Leader of Today’s Ramble: Linda Chafin

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

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

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

Today’s Emphasis: Late summer wildflowers, fruits, butterflies, and caterpillars in the floodplain.

Announcements:
Catherine mentioned a BBC article describing a project in East Sussex, England, where dogs are reseeding native species by romping around in a wildlife restoration area while wearing seed pouches.

And speaking of dog seeding activities… Gary brought up the topic of a new-to-Athens invasive plant species, Japanese Chaff Flower, Achyranthes japonica. It’s been consuming Atlanta parks for years and is now established in Athens at Memorial Park. We need to be vigilant in identifying this plant where we see it (here are some good photos and info). If we see it, we should notify the Ecological Resources Coordinator in the Athens/Clarke County Sustainability Department, Stephanie Green, 706-613-3838 ext. 6136 or stephanie.green@acc.gov. Much of this invasion is believed to be due to dog walkers and dogs – Chaff Flower seeds readily stick to fur and clothing. The county is considering a public outreach program targeting popular dog walking locations with information signs.

Show and Tell: Don brought a branch of American Burnweed (also known as Fireweed), a ubiquitous native weed spread far and wide by its wind-dispersed seeds this time of year.

Burnweed leaves are also visited by leaf miner insects that deposit their eggs between the upper and lower layers of leaf tissue. The narrowest end of the trail is the point where the leaf miner female laid her egg. Once the egg hatches, the ever-enlarging larva carves an ever-widening trail as it travels the leaf, eating everything in its path. In Don’s photos, you can see that the larva traveled the length of the leaves three times as it ate and grew. What is most amazing is that this is all taking place in the incredibly narrow space inside the leaf – a cramped but safe hideout from predators. At some point, the larva metamorphoses into an adult which then exits the leaf through a tiny hole it chews through the leaf surface, visible as a dark spot on the leaves in the photos above.

Reading: Linda read “Summer Is Losing Its Grip,” from Middlewood Journal: Drawing Inspiration from Nature, a Journey into the South Carolina Piedmont Woods by artist/essayist Helen Scott Correll.

I can tell summer is losing its grip. It’s interesting to note that I understand more every year that the seasons, which I used to consider fairly distinct, are really quite blurred. Painted Buckeye and Virginia Creeper leaves begin turning red as early as July: fuzzy spring-like oak leaves sprout until frost. During this morning’s ramble I saw the first “fall” Silvery Aster bloom for the year, and the Grass-Leaved Golden Asters, which have been blooming for a couple weeks. Thoroughworts aka Bonesets are in bloom, but fading. Tall Goldenrods already brighten the woodland edges. Joe Pye Weed and Pale Indian Plantain are in full bloom down by Meetinghouse Creek.

While I drew, fall Field Crickets trilled in the field behind me, and a White-Breasted Nuthatch’s loud and nasal ank ank! ank ank! gave away his position as he walked head-first down the trunk of an oak looking for insects. I remember the bird’s name and differentiate him from the brown creeper, who also hops on tree trunks, by thinking what a “nut” the Nuthatch is to hop head-first straight down the tree. The way a Brown Creeper does it, starting at the bottom of the tree and spiraling up the trunk, seems so much easier. The name Nuthatch actually comes from the bird’s habit of wedging nuts into cracks in a tree bark, then whacking at it with his sharp bill to “hatch” the nut from its shell. A Pileated Woodpecker screamed several times close by. A breeze kicked up and stirred the leaves, eventually becoming a steadying cooling wind that persuaded me to stay a while, just to enjoy it.

Number of Ramblers Today: 27

Today’s Route: We left the Children’s Garden arbor, heading into the Lower Shade Garden toward an entrance road gate, where we turned left down the road. We walked along the Dunson Garden deer fence, eventually making our way out into the power line ROW, then walking down the ADA trail to the Middle Oconee River. Here, we turned right (upstream) and walked for a short distance on the White Trail before turning around to head back.

Today’s Observations:

From Bees and Flowers Harness Static Electricity to Spread Pollen: “When a bee flies through the air, it generates a positive electrostatic charge. This charge arises due to the friction between the bee and positively charged particles in the atmosphere. Flowers, on the other hand, function as part of the Earth’s surface and typically hold a slight negative charge. This charge is concentrated at…the tips of petals, the pollen-carrying stamens, and the ovary-containing pistils of the flowers…As a bee approaches a flower, the difference in charge causes antennae and tiny hairs to flutter, which the bee detects as a physical sensation (interestingly, honeybees respond to the motion of their antennae, while the fuzzier bumblebees respond to sensation from the hairs). When the bee approaches a flower, the electrical interaction becomes even more dynamic. The pollen, being negatively charged with the rest of the flower, is attracted to the positively charged bee and leaps across and sticks. When the bee visits the next blossom, some of the now positively charged pollen leaps across to the negatively charged pistil and begins the process of fertilization.”

Several plantings of Golden Surprise Lily, also called Hurricane Lily, are in flower. These names reflect the fact that the flower stalks appear mysteriously without leaves in late summer and early fall, just in time for hurricanes. Their leaves appear only after flowering is over and persist til spring when they disappear. The bulbs then go dormant till hot, dry summer weather triggers blooming. For cultivation info, click here.

The Passionflower vines on the Dunson Garden fence are a great place to see all the stages in the life cycle of Gulf Fritillary butterflies. We didn’t see any eggs today, but did see many very small to large caterpillars that were eating their way through the leaves, left. Right, a caterpillar has just begun to pupate, hanging upside down, curling into the characteristic J-shape, and laying down some chrysalis silk.

Two Morning Glory vines grow on the Dunson Garden fence, Small White Morning Glory, left (click to enlarge), which has both white and lavender flowers, and Red Morning Glory, its corolla speckled with grains of white pollen.

American Wisteria (left) growing on the split rail fence in the right-of-way is heavily infected with Powdery Mildew (right). Rambler and plant pathologist Elizabeth Little writes: “Powdery mildew is an easily recognizable plant disease. Unlike other fungal plant parasites, these fungi grow mainly on the plant surface, creating a dense gray to white mat easily seen with the naked eye. Feeding structures called haustoria (see drawing below) grow into the live plant cells and extract nutrients without killing the cell. Each powdery mildew fungal species can only infect a specific genera or species of plant and do not cross infect other types of plants. While the fungus can be an important problem in some agricultural crops, in the garden the disease does not usually cause enough damage to warrant treatment. The fungi prefer warm and humid weather, but frequent rain will reduce infections. This year has had ideal conditions for development. Adequate sun and good air circulation will reduce infections. Resistant varieties are available for some plants such as cucurbits.”

The Aster family dominates the view of the floodplain right-of-way in late summer and early fall. Four genera rule: Wingstem, Ironweed, Sunflower, Boneset, and Goldenrod (Verbesina, Vernonia, Eupatorium, and Solidago).

Three species of Wingstem, also known as Crownbeards, are common in the right-of-way. All are in the same genus – Verbesina. A Peppered Jumping Spider lurks amongst the flower heads of White Crownbeard (above, right). Also known as Frost Flower, this species produces beautiful frozen shapes from fissured stems during below-freezing nights in late autumn.

Yellow Crownbeard (left) and Common Wingstem (right) have similar flower heads, growth habit, and leaf shapes. The easiest way to distinguish them is leaf arrangement: Yellow Crownbeard’s leaves are in pairs and Common Wingstem leaves alternate around the stem.

Rough-leaf Sunflower is one of 24 species of native sunflowers in Georgia. It is tall, up to 6 feet, with smooth, often waxy stems. The flower heads have yellow disk and ray flowers. Its leaves are opposite with inch-long stalks, and are conspicuously three-veined and very roughly hairy, almost like sandpaper to the touch.

Tall Goldenrod, often more than 6 feet tall, is ubiquitous in the Piedmont, spreading aggressively on roadsides and in other disturbed areas. Its flower heads have 8-13 ray flowers, and its leaves are roughly hairy, distinctly three-veined, and sometimes toothed.

Bean Family plants are also at their peak of flowering and fruiting in late summer. One of the most interesting plants (to me) in the floodplain is a “bean” – Maryland Senna, above. A tall, branched shrub, it bears many yellow, five-petaled flowers in August and long, showy bean pods in September. Its leaves are compound, made up of 6-12 pairs of oval leaflets. Near the base of the leaf stalk, is a very small, green or brown bump – an extrafloral nectary serving the same defensive function as the EFN’s on Passionflower leaves. Ants swarm to these nectaries and, in their spare time, attack the caterpillars of Sulphur butterflies who lay their eggs on the leaves of Senna.

Maryland Senna flowers (above left) and fruits (above right) – note the ants swarming among the fruits. Caterpillars of Cloudless Sulphur (below, left, click to enlarge) and Sleepy Orange (below, right, photo by Heather Larkin).

After much ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the gorgeous caterpillars, we walked to the river and turned upstream along the White Trail for a short walk in the shade. Even though I’ve walked this route scores (hundreds?) of times over the last 45 years, Ramblers noticed two tree species I’ve missed: an American Basswood and a Sugarberry.

