The antennae are longer than the body and the head is cone-shaped.

Flowering Spurge flowers lack petals. The white structures are actually appendages of nectar glands.

A Grasshopper nymph; notice how short the antennae are, compared to the Katydid, above.

Rose-pink or Bitterbloom, an atypical member of the Gentian Family.

St. Andrew’s Cross, a member of the St. John’s-wort genus, Hypericum

Yellow Star-grass – not a grass but a close relative of the irises.

 
Introduction to the Aster Family

Late summer, early fall is the season of the Aster Family, also known as the Composite Family. The latter name refers to the flower heads that are typical of this family, each head being a composite of two types of flowers that, together, superficially resembles a single flower. The classic composite flower head has a central disk of many tiny flowers, surrounded by a showy whorl of ray flowers, the whole thing held together by a cup-shaped structure called an involucre (in-voe-loo-ker). The involucre is made up of few to many tiny bracts. Though small these bracts are important for identifying members of this family. Are they solid green in color or marked with white diamonds or red edging? Are they hairy or smooth? Do they have long, tapering points or blunt triangular points or no points at all? Do they cling tightly to the base of the head or curl outwards? These involucre features are important for separating the many look-alike members of this family.

Red-margined involucral bracts

The eponymous members of this family are the asters: Georgia Aster, New England Aster, Heath Aster, and many (many) more in our region. In the New World, the genus Aster is now split up and scattered across several genera; in Georgia, we have seven genera of plants that were once in the single genus Aster. The Europeans got to keep their Asters; us New World plant lovers get to learn a lot of new Latin names. Sigh.

Georgia Aster, with white and purple disk flowers and purple ray flowers, blooms in October and early November. It is now in the genus Symphyotrichum.

Some of the most common and conspicuous of the late summer composites are sunflowers, in the genus Helianthus. They are typical composites, with flower heads composed of a central disk of maroon or yellow flowers and a whorl of golden ray flowers.

Woodland Sunflower – both disk and ray flowers are yellow.

Once you’ve accepted the fact that Composite Family “flowers” are actually flower heads made up of many disk flowers and ray flowers, it is time to face another fact – that some members of this family are black sheep, flouting the rules that define this family. One group of these scofflaws discarded its rays and has only disk flowers while another group of species dispensed with disk flowers and has only rays.

Disk-only flower heads are especially common in late summer and fall bloomers. Think of the ironweeds, thistles, blazing stars, and Joe-Pye-weeds that light up roadsides, rights-of-way, ditches, and gardens in late August. These disk flowers are relatively large and most have long, colorful style branches that raise the sticky stigma surfaces up into wind-blown currents of pollen grains. These showy features play the role that ray flowers typically do: they attract pollinators.

Tall Thistle

Blazing Star

Elephant’s Foot

Ray-only flowers seem to predominate in the spring and early summer – think Dandelion, Green-and-Gold, Carolina Desert-chicory, Hawkweeds, and Chicory – though they are found in the fall too.

Both types of flower heads have the all-important involucre and both types are the result of the same evolutionary pressures: to make available to pollinators multiple flowers in a small space. In a single visit, a pollinator is able to probe and pollinate several (or many, depending on the species) flowers. This pollination efficiency has allowed the composite family to diversify into the highest number of species (32,000+) of all the plant families and to spread across all the continents but Antarctica.

 SUMMARY OF OBSERVED
SPECIES:

Passionflower     Passiflora incarnata

Cardinal flower     Lobelia cardinalis

Variegated Jumpseed     Persicaria virginiana

Sanicle/Black
Snakeroot     Sanicula
sp.

Surprise/Hurricane
Lily     Lycoris radiata

Sweet Autumn
Clematis     Clematis terniflora

Sensitive
Partridge Pea     Chamaecrista nictitans

Creeping-bush
Clover     Lespedeza
repens

Arrowhead
Orbweaver     Verrucosa arenata

Two-lined
Spittlebug     Prosapia bicincta

Spotted Horsemint     Monarda punctata

Elephant’s
Foot     Elephantopus tomentosus

Dog Fennel     Eupatorium capillifolium

White
Crownbeard     Verbesina virginica

Big Top
Lovegrass     Eragrostis hirsuta

Cone-headed
Katydid     Neoconocephalus
sp.

