Important reminder:
New Ramble time for June, July and August: Rambles will begin at 8:00AM. We
will return to the 8:30AM start time in September.
Today's post was written by Dale.
It was another beautiful morning, especially since thunderstorms had been predicted but never showed up. Twenty-three Ramblers met at the Arbor and
heard Rosemary read a selection from Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods. Rosemary' s 74th birthday is tomorrow and she
is celebrating by taking her own solo "walk in the woods." We hope she
fares better than the Bryson quotation she read:
The woods were full of peril --
rattlesnakes and water moccasins and nests of copperheads; bobcats, bear,
coyotes, wolves, and wild boar; loony hillbillies destabilized by gross
quantities of impure corn liquor and generations of profoundly unbiblical sex;
rabies-crazed skunks, raccoons, and squirrels, merciless fire ants and ravening
blackfly; poison ivy, poison sumac, poison oak, and poison salamanders; even a
scattering of moose lethally deranged by a parasitic worm that burrows a nest
in their brains and befuddles them into chasing hapless hikers through remote,
sunny meadows and into glacial lakes.
Today's route: We
took the paved walkway through the Shade garden, crossed the road and walked to
the power line on the White trail. At the power line we turned right and went
up the hill as far as the Redbuds, then turned around and descended the hill,
crossing the road. We ran out of time before reaching the fence, so we returned
to the Arbor via the Dunson garden.
Shade Garden:
There are several Black cohosh planted in the Shade garden
and the tall, graceful racemes of white buds are finally starting to open. Only
a few near the bottom of the inflorescence are currently open but this is only
the beginning. Over the next few weeks the rest of the buds will open, the wave
of anthesis starting at the bottom and traveling upward. (Anthesis is
botany-speak for the time when a flower is fully open and functioning.
No walk through the Shade garden would be complete without a
stop at the Witch Hazels to check on the leaf galls. There don't seem to be as
many galls as we found earlier, but this could be due to loss of the leaves
that were most heavily infested. Many of the remaining ones are blackened and
hard, perhaps the tree's revenge against the aphids that lived inside the
conical structures. The aphids may have fled to their alternate host, possibly
the River Birch. (I
discussed the life cycle of these aphids in an earlier post.)
 | |
| Thimbleweed |
Toward the bottom of the Shade garden Don noticed a
Thimbleweed growing within a clump of Black Cohosh. Sue remarked that the
flower of this unusual member of the Buttercup family resembles that of Mexican
Hat, which is in the Aster (Sunflowers, Daisies, etc.) family.
White Trail:
Just across the road from the Shade garden, growing in a
bare spot, were several Yellow crownbeard plants, still far
from flowering
(this happens later in the summer). We stopped to look at these because they
were free from surrounding undergrowth and we could clearly see the
"wings" on the stem that give this group of plants their collective common
name: Wingstems. In the natural areas of the SBG there are three species of
Wingstems. This one has opposite leaves and will produce numerous yellow
flowers. The other two species have alternate leaves. We will see all three in
bloom later this year.
 | |
| Yellow Crownbeard |
Back in early April we visited an American Beech tree that
was producing fruits: Beech nuts. Today we
stopped to look at the progress of
these beechnuts; they are more than doubled in size. It is probably significant
that the limbs of this tree that are producing nuts have stretched out some
20-30 feet horizontally to reach the sunlight in the pathway. It takes a lot of
energy to produce an energy-rich nut and that means photosynthesis.
 | |
| Beech nut |
Near the Beech tree is a Hawthorn with leaves infested with
a fungus that appears to be
what is called a "rust." Most of the
leaves have rust-colored blotches that are the spore producing structures of
the fungus infecting the leaves. Earlier this year we saw a nearby Eastern Red
Cedar with an unusual looking gall that I identified as a Cedar Apple Rust
Gall. This Hawthorne may be the alternate host plant used by the Cedar Apple
Rust (the Hawthorne is a crab apple). If this is true then we're looking at
another example of a complex life history involving two host plants, just like
the Witch Hazel aphids we saw earlier. My earlier identification is likely in
error and what we found is probably Cedar Hawthorn Rust.