The American Basswood is on the river side of the trail, soon after the little bridge. Basswood has large, more or less heart-shaped leaves (above, left) that are easily mistaken for Red Mulberry’s. Basswood’s leaves are mostly hairless, especially this late in the season, while Red Mulberry’s are roughly hairy on the lower surface and somewhat hairy on the upper. A reliable distinguishing trait of Basswood is the ring of smaller trunks that surrounds the main trunk (above, right). These sprout from the root crown of the original trunk and can become quite large. Basswood flowers are loaded with nectar and the trees are famous “honey trees” in some parts of the country. American Basswood prefers rich, moist soils and therefore is usually found in floodplains in the Piedmont. In the mountains, it grows in moist coves and boulder fields. European species of Basswood are known as Linden and Lime Trees, names apparently derived from the proto-German Linde. While discussing the Basswood, we were serenaded by a White-eyed Vireo.

A young Sugarberry is established on the landward side of the trail, its trunk covered in the warty projections (above, left) that are characteristic of Sugarberry and the closely related species, Hackberry. Roger first spied this tree and bushwhacked through the undergrowth to examine its trunk (above, right).

Hackberry Emperor butterfly caterpillars are beautifully camouflaged at this stage for surviving on Hackberry and Sugarberry leaves. Later, the caterpillars will turn brown and overwinter in rolled Hackberry and Sugarberry leaves. More info here…. (Photos by Bill Sheehan)

Red Admiral caterpillars (below, right) roll Stinging Nettle leaves into a temporary shelter while they eat the leaf, leaving some frass behind when they move on to the next leaf (below, left). Caterpillar photo by Anita Gould.

Other cool insects we saw today…..

SUMMARY OF OBSERVED AND DISCUSSED SPECIES
American Burnweed Erechtites hieraciifolia
Burnweed Gall Midge Neolasioptera sp.
Daddy Longlegs Order Opiliones
Rattlesnake Master Eryngium yuccifolium
Hoary Mountainmint Pycnanthemum incanum
Common Eastern Bumble Bee Bombus impatiens
Joro Spider Trichonephila clavata
Loblolly Pine Pinus taeda
Virginia Creeper Parthenocissus quinquefolia
Surprise Lily, Hurricane Lily Lycoris aurea
Red-femured Orbweaver Neoscona domiciliorum
Carolina Buckthorn Frangula caroliniana
American Beautyberry Callicarpa americana
Silky Dogwood Cornus amomum
Dogwood gall Neolasioptera cornicola
Eastern Leaf-footed Bug (nymph) Leptoglossus phyllopus
Florida Torreya Tree Torreya taxifolia
Eastern Anglepod Gonolobus suberosus
Gulf Fritillary (adult and caterpillar) Agraulis vanillae
Purple Passionflower Passiflora incarnata
Ant (on passionflower vine) Family Formicidae
Little White Morning Glory Ipomoea lacunosa
Red Morning Glory Ipomoea coccinea
Spotted Beebalm Monarda punctata
American Wisteria Wisteria frutescens
Powdery Mildew An ascomycete fungi in the order Erysiphales
White Crownbeard Verbesina virginica
Yellow Crownbeard Verbesina occidentalis
Common Wingstem Verbesina alternifolia
Tall Ironweed Vernonia gigantea
Late Boneset / Late Thoroughwort Eupatorium serotinum
Rough-leaved Sunflower Helianthus strumosus
Dog Fennel Eupatorium capillifolium
Virgin’s Bower Clematis virginiana
Red-tailed Hawk (heard) Buteo jamaicensis
Tall Goldenrod Solidago altissima
Maryland Senna Senna marilandica
Cloudless Sulphur (caterpillar) Phoebis sennae
Sleepy Orange (caterpillar) Eurema nicippe
False Nettle Boehmeria cylindrica
River Cane Arundinaria gigantea
Camphorweed Pluchea camphorata
Basswood Tilia americana
White-eyed Vireo (heard) Vireo griseus
Sugarberry / Southern Hackberry Celtis laevigata
Hackberry Petiole Gall Pachypsylla venusta
Hackberry Emperor butterfly (caterpillar) Asterocampa celtis
Catbriar Smilax bona-nox
River Oats Chasmanthium latifolium
Common Yellow Wood Sorrel Oxalis stricta
Stinging Wood Nettle Laportea canadensis
Red Admiral (larval shelter only) Vanessa atalanta
Nason’s Slug Moth (caterpillar) Natada nasoni
Zabulon Skipper Poanes zabulon
Milkweed Tussock Moth (caterpillar) Euchaetes egle
Ant-mimic Jumping Spider Peckhamia sp.
Peppered Jumping Spider Pelegrina galathea
Common Angle Moth (adult) Macaria aemulataria
Black Saddlebags Tramea lacerata

Leader of Today’s Ramble: Linda Chafin

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

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

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

Today’s Emphasis: Prepping for the Great Southeastern Pollinator Census this weekend

Announcements: Heather thanked ramblers for taking care of the logistics, mostly food and drink, at the Opening last Sunday for the “Tiny Worlds” exhibit in the Visitor’s Center. It was a very fun event and the photographs are spectacular. I hope everyone can view the photographs during the next two months.

Nice post about “Wasp Watching” on the Humane Gardener website. “Humans live and walk among an extraordinary number and diversity of wasps every day…” Thanks to Mary B for pointing me to this website!

Number of Ramblers Today: 36

Today’s Route: We went through the American South Section in the International Garden, then through the Spanish America, Mediterranean, and Middle East Sections. We visited then the Herb & Physic Garden and the Heritage Garden on the way to the Flower Garden.

Today’s Observations:

Japanese Beautyberry (above) is planted along the sidewalk on the north side of the Children’s Garden. It has fuschia-colored berries similar to those of our native American Beautyberry (below). Can you see the difference in the berries between the two species? American Beautyberry fruits are in whorls that encircle the stem while the Japanese species has berries in stalked clumps that arise from the base of leaf stalks; the berries are also smaller. While I found no reports on the internet of the Japanese species becoming invasive, Ramblers have seen it growing down by the beaver pond here at the Garden. Birds apparently find the berries of both species irresistible so it seems entirely possible that seedlings of the Japanese species would pop up far from the parent plant. I wonder, too, if the Japanese species serves as a host plant for the Spring Azure Butterfly and Snowberry Clearwing Moth as does American Beautyberry?

Cardinal Flower is a major botanical delight of late summer. Usually found along the edges of streams and in wetlands, it seems to thrive here in the American Section in well drained soil. We didn’t see any pollinators at these particular plants, but the flowers are frequently visited by Ruby-throated Hummingbirds and long-tongued bees and butterflies. The length of the flower tube and the placement of the nectar at the base of the tube is just right to bring a hummingbird’s or insect’s forehead into contact with the flower’s prominent anthers, where pollen is produced and presented. You can see the blue-gray anthers in this photo at the tips of red tubes. Lobelias (of which Cardinal Flower is one) are “protandrous,” literally “male first,” meaning that the stamens in a given flower mature and produce pollen before the pistil matures and presents a receptive stigma. This phased maturation process discourages self-pollination. A pollinator can visit a plant in its male phase and pick up pollen on its forehead, then visit a different plant, one where the flowers are in the female phase. Ideally, pollen is brushed from the forehead onto a mature stigma, effecting cross-pollination.

The Freedom Plaza flower beds were planted years ago with showy Aster and Mint family species along with several others and are always a sure bet for pollinators this time of year.

Swamp Black-eyed Susan, below, is a very tall, native member of the Aster Family planted in the main Freedom Plaza bed. In Georgia, it’s known only from a couple of riverine sites and is listed by the state as Endangered. It also occurs in Florida and Alabama and is rare in those states too, a victim of stream sedimentation and damming.

Another common name for Swamp Black-eyed Susan is Eared Coneflower due to its (somewhat) ear-shaped leaf bases (above, left). We saw two pollinators nectaring on its dark brown disk flowers: a Fiery Skipper (above, center) and an Oblique Longhorn Bee (above, right).

It began to seem like every Zinnia flower head we looked at today was hosting a butterfly. Above, left, a Buckeye, and above right, a Gulf Fritillary. Below, left, a Long-tailed Skipper, and, below right, a dark form of a female Tiger Swallowtail. The dark form mimics the toxic, distasteful Pipevine Swallowtail and benefits from birds’ learned avoidance of that species. Here‘s a very helpful guide to the suite of four look-alike swallowtails that occur in our part of the state.

Other insects besides butterflies were also visiting the colorful Zinnia flower heads. Below, left, Green Lynx Spider, and below right, American Bumblebee.

Ramblers paused to exclaim over the number of pollinators actively working the flowers in the All-American Selections bed. We saw Fiery Skippers, Common Buckeyes, Common Eastern Bumblebees, American Bumblebees, Gulf Fritillaries, Katydid Wasps, Sphex flavovestitis, Long-tailed Skippers, Oblique Longhorn Bees, and Eastern Tiger Swallowtails, all flitting from plant to plant.

Above, left, a Common Eastern Bumblebee is preparing to light on a Lindheimer’s Bee-blossom flower (aka Gaura). Right, a large wasp is moving gracefully from one stalk of Flamingo Feather-flower to another. Don commented, “Each time I go out shooting in the late summer, I am reminded of how graceful and agile the large wasps are as they move about the plants.”

These colorful flowers, above, belong to Side-oats Grama, a native prairie grass planted in the Flower Garden by Jim Moneyhun, the Flower Garden curator. The orange structures are pollen-producing anthers; the white “feathers” are styles that comb pollen from the wind. This species is widespread throughout the eastern and central US and south into Central and South America, usually found only in circumneutral or basic soils over calcareous rocks such as limestone and serpentine. The species is rare in Georgia because of limited habitat. Fewer than 20 populations are known, growing over limestone in the limestone-rich Ridge & Valley ecoregion of northwestern Georgia.