Virginia
Buttonweed     Diodia virginiana

Purple-top/Grease
Grass    Tridens flavus

Flowering
Spurge     Euphorbia corollata

Late
Flowering Thoroughwort     Eupatorium
serotinum

Rabbit
Tobacco     Pseudognaphalium
obtusifolium

Grasshopper          Orthoptera: Acrididae

Autumn Olive     Elaeagnus umbellata

Rose Pink    Sabatia angularis

St. Andrew’s
Cross     Hypericum
hypericoides

Yellow Star
Grass     Hypoxis hirsuta

Mountain Mint     Pycnanthemum pycnanthemoides

Blazing Star
Liatris     Liatris
sp.

Tall Thistle     Cirsium altissimum

Keeled
Treehopper (nymph)     Entylia
carinata

Leader for today’s Ramble: Linda
Link to Don’s Facebook album for this Ramble.
Number of Ramblers today: 26
Today’s emphasis:  Looking for pollinators in the Flower Garden, via the American South, China and Asia, Native and Endangered Plants and Native American Southeastern Tribes sections and the Herb and Physic Garden.  This was one last refresher on identifying basic types of pollinators in advance of the upcoming Great Georgia Pollinator Census, August 20-21, 2021.
Reading: Bob Ambrose treated us to a recitation of one of his poems: Jurassic Dreams and Katydids.
Show and Tell: Bob found a dead annual cicada on the walk down from the parking lot.  Dale thinks it succumbed to a cicada fungus disease/infection. There are 17 species of annual cicadas in Georgia, though not all occur in the Athens area. 

Announcements:
Emily reminded us that it is Dale’s birthday.  We sang Happy Birthday to him, much to his chagrin. 

Today’s Route:   From the pergola (arbor) to the Flower Bridge and through the China and Asia Section, stopping  at the Threatened and Endangered Plants bed, then through the Native American Southeastern Tribes Section, continuing on the shaded woodland trail from the Herb and Physic Garden down to the Flower Garden.  We wandered the Flower Garden paths looking for pollinators before heading back to the Visitor Center.
LIST OF OBSERVATIONS:

Fragile Dapperling mushroom, cap fully expanded.

Fragile Dapperling mushroom; cap starting to open.;

Don spotted these
lovely Fragile Dapperling mushrooms on his way to the arbor and said: “I
would have to rate the common name for this one as one of my favorites
among all living things.”

American South Section: 

Common Eastern Bumblebee on Downy Sweet Pepperbush

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on Downy Sweet Pepperbush

Red Bristle Fly on Downy Sweet Pepperbush

The three insects above were visiting the spikes of fragrant flowers on Downy Sweet Pepperbush. This is one of our best native shrubs for attracting pollinators including butterflies, hummingbirds, honey bees, bumblebees, and other native bees. Sweet Pepperbush flowers abundantly even in the shade, so makes a great addition to native plant and pollinator gardens.

Elephant’s Foot

Gary’s mother, Minnie Crider, calls Elephant’s Foot “Soldiers Plantain” because soldiers ate it for survival during the Civil War. This article reports that it also has anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties: 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2005290109600698

Joro spider, enlarged view, not yet full adult size.

Joro spider capture web. The sticky strands are in groups of four or five and separated from other similar strand groups by a slightly larger space. In addition, one of the outer sticky strands sometime joins a strand group next to it. You’ll have to click on the photo to enlarge it enough to see this.

A Joro Spider orb and ancillary webs forming a three dimensional aerial structure.  Several other Joro webs were seen in the same shrub. These smaller webs are occupied by smaller spiders, possibly immature males hoping they will get lucky when the larger female matures. The Joros are related to the Banana spiders found along the coast and into Florida. 

Joros were first noticed in Georgia only 8 years ago, Joro Spiders have spread far and wide and their numbers appear to be increasing rapidly; the impact on native spider populations is unknown. More information is here: https://news.uga.edu/joro-spiders-are-here-to-stay/

Turtlehead

Turtleheads are in flower in the Bartram section of the International Garden. Both their common name and scientific name, Chelone, refer to the shape of the flower when viewed in profile. Chelone is the genus of sea turtles that includes Loggerhead, Kemp’s Ridley, and others.