 | |
| Cedar Hawthorn Rust |
Next we stopped at a young Green Ash tree with leaves low
enough to the ground that we could easily see their features. As a review for
long-time ramblers and for the benefit of new members of our group I pointed
out the pinnately compound, oppositely arranged leaves. It is sometimes hard to
tell if a tree has alternate or opposite leaves, because if a leaf has been
lost from a branch it will look like the leaves are arranged alternately. So
you should examine the branch and see if there is a leaf scar on the opposite side
of the stem from the leaf that is attached. If you can't get that close then you can look at
other branches and if you see any opposite leaves that is evidence that the
leaf arrangement is truly opposite. Commonly encountered trees in this area
that have opposite leaves are: Maples, Ashes, Dogwood and Buckeyes (there are
others, but they are less common).
To contrast with the Green Ash's compound leaves I brought
along a small, terminal branch from a Southern Red Oak that was blown down by
the recent thunderstorms. But there was more interest in why the branch fell. If
you examine the end of the branch you can see that there is a smooth ring cut
around the entire diameter of the twig. This was caused by an insect that fed
on the tissue just under the bark, weakening the branch. When violent winds
strike these weakened branches they break off and fall. This stimulated a lot
of conversations about similar leaf falls that people have observed. For example several people had seen the flowers, not just the petals, of Tulip trees littering the ground in early spring.
The likely culprits are squirrels, but I haven't caught them in the act, at least on Tulip trees. They are known to
cut off insect-infested branches in an effort to get a tasty, protein-rich
snack. Emily and I have observed squirrels in our backyard cutting off the
seed-bearing twigs from our Red Maples. They then came down and ate the seeds
on the fallen branches.
We found a fuzzy headed plant that, at the time, I thought might be wild
lettuce. But now I think it was Spiny Sowthistle, but I'm not ready to wager a large sum on that identification. It did have a nice, dandelion style seed head to demonstrate how plants can get
around in spite of being anchored to one spot. Blow on that head of seeds with their fluffy parachutes and help spread them around!
 | |
| A Fleabane |
There are a lot of Fleabanes in bloom this time of year, but
they are difficult to identify to the species level. Perhaps we should be
satisfied with just calling them Fleabanes. (The suffix, -bane, in a plant name
indicates that the plant has some property that kills or repels the prefix, in
this case, fleas. People apparently hung dried Fleabane in their homes to repel
fleas.) This fleabane might be Lesser Daisy Fleabane, based on its small,
narrow leaves.
 | |
| Hophornbeam fruits |
Finally we visited another tree we've been watching since
the beginning of April, a Hophornbeam that we first noticed flowering on April
2 this year. The previous two years it had not flowered at all and now it is
loaded with developing fruits that are beginning to resemble those of its
namesake, Hops. (Hops are the fruit of the Hop plant and are used to impart the
bitter flavor to beer. See a photo
of hop fruit here.) Compare the photos below of the same tree taken on April 2 and April 30 with the picture of the fruits above.
 | |
| Hophornbeam fruits (L) Apr. 2; (R) Apr. 30 |
Power line ROW:
The white, flat to rounded umbels of Queen Anne's Lace are
very visible against the brown
grasses that are so abundant in the power line
right of way. Each umbel, as the inflorescence is called, if composed of
hundreds of tiny white flowers. This inflorescence is typical of the plants in
the carrot family and, if fact, Queen Anne's Lace (QAL) is the ancestor of our
modern carrots. But the roots of QAL are barely edible, being almost flavorless
and slightly woods tasting. It must have taken centuries of effort, selecting
the plants with the largest roots and propagating from their seeds, to develop
something as nutritious as the
sweet carrots we enjoy today. If you look
closely at the flower head you will find numerous tiny insects. Common among these
are the Tumbling Flower Beetles, little wedge-shaped insects that, as their
name implies, tumble and roll about erratically in their attempt to escape.