Our last stop on the way out of the Flower Garden was at a shrub bearing strange and colorful “fruits.” The “fruits” are actually highly modified female cones found in the genus Podocarpus (literally, foot-fruit), a genus of evergreen conifers in the largely South American family Podocarpaceae. The oval, green seed is immature and will turn black when mature; attached to it is a swollen, red or yellow, stem. The seeds are toxic but the fleshy stem is eaten raw and cooked. Commonly called Kusamaki, it is the northernmost species in this genus, occurring in southern China, Taiwan, and Japan. English names include Yew Plum Pine, Buddhist Pine, and Japanese Yew.

SUMMARY OF OBSERVED AND DISCUSSED SPECIES
Japanese Beautyberry Callicarpa japonica
American Beautyberry Callicarpa americana
Darrow’s Blueberry Vaccinium darrowii ‘Rose’s Blush’
Cardinal Flower Lobelia cardinalis
Ruby-throated Hummingbird Archilochus colubris
Sweet Pepperbush Clethra alnifolia
Brazilian Copperlily, Pink Rain Lily Zephyranthes robusta
‘Black and Blue Sage’ cultivar of Salvia guaranitica
Western Honeybee Apis mellifera
American Bumblebee Bombus pensylvanica
Common Eastern Bumblebee Bombus impatiens
Eastern Carpenter Bee Xylocopa virginica
Showy Evening-primrose, Pink Ladies Oenothera speciosa
Jerusalem Sage Phlomis russeliana
Hops Humulus lupulus
Carolina Anole Anolis carolinensis
Common Ragweed Ambrosia artemisiifolia
Gold-marked Thread-waisted Wasp Eremnophila aureonotata
Garlic Chives Allium tuberosum
Tall Pawpaw Asimina triloba
Joe Pye Weed Eutrochium fistulosum
Hoary Mountainmint Pycnanthemum incanum
Butterfly Weed Asclepias tuberosum
Swamp Black-eyed Susan, Eared Coneflower Rudbeckia auriculata
Oblique Longhorn Bee Svastra obliqua
Late-flowering Boneset Eupatorium serotinum
Zinnia Zinnia elegans
Lantana Lantana camara
Common Buckeye butterfly Junonia coenia
Gulf Fritillary Dione vanillae
Long-tailed Skipper Urbanus proteus
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (black-form female) Papilio glaucus
Green Lynx Spider Peucetia viridans
American Bumblebee Bombus pensylvanica
Sorghum Sorghum bicolor
American Dagger Moth (caterpillar) Acronicta americana
Large Blue Sage Salvia azurea var. grandiflora
Moth Mullein Verbascum blattaria
Fiery Skipper Hylephila phyleus
Sphex flavovestitus (no common name) Sphex flavovestitus
Katydid Wasp Sphex nudus
Common Eastern Bumblebee Bombus impatiens
Lindheimer’s Bee-blossom Oenothera lindheimeri
Flamingo Feather-flower Deeringia spicata, synonym Celosia spicata
Cercospora Leaf Spot Cercospora zinniae
Sideoats Grama Bouteloua curtipendula
Kusamaki Podocarpus macrophyllus

Leader for Today’s Ramble: Bill Sheehan

Authors of today’s report: Don Hunter, Linda Chafin, Bill Sheehan

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

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

Today’s emphasis: Fungi along the White Trail Spur, Orange Trail Spur, and in the floodplain between the Orange Trail Spur and the Middle Oconee River

Number of Ramblers today: 22

Announcements:
The Great Southeast Pollinator Census is coming soon – August 23-24! Click here for information on how to participate (as little as 15 minutes! it’s up to you) and how to tell one kind of insect from another. It’s a lot of fun and a worthy piece of citizen science.

“Saving The Chattahoochee.” Screening of this film will take place on Tuesday, August 20th, at 5:30p.m. at UGA’s Special Collections Library. The film documents how one of the first female riverkeepers in the country, Sally Bethea, teamed up with Atlanta mayor Shirley Franklin, the first Black woman to be mayor of a major southern city, to change the course of the river’s future. The story of the Chattahoochee is part of a bigger picture about the efforts to protect our rivers and streams.

Interesting essay! “A Surprising Mutually Beneficial Relationship Between White-tailed Deer & Bats,” from the website Naturally Curious with Mary Holland.

Show-and-Tell: Roger Collins passed around his phone with a photograph of a Luna Moth caterpillar climbing up one of the White Oak trees on his land.

“FUNGI ARE EVERYWHERE but they are easy to miss. They are inside you and around you. They sustain you and all that you depend on. … They are eating rock, making soil, digesting pollutants, nourishing and killing plants, surviving in space, inducing visions, producing food, making medicines, manipulating animal behavior, and influencing the composition of the Earth’s atmosphere.Many of the most dramatic events on Earth have been — and continue to be — a result of fungal activity. Plants only made it out of the water around five hundred million years ago because of their collaboration with fungi, which served as their root systems for tens of million years until plants could evolve their own. Today, more than ninety percent of plants depend on mycorrhizal fungi, which can link trees in shared networks sometimes referred to as the “wood wide web.” This ancient association gave rise to all recognizable life on land, the future of which depends on the continued ability of plants and fungi to form healthy relationships. Tens to hundreds of species can exist in the leaves and stems of a single plant. These fungi weave themselves through the gaps between plant cells in an intimate brocade and help to defend plants against disease. No plant grown under natural conditions has been found without these fungi; they are as much a part of planthood as leaves or roots. Fungi provide a key to understanding the planet on which we live, and the ways that we think, feel, and behave. Yet they live their lives largely hidden from view, and over ninety percent of their species remain undocumented. The more we learn about fungi, the less makes sense without them.”

Today’s Route: From the Children’s Garden arbor, we made our way through the “fallen chestnut” to the Forest Play Area, then down the White Trail Spur to the Orange Trail Spur. We took a left on the Orange Trail Spur and quickly spread out into the floodplain before returning.

Today’s Observations

Bill presented two regionally important field guides for identifying fungi encountered in the field. He also mentioned the importance of making spore prints when you return home in making a final determination of some species. Spore prints are made by placing the cap, lower surface down, on a surface and covering with a bowl. Since many spores are white, Bill recommends using aluminum foil as a spore print sheet since both light and dark spores will show up. A higher level of identification that has developed in the last couple of decades is the use of DNA analysis, which has revolutionized the taxonomy of fungi. Bill started a national citizen science group, FunDIS (Fungal Diversity Survey) for getting samples analyzed and sequenced.

On our way out of the Children’s Garden, we stopped in amazement at the number of pollinators visiting the flowers in a bed of Hoary Mountain Mint. Top row: A narrow-waisted wasp (left) and Common Eastern Bumblebee (right). Bottom row: Double-banded Scoliid Wasp (left) and Great Black Digger Wasp (right).

In spite of minimal rain the last few weeks, the Forest Play Area was rich in fungi.

No fungi ramble is complete without a look at Dog Vomit slime-mold, which isn’t any kind of mold at all – it’s not even a fungus! Although placed in the protista kingdom, slime-molds check a lot of fungi boxes, both scientific and non: they reproduce by spores; they make a living by digesting dead plant material; and they have multiple, non-binary “mating types” rather than the egg-sperm mating system of plants and animals. On a casual walk through the woods, we notice that they are colorful, and live in damp places on decaying plant material. Plus, they are called “molds”! Isn’t this enough to qualify as a fungus? Well, no. On a cellular level, they have an important difference: Slime Mold cell walls are made of cellulose while those of fungi are made of chitin (like insect exoskeletons). And, amazingly, Slime Molds have behavior, at least when they are in the streaming phase between the amoeba and and final fruiting body stage. They have pseudopods (“false feet”) that allow them to move across a surface and, utterly without a brain or a nervous system, they can navigate to a food source and remember how they got there. Even through mazes! Slime molds can separate then fuse back together then share knowledge between the formerly separated parts. No mere fungus can do this!

Bill discovered this bright yellow Slime Mold on Wednesday while scouting for today’s ramble and photographed it (left). Only a day later, the color had dulled and the outer layer appeared to be breaking down, exposing the black interior.

After turning onto the Orange Trail Spur, we spotted some Gilled Polypore fungi growing on a downed limb. The upper surface (left) looks a lot like a Turkey Tail fungus, but the lower surface (right) has gills. This is unusual for a polypore fungus, illustrating, as Don said, that “it just goes to show that there are few ‘rules’ without exceptions in mycology.”

Every summer I think (hope) there are fewer Joro Spiders than the year before, but then comes August and they are everywhere once again. Don captured this one sitting on one of the strong, gold-colored anchor silks (left) of its web and then again on the twig the anchor silk was attached to (right).

Myrna spotted this Thin-walled Maze Polypore, its lower surface a maze of long, narrow pores. Common in eastern North America, Europe, and Asia, this species infects injured hardwood trees, especially willows.