Creeping Cucumber Note the tiny flowers

Fruit of Creeping Cucumber (photo credit: Bob Peterson, Creative Commons)

Creeping Cucumber or Melonette is a native member of the Cucumber Family. Its tiny yellow flowers produce inch-long melons that look like miniature watermelons.

Mulberry Weed

Mulberry Weed is a rapidly spreading exotic first seen in the U.S. in Louisiana in the 1950s, now spread throughout the eastern U.S. and along the Pacific coast. It is one many nemeses of gardeners in our region.

White Surprise Lily

White Surprise Lily, native to Japan, is in flower along the trail to the Threatened and Endangered Species Garden.

Threatened and Endangered Plant Bed

Ovate Catchfly

Oval-leaved Campion is thriving in the Threatened and Endangered garden. The flowers appear to have many, very narrow petals but in fact there are only five, each deeply dissected into eight fringe-like sections. Only 16 populations of this species are known in Georgia from 11 counties, including Clarke, where it grows near the Middle Oconee River.

Royal Catchfly

Another member of the genus Silene is also in flower today, the scarlet-flowered Royal Catchfly. There are only 4 populations of this gorgeous prairie species in Georgia where it is at the edge of its range.

Native American Southeastern Tribes Section

Asiatic Dayflower

Asiatic Dayflower was introduced from East Asia to the U.S. as a garden plant and has spread to disturbed (and some natural) areas throughout most of the country.

Living Roof

The “living roof” of the equipment shed is thriving in this wet summer.

Trail from the Herb and Physic Garden to the Flower Garden

Late-flowering Thoroughwort

Late-flowering Boneset or Thoroughwort, so named for its many medicinal uses in pioneer days, including treating broken bones.

Sweet Autumn Clematis

Sweet Autumn Clematis, native to east Asia, is blooming as it continues to climb high into a tree along the edge of the trail spur below the Heritage Garden. Its leaflets have entire margins – maybe a little wavy but not at all toothed. That’s the most reliable way to distinguish it from native Virgin’s Bower (Clematis virginiana), another high-climbing vine with sweetly fragrant flowers. Virgin Bower’s leaflets are sharply toothed. Both species’ flowers lack petals; along with the fragrance, it is the showy white sepals that draw in pollinators, including bees, wasps, butterflies, and moths.

Green-eyed Susan with a Double-banded scoliid wasp

Green-eyed Susan with Common European Greenbottle fly and thread-wasted wasp.

Green-eyed Susan/Cut-leaf Coneflower hosting a Double-banded Scoliid Wasp, Common European Greenbottle Fly, and an unidentified thread-waisted wasp.

Chamber Bitters

Chamber Bitters is a low, sprawling, annual weed, native to tropical Southeast Asia and now spread globally in tropical and temperate climates. It forms tiny yellow flowers – on the underside of stems at the base of each leaf – that develop into small round fruits. Its closely spaced, alternate leaves resemble the compound leaves of Mimosa and earn it an alternative common name, Mimosa Weed. Another garden nemesis!
 

Flower Garden

Fiery Skipper

Silver-spotted Skipper

Horace’s Duskywing

Three species of skippers (Fiery Skipper, Horace’s Duskywing and Silver-spotted Skipper) were visiting Lantana in the Flower Garden.

Common Buckeye

A Common Buckeye was seen busily visiting a number of different garden plants.

The pollen baskets of this Bumblebee are packed with red-colored pollen.

Bumblebees and Honey Bees were busily working at large bed of flowering Basil. The pollen baskets – corbiculae – of all these bees were packed with red pollen, source unknown.

Redwing flowers

Redwing fruits

Jim, the Flower Garden curator, showed us a shrubby vine called Redwing bearing five-petaled,  yellow flowers and pinkish-red fruits resembling those of maples, each with two- or three-winged seeds that are wind-borne.  This type of dry, winged fruit is called a samara. Redwing is native to South America.

Hibiscus flower with column bearing the anthers below the five stigmatic surfaces at the end. The nectaries are at the base of the column.