 | |
| Queen Anne's Lace |
 |
| Tumbling Flower Beetle |
A plant with a luminous yellow flower
stands out like a
beacon on a partly cloudy day like today. They are usually solitary and seldom
have more than a single flower open at a time. They are known by several names,
Carolina Desert Chicory being the most appropriate. (In many books they are
called False Dandelion. These same books describe the flower color as
"pale yellow", as unimaginative a description of their true color as I
can imagine.) The other members of the genus are found in the west and are
commonly referred to as "Desert Chicory", so it makes sense to call
our single eastern representative of that genus a Desert Chicory as well. (Now
I'll step down from my high horse.)
 | |
| Carolina Desert Chicory |
Another delightful plant found nestled in the grass is Sensitive brier. Like some other plants
in the Mimosa genus its leaves will fold
up and collapse if touched roughly.
The condition is not permanent, though; if left undisturbed they gradually
recover. This plant sprawls over the ground, has a stem covered with tiny
spines and produces small, pinkish-purple spherical flowers. What appears to be
a single, ball-like flower is really a cluster of tiny flowers. It is
surprising to realize that this plant is in the pea family, because its flowers
are so different from those of peas or beans. It is in the mimosa subfamily of
the Pea family. You are probably familiar with the small tree commonly called a
Mimosa that grows here in the southeast. It is also in the pea family, but has
a similar, pinkish fuzzy flower, just not as ball-like. But both will produce a
typical pea-like seed pod.
 | |
| Sensitive Brier |
 | |
| Deptford Pinks |
Don spotted a few Deptford
pinks hiding in the grasses and several coarse-leaved sunflowers were tall enough to rise above the grasses in the power
line, but they are
nowhere near producing any flowers. A solitary Thistle,
species not determined, perhaps a Musk
thistle, was blooming in the ROW. Thistles are magnets for bees and
butterflies and later, when their seeds ripen, seed-eating birds descend upon
them.
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| Musk thistle? |
One small weed that always fascinates me is Horse nettle. It's in the nightshade
family and its flower, like most members of that
family, resembles that of a
tomato. (Tomatoes, potatoes and eggplant are all nightshades.) These plants all
share an unusual characteristic: their anthers open at the end in a single pore
and their pollen is dry. (The anther is the structure that produces pollen in
plants. In other kinds of plants the pollen is very sticky and emerges from a
split in the side of the anther.) These flowers are adapted to buzz pollination
by bumble bees. The bee grabs the flower and then vibrates its wing muscle very
rapidly but without moving its wings. This creates a buzzing sound at just the
right frequency to shake the pollen out of the anther. The dry dust-like pollen
grains are attracted to the bees fuzzy body and get carried to the next flower
the bee visits. The bee, of course, carries a lot of the pollen home to feed
the developing larvae in the nest.
 | |
| Horse nettle with yellow anthers |
One of the young ramblers, Nathan, found a cluster of newly
hatched insect eggs on the
leaves of some of the Dog fennel that is just
emerging. At the time I thought the small insects were the larvae of some kind
of beetle, but, after looking at Don's photos I now realize that they are Bugs,
not beetles. The reason: Bugs have what is called direct development which means
that a newly hatched bug looks like a miniature version of the adult, only
without wings. As they grow they molt and increase in size, still looking like
miniature, wingless adults. At the final molt the wings appear. Beetles, on the
other hand, exhibit indirect development. Their life cycle consists of four
different stages: egg, larva, pupa and adult. The larva of a beetle look
nothing like the adult. Like a butterfly or moth they undergo a metamorphosis
in the pupa stage, transforming into the adult beetle. Don's photo shows some
tiny, shiny black insects, but I can't make out any other features. To me they
don't resemble any larval beetles I know about, so I'm thinking they are bugs.
Plus, the eggs are clustered together, which is characteristic of bugs and they
also look "bug-like." But I might be wrong.
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| Tiny newly hatched bugs on Dog Fennel |
Spotted cat’s ear
is a Dandelion look-alike that is widely seen around town this time of year.