…In addition to resembling twigs and leaves, inchworms have another defense against being eaten: they drop off the tree they are dining on when danger threatens. Put yourself in the place of a tasty inchworm when a bird lands on your branch. If you jump you can fall out of danger. But when you hit the ground, you’ll be faced with another problem – where is your food? How will you find your way back to that tasty leaf you were munching? You could wander for hours and never even find your tree trunk. A safety line is the solution. Like most caterpillars, inchworms can produce silk from silk glands in their head. When danger threatens, they start releasing a silken safety line from these glands. The inchworm glues one end of the silk to the leaf or twig and then jumps off. The weight of the caterpillar pulls the silk out of the gland as the caterpillar falls. It happens fast enough to fool a bird! Not only has the caterpillar escaped its predator, it has a way to return home – climb up the silken thread. I have watched inchworms climbing their safety lines and can tell you that it involves winding the thread up into a wad held by their thoracic legs, but I can’t provide any more details. Perhaps Ramblers with more acute vision can find the answer.”

Fresh and older Split Gill Mushrooms (left) growing with Carbon Ball fungus and (right) its beautiful lower surface showing the divided gills radiating from the stalk.

Crowded Parchment fungus upper surface (left) and lower pore surface (right)

An orange crust fungus, Ceriporia spissa, is covered with tiny pores (right).

SUMMARY OF OBSERVED SPECIES
Luna Moth Actias luna
Hoary Mountainmint Pycnanthemum incanum
Narrow-waisted wasp (no common name) Sphex flavovestitus
Common Eastern Bumble Bee Bombus impatiens
Double-banded Scoliid Wasp Scolia bicincta
Great Black Digger Wasp Sphex pensylcanicus
Ganoderma fungi (no common name) Ganoderma lobatum
Pluteus (no species ID) Pluteus sp.
Turkey Tails Trametes c.f. versicolor
Marshmallow Polypore (tentative) Irpiciporus mollis, synonym Spongipellis pachyodon
Dog Vomit Slime Fuligo septica
False Turkey Tail fungus Stereum lobatum
Silky Parchment Fungus Stereum striatum
Unidentified white poroid crust (no species ID) Family Polyporaceae
Amanita (no species ID) Amanita sp.
Zombie ant fungus Ophiocordyceps kimflemingiae
Carpenter Ant Camponotus sp.
American Beech Fagus grandifolia
Unidentified bolete Boletaceae family
Gilled Polypore Trametes betulina
Veiled Oyster Pleurotus levis
Joro Spider Trichonephila clavata
Lentinellus micheneri (no common name) Lentinellus micheneri
Thin-walled Maze Polypore Daedaleopsis confragosa
Dot-lined Angle Moth (caterpillar/inchworm) Psamatodes abydata
Common Splitgill fungi Schizophyllum commune
Bladder Stalks fungi Physalacria inflata
Carbon Balls Daldinia childiae
Crowded Parchment Fungus Stereum complicatum
Orange Poroid Crust (no common name) Ceriporia spissa
Sheet-weaver spider (no common name) Bathyphantes sp.

Leader for today’s Ramble: Linda Chafin

Authors of today’s report: Linda Chafin, Don Hunter

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

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

Today’s emphasis: Seeking late summer wildflowers and fruits in the Nash Prairie

Number of Ramblers today: 31

Announcements:
Emily is recruiting volunteers to supply refreshments for the opening of the “Tiny Worlds” exhibit on Sunday, August 18. Please email Emily at egenecarr@me.com if you can bring any of these items: fruit, nuts, cookies, crackers, cheese, dessert bars, and tiny sandwiches.

Gary is teaching a 2-hour class on invasive plant identification and control at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), on August 16th at 10:00 a.m. The class will be held in UGA’s River Crossing facility at 850 College Station Road in Athens. OLLI members can sign up online, and Gary has three guest passes available for non-members. See Gary at Thursday’s Ramble if you want a guest pass.

“Saving The Chattahoochee.” Screening of this film will take place on Tuesday, August 20th, at 5:30p.m. at UGA’s Special Collections Library. The film documents how one of the first female riverkeepers in the country, Sally Bethea, teamed up with Atlanta mayor Shirley Franklin, the first Black woman to be mayor of a major southern city, to change the course of the river’s future. The story of the Chattahoochee is part of a bigger picture about the efforts to protect our rivers and streams.

The Great Southeast Pollinator Census is coming soon – August 23-24! Click here for information on how to participate (as little as 15 minutes! it’s up to you) and how to tell one kind of insect from another. It’s a lot of fun and a worthy piece of citizen science.

The community UGarden (next door to the Botanical Garden) needs your help! Kubota Tractors awarded them a $10,000 grant and now there is an opportunity to turn it into a $50,000 grant. They already produce a yearly average of 15,000 pounds of organically managed produce that is distributed by partner organizations to Athens families facing food insecurity. These extra would expand their ability to serve more people. Voting instructions are at this link. Click on Georgia on the map. Scroll down and select UGARDEN. Enter your email address when prompted and they will send a verification code to your email. Enter code on the webpage and then use the pull down menu to register your vote! (They actually encourage voting every day.)

Interesting article: “The Soul of Soil,” a NY Times essay by the author of Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life.

Today’s Reading: Don provided a short reading, from Walt Whitman: “I have learned that to be with those I like is enough.”

Today’s Route: We took the entrance road down to the ROW, turning right onto the White Trail spur connecting the Dunson Garden to the ROW. After arriving at the ROW, we headed north into the Nash Prairie, then turned left on the ridgeline service road. We walked a short distance and turned left onto the White Trail and followed it back out into the ROW. A few of us headed down the ROW to the Passionflower vines on the Dunson Garden deer fence, before calling an end to the Ramble.

Today’s Observations:

Late summer is the kickoff time for wildflowers in three important plant families: Bean, Mint, and Aster. Today we saw a good representation from each.

On our way to the prairie we passed a few small patches of the native Creeping Lespedeza forming low mats along the trail (vegetative here, left) and later in the prairie in flower (right). Lespedeza is a large genus of about 40 species with 13 of those occurring in Georgia. Species of Lespedeza sport two of the most common characteristics of Bean family plants: trifoliate leaves (each leaf has three leaflets) and flowers with a showy, erect banner petal to attract pollinators. The stamens and pistil are hidden within the middle of the three lower petals, called a keel petal, you can see on the rightmost photo. It takes a hefty pollinator such as a bumblebee to force that keel petal open to reach the pollen and nectar.

Hoary Mountain Mint is in the genus Pycnanthemum. Bob looked up the meaning of that genus name and learned that pycno– is Latin for clustered or clumped and -anth is Latin for flower. Many tiny, white, pink-flecked flowers are clustered into compact heads that are held above whitened leaves. The flowers produce copious amounts of nectar that draw dozens of species of pollinators.

Beaked Panicgrass is one of the earliest of warm-season grasses to flower.

Nine-banded Armadillos have built a condo with at least five entrances in a muddy stretch of the road that passes through the Nash Prairie. Armadillo toes spread out when they walk, leaving paw prints that resemble possums’ and raccoons’, and their tails leave distinctive drag marks.

Two lichens in the genus Cladonia are growing on the road bank: Pixie Cups (left) and Dixie Reindeer Lichen (right). The goblet-shaped structures on the Pixie Cups contain the “fruiting” body of the lichen. Reindeer Lichen’s minute fruiting structures are held on the tips of the delicate branches of this lichen and are very hard to see.

Some dry exposed areas of soil along the road bank are inhabited by a complex mix of lichens, mosses, algae, and cyanobacteria, interacting with each other and with the soil, called a biotic crust or biocrust. Biocrusts are common and critical components of western desert soils. They also occur in the eastern U.S. where they play important ecological roles in preventing erosion, enhancing plant productivity, supporting rare plant species, and promoting soil fertility. Here’s more info on this fascinating community of unrelated organisms.

Pinweeds, so called because their flower buds and fruits resemble pinheads, are seriously inconspicuous wildflowers. This species, Narrow-leaf Pinweed, with its millimeter-wide leaves, is especially so. The tiny flowers have three maroon petals spreading or curved downward with several stamens and a white pompom of branched styles above. The flowers open for only a few hours in the morning so we were lucky to catch them.

Another easily overlooked wildflower of dry, sunny sites, Rustweed has low, spreading stems, narrow leaves, and small white flowers with a dense ring of white hairs in the center.

SUMMARY OF OBSERVED SPECIES

Creeping Lespedeza Lespedeza repens
Sericea Lespedeza Lespedeza cuneata
Post Oak Quercus stellata
Bitterweed Helenium amarum
Carolina Horsenettle Solanum carolinense
Carolina Desert Chicory Pyrrhopappus carolinianus
Hoary Mountain Mint Pycnanthemum incanum
Velvet Witchgrass Dichanthelium scoparium
Late-flowering Thoroughwort Eupatorium serotinum
Butterfly Pea Clitoria mariana
Ghost spider Wulfila albens
Carolina Wild Petunia Ruellia carolinensis
Nine-banded Armadillo (nest/burrow and tracks) Dasypus novemcinctus
Beaked Panicgrass Coleataenia anceps
Carolina Milkweed Matelea carolinensis
Bracken Fern Pteridium aquilinum
Common Wingstem Verbesina alternifolia
Yellow Crownbeard Verbesina occidentalis
Grass-leaved Goldenaster Pityopsis graminifolia
Pixie Cup lichen Cladonia sp.
Dixie Reindeer Lichen Cladonia subtenuis
Biotic crust Cladonia sp., moss, etc.
Pencil Flower Stylosanthes biflora
Narrowleaf Pinweed Lechea tenuifolia
Rustweed Polypremum procumbens
Hated Caesar mushroom Amanita spreta
Cranefly Orchid Tipularia discolor
Shagbark Hickory Carya ovata
St. Andrew’s Cross Hypericum crux-andreae
American Burnweed Erechtites hieracifolius
Sicklepod Senna obtusifolia
Purple Passionflower Passiflora incarnata
Eastern Anglepod Gonolobus suberosus
Tree Cricket Oecanthus sp.