“Hibiscus Row” near the eastern edge of the Flower Garden features several large-flowered species and cultivars of Hibiscus bearing red, pink, or white flowers. Our native Scarlet Rose-mallow, with its petals distinctively narrowed at the base, is included. Hibiscus flowers have quite distinctive reproductive parts. The stalks (filaments) of its numerous stamens are fused into a hollow tube, with the pollen-bearing anthers separating and curving away from the sides of the column. Growing up through and out the tip of the tube is the style topped with five stigmas that capture pollen and provide the moisture for it to germinate. This structure – many fused stamens enclosing the pistil – is called a “androgynophore,” literally male-female-bearing. Below the petals is a cup-shaped, 5-parted calyx, and below that is a whorl of numerous narrow bracts called the epicalyx. This combination of androgynophore and epicalyx is unique to the Mallow family and is found in all Hibiscus species.

Honey Bee at the bottom of a Hibiscus flower.

We saw numerous insects and one or more hummingbirds visiting these enticing flowers. They are drawn by the bright colors and the promise of nectar that is produced at the base of the flower. It is not clear as of this writing how a bee or other smallish insect crawling around the base of the flower manages to transfer pollen to the stigmas, several inches away, if at all. Perhaps all the pollination is carried out by the flapping of hummingbird wings, similar to swallowtails and wild azaleas? Stay tuned.

Hibiscus flowers are open for only one day. To prevent self-pollination, the stigma and the pollen-bearing anthers in a given flower will “ripen” at different times of the day. However, if cross-pollination does not occur by the end of the day, the styles will curl downwards, bringing the stigmas into contact with the anthers and effecting self-pollination. Even though self-pollination usually results in offspring with less genetic diversity (called inbreeding depression) than the offspring of cross-pollination, evolution has apparently “decided” that depressed offspring are better than no offspring at all.

Sumac galls (photo by Bob Ambrose)

At the bottom of the Flower Garden some of us discovered numerous pouch-like swellings on the Sumac leaves and midvein. These are the work of an aphid, called the Suman Gall Aphid. In the spring, as the sumac is producing leaves, it is visited by an aphid that lays a single egg, usually on the mid-veine. 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 leave the gall 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 more sumac, completing the life cycle. Visit this website for a lot of excellent photographs of the galls and the aphids.
We opened several of the thin-walled galls and found them filled with white fuzz. It didn’t dawn on me what this was until much latter: the cast off exoskeletons of hundreds in not thousands of aphids. Each aphid molts five times before reaching reproductive age. Given the exponential rate of increase of the aphids and multiplying by five and you get a gall filled with white fluff.

SUMMARY OF OBSERVED SPECIES:

Fragile Dapperling      Leucocoprinus fragilissimus
Downy Sweet Pepperbush Clethra tomentosa (syn.Clethra tomentosa var. pubescens)
Common Eastern Bumblebee     Bombus impatiens
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly     Papilio glaucus
Bristle (Tachinid) Fly     Juriniopsis adusta
Elephant’s Foot     Elephantopus tomentosus
White Wood Aster     Eurybia divaricata
Joro Spider     Trichonephila clavata
Turtleheads     Chelone sp.
Bottlebrush Buckeye     Aesculus parviflora
Camelia     Camelia sp.
Melonette     Melothria pendula
Mulberry Weed     Fatoua villosa
White Surprise Lily     Lycoris albiflora
Oval-leaved Campion     Silene ovata
Royal Catchfly     Silene regia
Japanese Stilt Grass     Microstegium vimineum
Asiatic Dayflower     Commelina communis
Goldenrod     Solidago sp.
Black Cohosh     Actaea racemosa
Late-flowering Thoroughwort/Boneset     Eupatorium serotinum
Sweet Autumn Clematis     Clematis terniflora
Green-eyed Susan/Cut-leaf Coneflower     Rudbeckia laciniata
Double-banded Scoliid Wasp     Scolia bincincta
Common European Greenbottle Fly [     Lucilla sericata
Thread-waisted Wasp     Family Sphecidae
Chamber Bitters Phyllanthus urinaria
Lantana     Lantana camara
Fiery Skipper     Hylephila phyleus
Horace’s Duskywing Skipper     Erynnis horatius
Silver-spotted Skipper     Epargyreus clarus
Common Buckeye butterfly     Junonia coenia
Redwing     Heteropterys glabra
Hibiscus cultivars   Hibiscus sp.
Scarlet Rose-mallow Hibiscus coccinea
Sumac Gall Aphid    Melaphis rhois