You'll encounter in lawns and other disturbed areas. You can distinguish it
from Dandelion easily: Dandelions produce one flower per stalk and the stalk is
tan in color, hollow and oozes white fluid when broken. Spotted cat's ear has
green, solid flower stalks that divide and bear more than one flower. Dandelion
also blooms earlier in the year than Spotted cat's ear, at least in the Athens
area.
Monarch butterflies
& caterpillars were seen at west side of the lower part of the power
line right of way, just above the road to the Lanier center. At least half a
dozen Butterfly weed plants were sporting their showy orange blossoms among the
grasses. Butterfly weed is a type of Milkweed and, if you've been following the
news about Monarch butterflies, you'll recognize that Milkweed is the food
plant of their caterpillar. We saw two of them flying about the milkweeds,
suggesting that they, the butterfiles, might be looking for suitable plants to
lay their eggs on. Further supporting this idea is that one monarch I got a
close look at was a
female. Confirmation came when Nathan found several Monarch
caterpillars feeding on the Butterfly weed. We passed them around for people to
examine before returning them to their food plants.
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| Monarch with Butterfly weed |
 | |
| Two Monarch caterpillars |
 |
| Carolina Wild Petunia |
Hidden among the grasses and other vegetations we found
single plants of Carolina wild petunia
and White avens in blossom.
Alongside the path was another, slightly different Fleabane, perhaps Daisy fleabane. It has larger leaves
than the ones we saw further up the hill and on the White trail.
Scattered throughout this area are large Pokeweeds, pink to red stemmed plants with large leaves.. Later in
the year the clusters of flowers will produce dark purple berries that were
used for ink in colonial times. Apparently the tender young shoots of Pokeweed
are edible, but they have to be cooked with three changes of water to remove
the toxins found in the leaves. All the parts of this plant are poisonous! The usage
of the young growth as greens is the origin of another, more colloquial common
name for the plant: Poke Sallet.
SUMMARY OF OBSERVED SPECIES:
|
Common Name
|
Scientific Name
|
|
Black cohosh
|
Actaea racemosa
|
|
Witch hazel
|
Hamamelis virginiana
|
|
Thimbleweed
|
Anemone virginiana
|
|
Virginia spiderwort
|
Tradescantia virginiana
|
|
Yellow crownbeard
|
Verbesina occidentalis
|
|
American beech
|
Fagus grandifolia
|
|
Hawthorn
|
Crataegus sp.
|
|
Cedar-hawthorn rust
|
Gymnosporangium globosum
|
|
Green ash
|
Fraxinus pennsylvanica
|
|
Southern red oak
|
Quercus falcata
|
|
Spiny Sowthistle
|
Sonchus asper
|
|
Lesser daisy fleabane
|
Erigeron strigosus
|
|
Hophornbeam
|
Ostrya virginiana
|
|
Queen Anne’s Lace
|
Daucus carota
|
|
Damsel bug
|
Genus Nabis
|
|
Carolina desert chicory
|
Pyrrhopappus carolinianus
|
|
Deptford pink
|
Dianthus armeria
|
|
Sunflower
|
Helianthus sp.
|
|
Sensitive brier
|
Mimosa microphylla
|
|
Carolina horse nettle
|
Solanum carolinense
|
|
Musk thistle
|
Carduus nutans
|
|
Wild onion
|
Allium canadense
|
|
Long leaf summer bluet
|
Houstonia longifolia
|
|
Butterfly weed
|
Asclepias tuberosa
|
|
Monarch
|
Danaus plexippus
|
|
Bumblebee
|
Bombus sp.
|
|
Spotted cat’s ear
|
Hypochaeris radicata
|
|
Carolina wild petunia
|
Ruellia caroliniensis
|
|
Daisy fleabane
|
Erigeron annuus
|
|
Pokeweed
|
Phytolacca americana
|
|
White avens
|
Geum canadense
|
|
Hoverfly
|
Family Syrphidae
|
|
Wolf spider
|
Family Lycosidae
|