Leader for today’s Ramble: Linda Chafin

Authors of today’s report: Linda Chafin, Don Hunter

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

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

Today’s emphasis: Seeking what we find along the White and Orange Trails

Number of Ramblers today: 28

Announcements:
Emily is recruiting volunteers to supply refreshments for the opening of the “Tiny Worlds” exhibit on Sunday, August 18. Please email Emily at egenecarr@me.com if you can bring any of these items: fruit, nuts, cookies, crackers, cheese, dessert bars, and tiny sandwiches.

Linda introduced Emily James, newly named Horticulture and Plant Records Manager, who will be supervising the curators in the Upper and Lower Shade Gardens, the Dunson Native Flora Garden, and the Heritage Garden. Emily hopes to have a new, full-time curator for Dunson by the end of August. She has lots of good ideas for putting a new face on Dunson, including removing much of the out-of-control Leatherwood, making the trails safer for disabled visitors, installing new signage, and replacing species that have disappeared over the years. Volunteers are needed to accomplish much of what needs to be done. Please email her at eejames@uga.edu if you’d like to help. She asked that no one start pulling weeds or invasives without first signing up with her.

The community UGArden (next door to the Botanical Garden) needs your help! Kubota Tractors awarded them a $10,000 grant and now there is an opportunity to turn it into a $50,000 grant. They already produce a yearly average of 15,000 pounds of organically managed produce that is distributed by partner organizations to Athens families facing food insecurity. This grant would expand their ability to serve more people. Voting instructions are at this link. Click on Georgia on the map. Scroll down and select UGARDEN. Enter your email address when prompted and they will send a verification code to your email. Enter code on the webpage and then use the pull down menu to register your vote! (They actually encourage voting every day.)

Bob Ambrose announced he will have a multimedia presentation “Wondrous Forms –
A Trek through Deep Time with Gaia,” in the Garden’s Visitor Center, Gardenside Room (down the ramp from the conservatory), on August 11, 2-3 pm. From the web page: “Wondrous Forms is an uplifting presentation that describes and celebrates the history of life on Earth with poetry and images. To develop a perspective on Earth’s antiquity, it uses the framework of a journey across the Earth scaled to geologic time. Poems and visuals grounded in the natural sciences bring the different ages of Gaia back to life. Key events in Earth’s four eons are featured, from the early emergence of life through the evolution of complex life forms and landscapes into the present age. The goal is to nurture a sense of wonder and connection to the immense journey of life.”

The Great Southeast Pollinator Census is coming soon! Click here for information on how to participate (as little as 15 minutes! it’s up to you) and tell one kind of insect from another. It’s a lot of fun and a worthy piece of citizen science.

Today’s Reading: We skipped a reading this Thursday in order to get out on the trail ahead of the heat, but Bob’s announcement inspires me to post this well known, but always moving, final sentence from Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species. “There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms, or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.”

Show-and-Tell:

Carla brought a dead Eastern Cicada Killer Wasp, which is by far the biggest and scariest wasp in our area, up to 1.5 inches long. Its large size, clear amber-colored wings, and vivid yellow markings make this an easy wasp to identify. Females sting and paralyze Annual Cicadas which they then stuff into the cells of their nests for the larvae to eat. Both females and males are very active, cruising around looking for cicadas and nesting sites (females) and defending nest sites (males). Females sting humans only when handled. Males have a false stinger and are incapable of stinging. Adults live on nectar and other sweet plant juices.

Myrna brought a cluster of Flowering Spurge flowers. While the flowers look superficially like a typical five-petaled flower, the story is more complicated than that. What appears to be a single flower is actually a cluster of tiny green male and female flowers surrounded by five green nectar glands, each with a showy white flange that attracts pollinators. Inside the cluster there are a dozen or more male flowers, each with only one stamen, and a single female flower consisting of just one pistil. This odd flower arrangement is peculiar to plants in the genus Euphorbia, and is called a cyathium (sigh – aith – ee – um)….”endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful…”

Today’s Route: From the Children’s Garden Arbor, we passed through the Forest Play area and took the White Trail Spur downhill to the Orange Trail Spur and followed it to the river, where we took a left on the Orange Trail, following it downriver to the intersection with the Purple Trail. We made a brief diversion out into the beaver pond on the boardwalk, before returning to the Purple Trail, and heading back to the Visitor Center and some very welcome air conditioning. Heat index: 99 degrees.

Today’s Observations:

Ochre Bracket fungi, upper surface (left) and lower pore surface (right)

A trio of Golden-gilled Gerronema mushroom grows in clusters on downed and dead branches of hardwood trees.

Turning left onto the Orange Trail Spur, we walked across the lower slope and upper floodplain, finding a mix of upland and wetland plant species in flower or fruit or being eaten by insects.

The ubiquitous Verbesinas: Yellow Crownbeard (left) with opposite leaves and Common Wingstem (right) with alternate leaves and relatively narrower leaves. Both have narrow wings of tissue on their mid- and upper stems and both are host plants for the caterpillars (below) of Silvery Checkerspot butterflies.

This shot of an Arrow-shaped Micrathena orbweaver spider reminds me of Lakshmi, one of the many-armed Hindu goddesses.

Suddenly, Autumn Fern is everywhere – or so it seems. I’ve been hearing Atlanta plant folks complain about this species for years as a major invasive in city parks. Now I get it! We’ve begun to see it on every ramble in all different parts of the Garden. Its many, many spores are released from a great many sori (right) on the undersides of the fronds and carried far and wide by the wind. If it is sprayed or dug up wherever it is growing as soon as possible by Garden staff, we just might be able to get out ahead of this invasion.

Dodder, also known as Strangleweed and Devil’s Guts, is a group of about 100 species of parasitic flowering plants found throughout the temperate, subtropical, and tropical regions of the world. Dodder plants lack chlorophyll and roots and are therefore completely dependent on their host plants for water and nutrients. A Dodder plant starts life as a seed that germinates on the soil surface and sends out leafless stems and a few short roots. The stem quickly begins searching for a host plant, following chemical sensory cues. Once it selects and attaches to a host, the roots wither away, the stems begin to twine around the host, and tiny pegs (right), called haustoria, sink into the vascular system of the host plant, diverting water and nutrients away from the host. Dodder is a much feared agricultural weed in many areas of the globe; fortunately the nine species that occur in Georgia are natives not known to prey on crop plants.

While photographing the Bur Cucumber vine (left), Don noticed a group of tiny, coppery insect eggs on the underside of a leaf. Bill has taken them home to rear them in his lab and will report back on what emerges.

At last, Cranefly Orchids! There is a lot to say about these wonderful little orchids and Dale summed it up best in a ramble report from July 25, 2019 (lightly edited): “Ramblers are most familiar with the Cranefly Orchid in fall and winter, when each plant is visible as a single, oval leaf (2-4 inches long) rising directly from an underground corm. The leaf is pleated, dark green, and dotted with black warts on the top surface, and a rich velvety purple on the lower surface. The leaf appears in the fall and overwinters, photosynthesizing via the sunlight that shines through the bare canopy. After the canopy trees leaf out in the spring, the orchid leaf withers and disappears. Then in late July or early August, one leafless flowering stem appears, bearing up to 40 tan to brownish-purple flowers. The spike-like flower cluster is really hard to spot amongst the brown leaf litter from which it emerges. The delicate flower, with its thread-like stalk and narrow spreading petals and sepals, must have reminded an imaginative someone of a cranefly (the genus name, Tipularia, is also the genus name of the Cranefly, an insect). As with most orchids, Cranefly Orchid pollen is packaged in a sack called a pollinium, each containing thousands of pollen grains. Every Cranefly flower has 4 pollinia. The flowers are pollinated by noctuid moths, and when a noctuid moth visits the flower for nectar it bumps into the pollinia, gluing them to its eye. The pollinia will be transferred to the next flower the moth visits, where it gets scraped off and the contained pollen fertilizes thousands of tiny orchid seeds.”

If the idea of pollination-by-eyeball seems a bit far-fetched, check out these photos taken last week by Bill Sheehan.

For more on Cranefly Orchids, Mary Anne Borg’s The Natural Web has some great photos and life history info.

We made a short detour onto the beaver marsh boardwalk to catch the Water Hemlock, above, in flower. Its domed inflorescence, called an umbel, is a good indicator that it belongs to the Carrot Family, along with many other culinary species including Parsley, Parsnip, Cumin, Coriander/Cilantro, Fennel, Dill, Anise, Asafoetida, Caraway, Celery, Chervil, and Celeriac. Many lovely wildflowers belong to this family as well, such as Meadow Parsnip, Angelica, Lovage, Golden Alexander, Queen Anne’s Lace, Rattlesnake Master, and Sweet Cicely. Water Hemlock has been called the most toxic plant in North America. For livestock who browse this plant, death is nearly instantaneous. For humans, convulsions and vomiting are followed by death – or life with a permanently damaged central nervous system. The toxic ingredient is called cicutoxin and is present in all parts of the plant at all seasons of the year, but is concentrated in the root. There is no antidote for cicutoxin poisoning, only palliative care. This plant ain’t fooling around! Water Hemlock, a native of North America, looks almost identical to Poison Hemlock, a native of Eurasia. Poison Hemlock is equally poisonous to both humans and livestock, and is probably the plant used to execute Socrates in 399 BC. Both Water Hemlock and Poison Hemlock occur in wetlands throughout Georgia. Black Swallowtail butterflies use the North American species in this family as host plants for their caterpillars, even the toxic species. The caterpillars sequester the toxic chemicals they ingest from the host plant and pass the toxins along to the adults who also become distasteful to the birds that would otherwise eat them.