Leader for today’s Ramble: Dale

Authors of today’s Report: Linda (plants), Dale (animals)
Link to Don’s Facebook album for this Ramble. All photographs in this post were taken by Don Hunter unless otherwise credited.
Number of Ramblers today: 30
Today’s emphasis:  Looking for pollinators in the flower beds at the Porcelain and Decorative Arts Museum, the Herb and Physic Garden, the Heritage Garden and the Flower Garden.  This was a refresher on identifying basic types of pollinators in advance of the upcoming Great Georgia Pollinator Census, August 20-21, 2021
Reading:  Dale read an excerpt from the August 12 entry in An Almanac for Moderns, by Donald Culross Peattie.

One can never look long In the August sky without beholding a shooting star, for the trail of the Perseids is spun fine at each end; only last night and tonight we pass through the thick node of them. If we ask ourselves what is a meteor – fragment of the lost planet between Mars and Jupiter, messenger from the farthest stars, or bit of a vanished comet – there seems no certain answer. The Perseids are thought to be traveling in the same orbit as that of Tuttle’s comet of 1862, and to be a part of it. But what, after all, is a comet? Nothing more ghostly exists in time or space; it rushes at us out of a black hole of space, trails a fire that does not burn, a light that is no light, and looping close to the sun, vanishes again into space – to return at the appointed time when the sea of darkness again gives up its dead; or, more terrible still, never to return from its Avernus.
Note: Avernus is a volcano located near Naples, Italy

Show & Tell:

Carla brought some Purple Coneflower suffering from yellow asters disease. For more information about the yellow asters disease read this data sheet. Announcements:
”       Emily made a plea for considering use of masks while we are rambling in close quarters.
”       Don mentioned the Slime Mold experiment to be conducted on the International Space Station.
”       Gary “apologized” for his misinformation about snail sex last week.
 

Today’s Route: The Porcelain and Decorative Arts center garden beds, then to the Physic Garden, Freedom Plaza and the Heritage Garden.
 

OBSERVATIONS:

Three-nerved Joe-Pye-Weed flower heads.

The new beds around the Porcelain Museum feature a cultivar of Three-nerved Joe-Pye-Weed called “Little Joe.” Three-nerved Joe-Pye-Weed is found primarily in the Coastal Plain and is uncommon in Georgia. It has a narrow, hard, solid stem. The Joe-Pye-Weed we north Georgia folks are most familiar with is Hollow-stem Joe-Pye-Weed; its stem is wider and, since it is hollow, gives under pressure. The north Georgia species can reach 11 feet in height, while “Little Joe” is typically 3-4 feet tall. Both of these species are pollinator magnets and are good candidates for the Great Georgia Pollinator Census coming up on August 20-21. Joe Pye is believed to have been a Native American herbalist. Leaves and roots of these species have been used to treat a wide variety of illnesses from rheumatism to impotence.

Swamp Milkweed plants

Hundreds of Swamp Milkweed were planted in the garden area behind the Porcelain Museum to attract Monarch butterflies. We saw several adults and caterpillars. There are two varieties of Swamp Milkweed; ours is variety pulchra, with the common name of Eastern Swamp Milkweed. Since this bed was planted only recently, few of the plants flowered this summer. In coming years, this bed will be a sea of dark pink flower heads earning the name “pulchra” –  Latin for “beautiful.”

Sweet Bay Magnolia flower

Sweet Bay Magnolia aggregate fruit

Sweet Bay Magnolia ripe fruits

Sweet Bay Magnolia trees behind the Museum are laden with an unusual kind of fruit called an “aggregate,” so called because it develops from many separate pistils held in a single flower. The aggregate starts out as a small, green, lumpy fist; shortly, the lumps (individual pistils) blush pink as they swell into separate, one-seeded fruits, each with a noticeable line where they will eventually open. Finally, at maturity, each fruit opens and a bright red seed emerges. Aggregate fruits are found in the oldest flowering plants such as magnolias and blackberries. It is thought that, over millions of years of evolution, the ovaries of more modern plants, such as apples and blueberries, fused into a single fruit thought to be more attractive to fruit-eating animals.
 