We spotted lots of mushrooms on our way back to the Visitor’s Center along the Purple Trail and hoped for more rain to bring the Chantarelles along.

Above, left to right: American Slender Caesar, an unidentified species of Amanita, and Smooth Chanterelle.

Three views of Golden-gilled Bolete

Three views of Salmon Milkcap

SUMMARY OF OBSERVED AND DISCUSSED SPECIES

Eastern Cicada Killer wasp Sphecius speciosus
Flowering Spurge Euphorbia corollata
Versute Sharpshooter leafhopper Graphocephala versuta
Blusher Amanita Amanita rubescens
Ochre Bracket fungi Trametes ochracea
Golden-gilled Gerronema Gerronema strombodes
Eastern Black Nightshade Solanum ptycanthum, synonym Solanum emulans
Jack-in-the-Pulpit Arisaema triphyllum
Common Wingstem Verbesina alternifolia
Yellow Crownbeard Verbesina occidentalis
Silvery Checkerspot butterfly Chlosyne nycteis
False Nettle Boehmeria cylindrica
Eastern Comma butterfly Polygonia comma
Red Admiral butterfly Vanessa atalanta
Lizard’s Tail Saururus cernuus
Saddleback Caterpillar Moth Acharia stimulea
Arrow-shaped Micrathena Orbweaver Micrathena sagitata
Shrubby Yellowcrest Heimia salicifolia
Autumn Fern Dryopteris erythrosora
Dodder Cuscuta sp.
Bur Cucumber Sicyos angulatus
Jackson-briar Smilax smallii
Cutworm or Dart Moth caterpillar Family Noctuinae
Virginian Tiger Moth Spilosoma virginica
Yaupon Holly Ilex vomittoria
Cranefly Orchid Tipularia discolor
Wrinkled Cap Psathyrella Psathyrella rugocephala
Joro Spider Trichonephila clavata
Geometer moth caterpillar Family Geometridae
Water Hemlock Cicuta maculata
Poison Hemlock Conium maculata
Black Swallowtail butterfly Papilio polyxenes
American Slender Caesar amanita Amanita jacksonii
Unidentified white amanita mushroom Amanita sp.
Smooth Chanterelle Cantharellus lateritius
Golden-gilled Bolete Phylloporus pelletieri
Salmon Milkcap Lactarius salmoneus

Leader for today’s Ramble: Heather Lickliter Larkin

Authors of today’s report: Heather Lickliter Larkin, Linda Chafin

The photos that appear in this report were taken by Heather, unless otherwise credited. Photos may be enlarged by clicking them with a mouse or tapping on your screen.

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

Today’s emphasis: Hydrophobic plants! Hydrophobic means water-repelling, hydro– from the Latin for water and –phobic from Latin for fear.

Number of Ramblers today: 28

Announcements:
The next exhibit to go up in the Garden’s Visitor Center art gallery is entitled “Tiny Worlds.” Five out of six of the artists whose work is in this show are former or current ramblers! Heather Larkin, Don Hunter, Bill Sheehan, Sandy Shaul, Diego Huet, and Rosemary Woodel invite you to appreciate the natural beauty of tiny bugs, fungi, slime molds, and other creatures that are less than 4 inches wide or tall – creatures that most people would normally walk right by. The show will be up from August 18 – November 13. The opening reception is Sunday, August 18, 12 noon – 2:00pm. Food and drink will be available – especially if Ramblers kick in to help Emily organize treats and beverages for the reception! If you can volunteer to help, let Emily know at this email address: egenecarr@me.com

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

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

Interesting article in the Smithsonian Magazine: Botanists Vote to Remove Racial Slur From Hundreds of Plant Species Names.

Today’s reading: Heather read “The Peace of Wild Things” by poet Wendell Berry.

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Today’s route: We walked through the Children’s Garden vegetable beds, stopped at the ponds, and then headed to the Visitor Center plaza fountain. From there, we walked through the Herb & Physic Garden and the Heritage Garden, ending at the Sorghum plantings where the cool weather encouraged us to hang out for a while discussing plants and books.

Today’s observations:
Heather opened our hydrophobic exploration by explaining the three ways that water interacts with plant surfaces: “Stop, Drop, and Roll.”

Stop: the plant’s leaves simply get wet, the water staying on the leaves until it evaporates.
Drop: drops of water bead up and eventually drop off the leaves if there are enough of them.
Roll: drops of water immediately roll up into globes and roll off the plant, leaving the surface of the leaf dry. Many plants, especially in the tropics, have specialized “drip tips” on their leaves that help water roll off the leaf.

Both hydrophobic strategies – “dropping” and “rolling” – evolved to prevent water from accumulating on plant leaves. There are a multitude of reasons for plants to have developed hydrophobia:
–As drops form and roll off the leaves, they clean the leaves of dust, pollen
grains, and pollutants that block sunlight and limit photosynthesis.
–Dropping and rolling prevents water from blocking stomates, the pores that allow
leaves to take up carbon dioxide and release oxygen.
–Removing water quickly from a leaf inhibits the growth of mold and other pathogens.
–Dropping and rolling moves water off the leaf to the soil and roots before it evaporates.

Plants have evolved two types of hydrophobic leaf surfaces: waxy and hairy. A waxy coating on leaves and stems is deceptively smooth to the touch but it is actually minutely textured. The wax surface consists of microscopic towers that prevent water from sticking to the leaf surface and encourages the natural surface tension of the water to curl up on itself, forming a drop. Waxy leaf surfaces serve at least two functions: in aquatic habitats, the wax coating keeps water from sinking leaves; in dry areas, wax prevents water loss from inside the leaf.

The waxy surface eventually wears away on some plants’ leaves, causing older leaves to lose their hydrophobic properties.

Left, a young Tulip Tree leaf has a fresh waxy coating that promotes drop formation. Right, an older Tulip Tree leaf has lost much of its waxy coating and water spreads across its surface.

The hairs on some plants’ leaves work in much the same way: forming a rough texture that suspends water drops and encourages drop formation.

Aquatic plants such as lotus, water lilies, and Mosquito Fern are confronted with the constant threat of submersion or swamping by mud and have developed superhydrophobic leaves.

“Lotus leaves have become an icon for superhydrophobicity and self-cleaning surfaces, and have led to the concept of the ‘Lotus effect’. Although many other plants have super-hydrophobic surfaces with almost similar contact angles, the lotus shows better stability and perfection of its water repellency. (Ensikat et al. 2011. Superhydrophobicity in perfection: the outstanding properties of the lotus leaf. Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology.)

In search of more hydrophobic plants, we visited the fountain in the DIG, the Discovery and Inspiration Garden, behind the Porcelain Museum. The fountain was empty but the frogs and toads were there anyway.

(Left to right) Fowler’s Toad, American Bullfrog, and Eastern Spadefoot Toad

Summary of Observations
Purple Basil Ocimum basilicum ‘Dark Opal’
Tomato Solanum lycopersicum
Parry’s Agave Agave parryi
Mexican Petunia Ruellia mexicana
Swamp Mallow Hibiscus moscheutos var. incana
Sunflower Helianthus sp.
Tulip Tree Liriodendron tulipifera
Water Lily Nymphaea sp.
American Lotus Nelumbo lutea
Mosquito Fern Azolla caroliniana
Smooth Spiderwort Tradescantia ohiensis
Bald Cypress Taxodium distichum
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Papilio glaucus
Fowler’s Toad Anaxyrus fowleri
American Bullfrog Lithobates catesbeianus
Eastern Spadefoot Toad Scaphiopus holbrookii
Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis
Joro Spider Trichonephila clavata

Leader for today’s ramble: Linda Chafin

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

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

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

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

Number of Ramblers today: 27

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Today’s Observations:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gulf Fritillary (left) and Spicebush Swallowtail (right)

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

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

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

SUMMARY OF OBSERVED AND DISCUSSED SPECIES

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

Leader for today’s Ramble: Kathy Stege

Authors of today’s Ramble report: Linda Chafin, Don Hunter

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

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

Number of Ramblers today: 31

Today’s emphasis: Soils and roots in the Georgia Piedmont

Announcements:
Andrea Fischer, Volunteer Coordinator for the Botanical Garden, asked Ramblers to volunteer their expertise at the welcome desk in the Visitor Center. With Ramblers’ extensive familiarity with all areas of the Garden, she knows we would be good candidates to fill this need. She’s not looking for a long term commitment, but will contact willing volunteers as needed to fill shifts for regularly scheduled volunteers who can’t make their shifts. Contact Andrea at afischer@uga.edu or let Linda know if you are interested.

Interesting articles:
“Is it too late to save the southern grasslands?” A nice piece by Margaret Renkl.
Another reason to save the Amazonian rain forests — chocolate!
Ferns and flowers bribe helpful ant defenders with nectar, but ferns developed this ability much later. Click here for more.

Show-and-tell:

Kathy brought roots of two species, Pokeberry (above) and Daikon Radish (below), both known as “sod busters” that break up hard-packed clay soils and nearly impenetrable soil layers known as “plow pans.” Roger C. shared that plow pans are created by repeated plowing at the same depth year after year with a bottom or turning plow, and added that it’s necessary to get out a subsoiler every decade or so to break up the plow pan. Unless they are broken up, hard pans will prevent rain from penetrating the depths of the soil, hasten moisture evaporation from the soil, limit soil aeration, and stunt roots. Like most of Clarke County, Kathy’s property was once in cotton agriculture. Over time, both Pokeberry’s and Daikon’s roots break up compacted soil and plow pans and also increase the carbon content of the soil. Kathy has found, through experimentation with both, that Pokeberry roots do a much better job than the radish. She even “torments” her plants to encourage them to develop larger tap roots and lateral roots of varying sizes. Daikon Radish, on the other hand, had much shorter underground parts (the pale pink section) and compacted growth layers near the tip from difficulty penetrating the soil.

Today’s Reading: Kathy read from “The Revolutionary Genius of Plants, A New Understanding of Plant Intelligence and Behavior” by Stefano Mancusco.

From p. 77 - “[The root system] is a physical network whose apexes form a continuously advancing front; a front composed of innumerable tiny command centers, each of which supplements the information gathered during the development of the root and decides the direction of growth. Thus the entire root system guides the plant like a sort of collective brain, or better still, a distributed intelligence on a surface that can be huge. While it grows and develops, each root acquires information essential to the nutrition and survival of the plant. This advancing front can reach a really impressive size. A single rye plant is capable of developing hundreds of millions of root apexes. This is an extraordinary fact, yet negligible when compared to the root system of an adult tree. We do not have reliable data about the roots of trees, but certainly we are talking about several billion roots. We know that there can be more than a thousand root apexes in a single cubic centimeter of forest soil, but we do not have any realistic estimates of how many root apexes an adult tree might have in its natural environment.”

From p. 80 – “A few years ago, my colleague Frantisek Baluska, decided to study roots as a collective organism, seeing them as being like a flock of birds or a colony of ants. This approach proved to be very effective, confirming that the structure of a plant’s root system and the way it explores the terrain and uses resources can be described with great precision using swarm behavior patterns, such as those used in the study of social insects. Navigating along a tiny gradient is an almost impossible task for a single ant; any local variation in the gradient would cause it to get lost without the possibility of finding its way back. In contrast, by acting collectively, a colony can easily overcome this obstacle because it operates like a large integrated matrix of sensors that continuously processes the information received from the environment.”

Kathy shared how moved she was, while preparing for today’s Nature Ramble, by the concept of roots as sentient structures, taking on the task of providing nutrition, as well as providing structural support, for the trees. She briefly addressed the concept of communication between trees, and stressed that the most important factor controlling tree growth and root development is the role of mycorrhizae, extensive networks of fungal “roots” that distribute nutrients and information between trees, among other tasks. Mycorrhizae may even be responsible for monitoring the health of individual trees and deciding, if one is found to be dying, to cut off that tree’s lifeline in order to direct nutrients where they would be the most beneficial.

Today’s Route: We took the paved path through the Lower Shade Garden to the trail that ends at the Orange Trail Spur and out into the right-of-way. We made our way to the river overlook at the south end of the ADA path and returned to the Porcelain and Decorative Arts Museum for some air-conditioned socializing and a fabulous array of snacks, provided by Kathy.

Today’s Observations:
Kathy introduced today’s topic by sharing her experiments with permaculture and native plants in her garden, near Sandy Creek Park. She became interested in soils as a result of her efforts to improve the soil on her property. Compared to many areas in the Botanical Garden that have good quality soils, her property has all the ills familiar to Piedmont gardeners: heavy clay subsoil from which the top soil has long since washed to the rivers and the Atlantic Ocean; a plow layer hardpan; and low fertility.

Jason Young, the Garden’s Director of Horticulture says, “We have 2 different ‘bins’ for woody material and herbaceous material—one is a dump truck and the other a dump trailer. We move that material to the Bioconversion Center on a weekly basis. We receive materials back from the facility also. In the spring and fall, we bring in numerous dump truck loads of compost and mulch to amend beds and cover bare ground, respectively.”

“The organic duff and litter layers play critical physical, chemical, and microbiological roles in forest ecosystems… Duff contains many ectomycorrhizal fungi that have symbiotic relationships with tree and shrub roots; these partnerships aid in the uptake of water and certain nutrients and may protect the surrounding soil structure and protect against other soil-borne organisms…Duff and litter protect the soil from erosion and compaction and form a mulch for maintaining soil moisture… The forest floor is critical for nutrient cycling…and many nutrients—including nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, and potassium—are stored for release during decay or burning of duff and litter… Duff and litter are also important for carbon sequestration. Chojnacky, Amacher, and Gavazzi. 2009. Separating Duff and Litter for Improved Mass and Carbon Estimates. Southern Journal of Applied Forestry 33(1):29-34.

There are two common misconceptions about tree roots: first, that all trees have deep tap roots, and, second, that the root system of a tree is a mirror image of its crown. In fact, few trees have tap roots once they grow out of the seedling stage. Lateral roots provide all the necessary support and access to moisture and nutrients that are not available deep in the subsoil. Tree root systems do not reflect the shape of their crowns. A better image is that of a wine glass resting on a plate, with the plate representing the depth and extent of the roots. Root systems are believed to be about 50% wider than the crown.

Kathy dug up the roots of a Yellow Crownbeard growing in the floodplain (left) and compared them with the roots of the same species dug from her property (right).

The Ramble ended at the Middle Oconee River, which is showing signs of the severe weather we’ve had for the last six weeks, at least. According to the National Weather Service, there were 2.09 inches or rain in Athens in June, when the average is 4.9 inches for June. The average temperature in June was 79.4 degrees, compared with the 1991-2020 average of 77.7 degrees. In July, we’ve had about 1.5 inches of rain, with none since July 8. The average rainfall for July, 1991-2020, was 4.2 inches. This week is forecast to bring some relief!

At this point, Ramblers made their way to the Porcelain Museum, where Kathy had laid out an amazing spread of breakfast, brunch, and lunch goodies. Never short of something to talk about, we gathered around tables, eating and socializing for the next hour. Many thanks to the Botanical Garden for making this space available to the Ramblers during this hot weather!

Post-Ramble Observations:

SUMMARY OF OBSERVED SPECIES
Yellow Crownbeard Verbesina occidentalis
Genista Broom Moth (caterpillar) Uresiphita reversalis
Wild Indigo Baptisia sp.
Two-spotted Longhorn Bee Melissodes bimaculatus
Pink Tropical Sage Salvia coccinea cultivar
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly Papilio glaucus
Bottlebrush Buckeye Aesculus parviflora
Castor Bean Ricinus communis

Leaders for today’s Ramble: Dr. Jim Porter and Dr. Karen Porter

Authors of today’s Ramble report: Jim Porter, Linda Chafin

The photos that appear in this report, unless otherwise credited, were taken by Don Hunter. Photos may be enlarged by clicking them with a mouse or tapping on your screen.

Coral reefs are in the news: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/24/science/coral-reef-trafficking-aquariums.html

Note from Linda: Today’s Ramble was held at UGA’s Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, in the Richard Russell Special Collections Library, and featured a tour led by Dr. Jim Porter, world-renowned coral reef expert, and his wife and research partner, Dr. Karen Porter, of their exhibit “Sunken Treasure: The Art & Science of Coral Reefs.” The exhibit explores the history of coral and coral reefs through a display of coral specimens collected by the Porters during their fifty years of marine research as well as rare books collected by Jim Porter during this time. The manuscripts and books date back to the 1600s and include works by scientific luminaries Charles Darwin, Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck, Carl Linnaeus, Ernst Haeckel, and more.

From the exhibit website: “Corals reefs cover less than one percent of the surface of planet Earth but are home to nearly twenty-five percent of all marine species. They are productive ecosystems that support marine life, protect land from the damage posed by ocean waves and hurricanes, and provide food and income for half a billion people.” The exhibit will remain on display through Friday, July 5, 2024.

Ten short videos that provide supporting and background information to the exhibit can be viewed on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLu9kdKOtZYp3wizN1Ydnfolv0osKHwbbT

Jim Porter (left) with a small sample of his voluminous library of coral books and manuscripts. Karen Porter (right) discussing historical uses of red coral.

Corals are composed of hundreds of thousands of microscopic animals called coral polyps that live together in a mutually beneficial relationship with each other and with photosynthetic algal cells. “The coral provides the [algae] with a protected environment and compounds they need for photosynthesis. In return, the [algae] produce oxygen and help the coral to remove wastes. Most importantly, [algae] supply the coral with glucose, glycerol, and amino acids, which are the products of photosynthesis. The coral uses these products to make proteins, fats, and carbohydrates, and produce calcium carbonate. The relationship between the [algae] and coral polyps facilitates a tight recycling of nutrients in nutrient-poor tropical waters. In fact, as much as 90% of the organic material photosynthetically produced by the [algae] is transferred to the host coral tissue. This is the driving force behind the growth and productivity of coral reefs” (NOAA, National Ocean Service). UGA Special Collections Libraries video What is Coral? can be viewed here.