Purple Coneflowers

Purple Coneflowers provide nectar throughout the day, which makes them especially valuable to their pollinators; most other day-flowering plants produce the most nectar in the morning. Insects search for nectar in the tiny, orange flowers found in the central “cone”; the showy, pink ray flowers are just “for looks,” drawing in pollinators. However, the jury is still out on whether cultivars, such as this one, provide pollen and nectar of the same quality and quantity as do the straight species. For a good discussion of this issue, see: https://xerces.org/blog/cultivar-conundrum
 

Cock’s Comb inflorescence

Cock’s Comb Seed producing flowers on stem

Cock’s Comb seeds on stem

Cock’s Comb is such a strange-looking plant. The large inflorescence looks like a brain with none of the features we expect from a typical flower. But its bright color attracts bees that probe for nectar in the inconspicuous, seed-producing flowers that crowd the stems just below the showy crest. Amazingly, it is an important food plant in large parts of the tropical world: “[Related] to amaranth, the cockscomb is…the most widely used leafy vegetable in southern Nigeria, and is also part of the diet in Benin, Congo and Indonesia…Even young stems and flowers are eaten.” (Wikipedia) the shiny black seeds shown in Don’s photo are also eaten.
 

A small area of the new museum garden is dedicated to aquatic and wetland plants such as Venus’s Flytrap, Horse-tails, Spider Lilies, and White-topped Sedge.
 

Flowers of White-topped Sedge, with bright white floral bracts, are the only sedge flowers pollinated by insects. Other members of this family have green flowers that are wind-pollinated.

Blue Sage has the conspicuously two-lipped flowers of the mint family.

Colorful leaves and flowers of a cotton cultivar.

Flowers of the Loofah plant.

Why it’s safe to watch foraging bees and wasps.
 No one wants to be stung, so why should we not be worried about getting stung when we’re close enough to identify the bees?

First, what bees and wasps will sting you? Most stings come from the social bees and wasps. These are the honey bees, bumble bees, paper wasps, yellow jackets and hornets. Among these social insects there is a division of labor among the females in the nest or hive. Some of the workers stay in the hive and take care of the larvae, feeding them and repairing the nest and defending the nest. It is the nest defenders that will rush out and sting if you draw near and/or disturb the nest. The foragers that we see on flowers are intent on their job: gathering pollen and/or nectar. They are focused on that activity and will not be disturbed by your presence. The only way you will be stung by a forager is if you physically restrain them. 

Also, keep in mind that wasps are carnivores. They are hunting for caterpillars or other arthropods. When they visit flowers they are looking for a little nectar to fuel their search for something to eat. While preoccupied in that search they won’t bother you. So don’t hesitate to get your face up close to the flowers to see what is really going on.  

Of course, if you have an allergic reaction to bee or wasp stings don’t expose yourself to any risk, no matter how small.

Why are bees so good at pollination?

Bees are covered in bristles and those bristles are branched. This makes them much more effective in gathering pollen all over their body. They are so effective that plant breeders often use the thoraxes of dead honey bees to cross polinate their plants. If bee thoraxes aren’t available cotton swabs can be used, but they’re not as good.

Fiery Skipper on Vervain Notice how the wings are held a different angles.

Ocola Skipper on Vervain The hind wings are held horizontally, the front wings almost vertically.

Are skippers butterflies?

The short answer to this question is: skippers are a type of butterfly. Butterflies fly diring the day, have club-shaped antennae, generally hold their wings together over their back when at rest, have small bodies in comparison to the size of their wings. 

Skippers fly during the day, have club-shaped antennae, but the club ends with a pointed hook, generally hold their hind wings horizontally and their front wings slightly open, have large, fuzzy bodies in comparison to the size of their wings. The question is really about are they different enough to merit a status equivalent to that of the butterflies. At one time the skippers were classified in the superfamily Hesperiodea and the butterflies in the superfamily Papilionoidea. More redent classification puts the skippers in the superfamily Papilionoidea along with the other butterlies. It really amounts to expanding what was formerly considered a butterfly to include the skippers. Is a compact car a sedan or a SUV?   