Jim Porter conducts a tour of his book and coral collection for the Nature Ramblers at the Hargrett Rare Book & Manuscript Gallery.

Map of global distribution of major groups of atolls and coral reefs known at that time serves as the frontispiece to Darwin’s On the Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs (photo credit, Wikipedia)

These plates are from Haeckel’s 1875 Reef Corals of the Arabian Sea.

Indo-Pacific lettuce coral (close-up, right) – one of many gorgeous shapes of corals.

Leader for today’s Ramble: Roger Nielsen

Authors of today’s Ramble report: Linda Chafin, Don Hunter

Insect and gall identifications: Don Hunter

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

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

Number of Ramblers today: 34

Today’s Emphasis: “Fightin’ for the light!” – how plants compete for light.

Announcements and other interesting things:

Next week’s Ramble, on July 4th, will be held at Sandy Creek Nature Center (NOT Sandy Creek Park, NOT the Bot Garden), at 205 Old Commerce Rd, Athens. Ramblers will meet in the Nature Center parking lot by the Visitor Center/Education Building at 9:00 a.m. Halley is inviting everyone to her house afterward for a potluck (she will provide drinks only). Her address is 405 Ponderosa Drive, in the Cedar Creek subdivision. Text her if you have questions: 706-318-0854.

Coral reefs are in the news: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/24/science/coral-reef-trafficking-aquariums.html

Today is the first day of Summer, the summer solstice. Roger provided this info on the solstice from “This Week’s Sky at a Glance” in Sky and Telescope Magazine and also from USA Today.

“Happy solstice! At 4:45 p.m. EDT, the Sun reaches its farthest north position in Earth’s sky and begins its six-month return southward. Astronomical summer begins in the Northern Hemisphere, winter in the Southern Hemisphere. For us northerners, this is the year’s longest daylength (duration of exposure to insolation) and shortest night. 

This is the earliest solstice since June 20, 1796, when George Washington was president and there were only 16 states in the Union. It’s also the day when, here in the north temperate latitudes, the midday Sun passes the closest it ever can to being straight overhead, and thus when your shadow becomes the shortest it can ever be at your location. This happens at your local apparent (solar) noon, which is probably rather far removed from noon in your civil (clock) time. And if you have a good west-northwest horizon (in mid-northern latitudes), mark carefully where the Sun sets. In a few days you should be able to detect that the Sun is once again starting to set just a little south (left) of that point.

Many people around the world celebrate the summer solstice with music and festivities. In England, hundreds of people travel to the ancient site Stonehenge for the first day of summer. Solstice observations there have been going on annually for thousands of years. The Stonehenge rock formation perfectly aligns with the sun's movement on both the summer and winter solstices. Although its origins and reasons for its creation are not understood, Stonehenge has become one of the most popular places to observe the solstice. The Mayans and Aztecs also used the summer and winter solstices as markers to build structures that precisely line up with shadows created by the sun.”

Reading: Roger read from “The Harvest of a Quiet Eye,” by Odell Shepard, pp. 133-134, (1927).

"A little stream, six or seven feet in width and not more than ten inches deep in most places, flows down before me through a glade of pines, coming out of a clearing just visible through the dark stems above and going down into another. There is deep shadow, of the peculiarly lustrous and richly colored kind that only pines can throw, upon most of its course, and this shadow is darkest on the glossy broad pool some thirty  feet up the stream, but elsewhere the sunlight dazzles in patches upon white water. The banks on either side are purple with pine needles. A rod or two up the water there is a foot-bridge of two mouldering planks, and beyond that a fence of sagging wire to separate the glade from the clearing.

In this rough outline there is nothing much to excite attention. Nearly all the values lie in minute details, as they must in landscapes drawn to so small a scale, and for this reason, precisely, the forest brook provides the best possible education for the eye. There is always more to be seen in it than any one has yet seen. A [person] may gaze at a small patch of stream-surface until [they have] exhausted every trait of motion, shape, and hue; then [one] looks again, and finds that [one] has just begun to spell out its primer. Not that a brook ever tries to hide anything, for there is nothing more frank and generous in self-revelation; but its carvings are so many and its nuances of color so fine, its endless dance is so full of what looks like pure whim and caprice, that it daunts and finally eludes the most patient skill of the eye. One who has learned to see a brook can see anything."

Show and Tell: Roger brought a section of an Eastern Hemlock limb from his yard. The growth rings on one side of the limb were much wider than those on the other side. Roger told us that when the top – the leader – of the Hemlock’s trunk was broken off in a storm, one of the nearby branches started growing vertically and assumed the leader position.

There are two different plant responses to damage and stress going on here. The first is a phenomenon in plants called “apical dominance” – the tips of plant stems release a hormone called auxin that suppresses or limits the growth of branches down below. When the tip is broken or damaged, auxin production is reduced and lower branches begin to expand from buds lower down on the stem (anyone who has ever pruned a shrub to encourage “bushiness” has seen this). The second stress response is the laying down of what is called “compression wood.” Once free of apical dominance, the limb from Roger’s tree began to grow laterally (sideways) then turned upward to assume the position of the leader. As the limb grew both upward and in girth, it laid down “compression wood” – wider rings on the lower side of the limb that “pushed” the limb up and also provided more support. Compression wood rings are not only wider but also contain more of the substance called lignin that give plant cell walls their strength; in Roger’s tree, it both strengthened and straightened the limb on its way to being the new leader.

Today’s Route: We walked between the Porcelain and Decorative Arts Museum and the Visitor Center, skirted the Heritage Garden, and walked downhill to the boardwalk. We then followed the Woodland Walk Trail to the Orange Trail Spur, and took the spur down to the Orange Trail, where we crossed the creek and headed downstream to the High Water Bridge. We followed the High Water Trail, then turned uphill onto the Purple Trail, returned to the visitor center by way of the Flower and Heritage Gardens.

As Roger predicted, we began to see examples everywhere of plants “fighting for the light.” Without adequate light, plants switch their growth into what is called “shade avoidance response,” and re-allocate energy into growing taller or longer to reach the light. Unfortunately, this comes at a cost: root growth is stunted and plants bloom sooner than normal, responding to the evolutionary imperative to pass their genes to the next generation before it’s too late.

The forest understory includes trees that are adapted to low light and never reach the canopy, such as Flowering Dogwood, Hop Hornbeam, and Chalk Maple. But many of the woody plants seen in the understory are actually shade-tolerant seedlings and saplings of canopy species such as Beech and Red Maple that can persist for decades in the low light, waiting for a gap in the canopy. If a large tree dies or is blown down in a storm, these saplings can grow quickly to establish their place in the canopy before the gap is filled. As much as we mourn when we see a large old tree blown down, its death may provide other species an opportunity to diversify the forest canopy.

Even on a tree walk, it’s a good idea to look down every now and then!
Garter Snake (above) and Bluehead Chub in the Orange Trail creek (below).

Emerging from the woods into the Flower Garden, then moving through the Heritage Garden, ramblers made several noteworthy observations.

In a Nature Ramble report from August 19, 2021, Dale illuminated the lives of these tiny aphids: “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 Sumac 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-vein. The plant reacts by enveloping the egg with a growth of tissue that begins as a small, spherical swelling. The egg hatches and the aphid nymph inside the gall 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, inside the gall. 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, both female and male aphids are produced; they mate and the females fly off to find more sumac, completing the life cycle. 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 later: the cast off exoskeletons of hundreds if not thousands of aphids. Each aphid molts five times before reaching reproductive age. Given the exponential rate of increase of the aphids and then multiply by five and you get a gall filled with white fluff. Visit this website for a lot of excellent photographs of the galls and the aphids.”

Black-eyed Susan (left) and Bee-blossom (right) are two of many beautiful natives thriving in the Flower Garden.

SUMMARY OF OBSERVED, DISCUSSED, AND HEARD SPECIES:

Versute Sharpshooter     Graphocephala versuta
Ligated Furrow Bee     Halictus ligatus
Scentless Plant Bug     Harmostes sp.
Eastern Hemlock   Tsuga canadensis
Purple Coneflower     Echinacea purpurea
Common Eastern Bumble Bee     Bombus impatiens
Sumac   Rhus sp.
Wood Thrush (song)     Hylocichla mustelina
Jack-in-the-Pulpit     Arisaema triphyllum
Painted Buckeye     Aesculus sylvatica
Thread-leaf Bluestar   Amsonia hubrichtii
Pitcher plants     Sarracenia spp.
American White Water Lily     Nymphaea odorata
Wax Myrtle     Myrica cerifera
Flowering Dogwood   Cornus floridus
Hop Hornbeam   Ostrya virginiana
Chalk Maple   Acer leucoderme
Beech   Fagus grandifolia
Red Maple   Acer rubrum
Green Ash  Fraxinus pennsylvanica
Tall Pawpaw     Asimina triloba
Sourwood     Oxydendrum arboreum
Water Oak     Quercus nigra
Common Garter Snake   Thamnophis sirtalis  
Bluehead Chub Nocomis leptocephalus
Scarlet Elf Cup fungus     Sarcoscypha coccinea
Stick insect/Walking Stick  Order Phasmatodea
Asters Yellow (phytoplasma)     Candidatus Phytoplasma asteris
Smooth Sumac     Rhus glabra
Sumac gall aphid     Melaphis rhois
Black-eyed Susan    Rudbeckia hirta
Gaura/Bee-blossom     Gaura sp.