QUESTIONS ABOUT BUTTERFLIES

How do male Tiger Swallowtails differ from females? 

Females
tend to be larger than males. The upper side of the hind wings has a
black border in both males and females, but in females, this border is
also heavily dusted with blue scales. (see photographs)

Male Tiger Swallowtail The outer edge of the hind wings has a black border.

Female Tiger Swallowtail The black border of the hing wings has prominent blue markings.

Why are some Tiger Swallowtails largely black? 

A Tiger Swallowtail with the yellow regions of the wings replaced by dark melanin pigment. The border of the hind wings has blue markings, so it is a female.

The dark form of the Tiger Swallowtail is due to the production of a pigment called melanin in all the wing scales that would normally be yellow. This pigment is the same as that produced by your own skin cells when exposed to sunlight. The melanistic color pattern is only found in some females. All the males sport the yellow and black tiger pattern, while females can be either melanic or yellow and black. The melanic coloration is controlled by a single gene that is expressed only in females. Males can carry this gene, but it will not be expressed. The percentage of melanistic females in a population varies from zero to > 75%. The highest number of melanic females are found in areas where another dark-colored butterfly, the Pipevine Swallowtail, is also common. In areas where the Pipevine Swallowtail is less common there are fewer melanistic Tiger Swallowtails. In the northern states the Pipevine does not occur and all the Tiger Swallowtails are black and yellow..

How does the presence or absence of Pipevine Swallowtails affect how common melanistic Tiger Swallowtails are? 

Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillars feed on plants in the Pipevine family Aristolochiaceae. These plants contain a very toxic substance, aristolochic acid, that the Pipevine caterpillar stores in its body. The toxic substance is transferred to the adult butterfly during metamorphosis, making the adult butterfly both distasteful and toxic. (This is like the Monarch butterfly, but the toxic material is different.) When naïve birds are offered a Pipevine Swallowtail to eat they swallow the butterfly and then immediately retch and vomit it up. This single experience is enough to keep a bird from eating another one, or any butterfly that resembles a Pipevine Swallowtail. (Naive birds will eat a melanic Tiger Swallowtail, but not after first eating a Pipevine Swallowtail. 

This similarity is an example of a type of mimicry – where a harmless or edible species gains protection from predators by resembling a distasteful or poisonous species. It is called Batesian mimicry, named after the English naturalist Henry Walter Bates who discovered it. A Batesian mimic resembles a model species that is either poisonous or distasteful or dangerous. The Batesian mimic is neither poisonous, distasteful, nor dangerous.

There is a second type of mimicry in which two or more species that are poisonous, distasteful  or dangerous resemble each other. For example, many bees are similarly colored black and yellow. This common pattern of stinging insects represent a group of insects that share painful stings and black and yellow markings. A potential predator learns from experience not to mess with an insect that resembles a yellow jacket. This kind of mimicry is named for a German naturalist: Fritz Muller – Mullerian mimicry.

The important thing to remember about either Batesian or Mullerian mimicry is that learning is the important factor. The predator must learn to associate a pattern with  an unpleasant outcome and then remember the association. This is especially important in Batesian mimicry. If the model becomes less common than the mimic then predators will encounter the mimic more often and may not learn to avoid species with the warning pattern. With Mullerian mimicry most of the encounters will be negative and more readily learned to avoid.

Why aren’t all the female Tiger Swallowtails melanistic? Male Tiger Swallowtails seem to prefer to mate with the yellow and black females. (This was determined by counting the number of sperm packages in the female reproductive tract. The yellow and black females contain more sperm packages than melanistic females.) If male mating preference were the only factor, the melanistic form would eventually disappear. This is seen in the northern areas of the United States and Canada where there are no Pipevine Swallowtails. There the females are all yellow and black. But, as you move further south, in areas where Pipevine Swallowtails live, the melanistic form becomes more common. This suggests that the darker female picks up a survival advantage that compensates for her lower frequency of mating. 

Why don’t other butterflies mimic the Pipevine Swallowtail? The short answer is that they do! In the southern US there is a mimicry complex in which a half dozen species of butterflies, including non-swallowtails, mimic the Pipevine Swallowtail. 

What does it take to mimic the Pipevine Swallowtail? 

Viewed from above, the Pipevine Swallowtail is black with metallic blue hind wings. The actual color of the hind wings depends on your viewing angle. The color is structural, like the colors on a DVD or CD, rather than due to a pigment. From some angles the hind wings will appear metallic green; from others, they are blue and, from still others, black. Metallic bluish green is probably the best description. The pattern of the proposed mimics is: black or dark brown front and hind wings, hind wing margin with prominent blue color. Look at the following photos and see if you would be fooled! Remember, you don’t get to study the pictures, just glance at them.

Pipevine Swallowtail The metallic blue color is structural, not a pigment. (By Renee from Las Vegas, USA (Pipevine Swallowtail) [CC BY 2.0  (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)

The proposed mimics of the Pipevine Swallowtail found in our area are:

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Melanistic female

1)     Eastern Tiger Swallowtail melanistic female; black above with blue crescents on the margin of the hind wings. (See photo elsewhere in this post.)

Black Swallowtail female Kenneth Dwain Harrelson [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0  (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], from Wikimedia Commons

 2)     Black Swallowtail female; mostly black above with blue crescents on the margin of the hind wings. The male Black Swallowtail lacks the blue crescents and the yellow spots on all the wings are larger.

Spicebush Swallowtail female By Meganmccarty [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons

3)     Spicebush Swallowtail; dark above, hind wings with greenish (male) or bluish (female) color.
 

Red-spotted Purple

4)     Red-spotted Purple; both sexes dark above and with blue border on hind wings.

The Batesian mimicry hypothesis has been tested with some of the above species. Florida Scrub Jays that had never seen a Pipevine Swallowtail attacked and swallowed the first one offered. They immediately retched and regurgitated the butterflies. When subsequently offered the melanistic female tiger swallowtails, spicebush swallowtails or black swallowtails, they declined to eat them. Other captive birds that had, presumably, already experienced pipevine swallowtails prior to being captured, also did not eat the offered species.
 

SUMMARY
OF OBSERVED SPECIES:

Goldenrod     Solidago sp. 

Joe
Pye Weed, native and ‘Little Joe’   Eutrochium
fistulosum

Swamp
Milkweed     Asclepias incarnata

Monarch
Butterfly (adult and caterpillar)     Danaus
plexippus

Oleander
aphid     Aphis nerii

Large
Milkweed Bug     Oncopeltus fasciatus

Sweetbay
Magnolia     Magnolia virginiana

Wild
Bergamot     Monarda fistulosa

Purple
Coneflower     Echinacea purpurea

Eastern
Carpenter Bee     Xylocopa virginica

Tadpoles     ????

Venus
Flytrap     Dionaea muscipula

Horsetail     Equisetum hyemale

White-topped
Sedge     Rhynchospora colorata

Colocasia
‘Blackwater     Colocasia sp.

Eastern
Cottontail rabbit     Sylvilagus
floridanus

Eastern
Gray Squirrel     Sciurus carolinensis

Lemon
Basil     Ocimum × africanum

Common
Eastern Bumblebee     Bombus impatiens

Western
Honeybee     Apis mellifera

Ocola
Skipper     Panoquina ocola

Red
Cockscomb     Celosia argentea

Dark
Paper Wasp     Polistes fuscatus

Eastern
Tiger Swallowtail butterfly     Papilio
glaucus

Red-spotted
Purple     Limenitis
arthemis astyanax

Fiery Skipper            Hylephila phyleus

Hydrangea
bush     Hydrangea sp.

Great
Black Wasp     Sphex pensylvanicus

Carolina
Anole     Anolis caroliniensis

Bristle
(tachinid) Fly     Juriniopsis adusta

Luffa Gourd                  Luffa sp.

Long
Handled Dipper Gourd     Lagenaria
siceraria

Tobacco
    Nicotiana tabacum

American
Bird Grasshopper     Schistocerca
americana

Cotton
    Gossypium sp.

Skink     Plestiodon, probably P. fasciatus