Ramble Report June 21 2018

Today's Ramble was led by Linda Chafin.

Here's the link to Don's Facebook album for today's Ramble. (All the photos in this post are compliments of Don.)

Today's post was written by Linda Chafin.

18 Ramblers met today.

Today’s focus: Staying in the shade.

Today's reading: Don read some folklore and a poem regarding the lore that Gen. Sherman and his army were responsible for the spread of Ox-eye daisy in the southeast U.S. Linda couldn’t help but comment that it’s clearly Yankee propaganda.

Here is the poem, attributed to both Andrew Downing and Frederick Niles:

The Daisy in the South

There is a story told in Georgia, ’tis in everybody’s mouth,

That was old Tecumseh Sherman brought the daisy to the South;

Ne’er the little blossomed stranger in that land was known to be

‘Till he marched his blue coat columns from Atlanta to the sea.

Everywhere in field and valley and the murm’ring pines among

Where a gallant Union soldier pressed his foot, a daisy sprung,

And its coming seemed to many like a promise from on high,

Given there in benediction where Old Glory floated by.

Where the troopers fed their horses, where the bummers bivouacked,

Now with each recurring summer all that highway may be tracked

By the glory of the presence — so the stars the sky illume —

Of a million northern daisies in the beauty of their bloom.

Thus the kindly hand of nature hides the scars that war has made;

Vines have twined the grounded musket, blossoms wreathe the broken blade;

Tiny timid birds have nested safely in the cannons’ mouth

Ever since Tecumseh Sherman gave the daisy to the South.

Whitetail deer skull with antlers

Show and Tell: Berkeley Boone happened by with a skull and attached antlers of an eight-point American Whitetail buck. It was found by Wade Seymour, Director of Grounds at the Garden, in the creek along the Orange Trail. The nearly perfect specimen was from a deer approximately–five or six years old, which Berkeley estimated from the extensive wear on the teeth. We noticed that there were no “front teeth,” which seemed strange for an animal that makes it’s living munching on twigs. Berkeley explained that deer lack upper incisors and canine teeth, and grip twigs by pressing them between their bottom teeth and hard upper palates, then giving a jerk of their head to tear the twig off the plant.

Today's route:  We left the Visitor Center entrance plaza and headed down the paved path from the Visitor Center parking lot, past the American South garden to the Flower Bridge. We crossed the bridge and made our way through the China and Asia Section to the Pitcher Plant and Mountain Bog and Native and Endangered Plant bed. We then circled the large outcrop to the right and entered the Herb and Physic Garden and passed through Freedom Plaza on our way back to the Visitor Center. We then met around the tables at the Cafe Botanica for some refreshment and conversation.

Cicada Killer wasp

 

Exiting the plaza, we saw several large Cicada Killer Wasps buzzing around. These wasps are among the largest in the US and hunt cicadas which they paralyze with a sting. The female wasp then carries the cicada back to a tunnel she has excavated and carries the cicada into one of several chambers she has excavated. There she lays an egg on it. You may have heard cicadas “screaming” as they are being attacked. Justin Schmidt, author of The Sting of the Wild, gives the sting of the cicada killer a 1.5 – “mild, less painful than a honeybee.” He also notes that almost no one has actually been stung by these imposing wasps.

"Toothpicks" of chewed pith pushed out of the trunk of a Japanese Maple by the Granulate Ambrosia beetle.

As we were passing by the Japanese Maples, Katherine noticed a Granulate Ambrosia Beetle infestation in one of the trees. More information on this beetle is available here.

American South Section:

Georgia Rockcress seed capsules with enlarging seeds.

The endangered Georgia Rockcress has set seed inside its long, slender, erect fruits, which are turning yellow and drying. This type of fruit – a silique – is one of two types of fruit diagnostic of the Mustard Family. A silique is long and “sleek” and opens along both sides like a bean pod. The other Mustard Family fruit is called a silicle and is short and oval or round; it too opens along both sides to release the small seeds.

Pearl Crescent butterfly visiting a Purple Coneflower.

Mason bee exploring a Purple Coneflower head

Yellow Bush Honeysuckle flowers

Yellow Bush Honeysuckle is in flower, its small, two-lipped flowers showing some resemblance to other honeysuckles. (It is in the same family as the invasive Japanese Honeysuckle.) This species is native and rare in Georgia, found only in two counties in the northwest corner of state around rock outcrops at high elevations.

Paved Path (between American South Section and the Flower Bridge):

Blazing Star

 

Blazing Star beside the Flower Bridge is just coming into flower, with the topmost flower heads in the spike fully opened, while the lower heads were still in bud. This is peculiar–in most plant species with spiked flower clusters, the flowers open from the bottom to the top.

Tall Goldenrod creeping into the Lotus pool

We noticed that Tall Goldenrod has invaded the Lotus pool beside the bridge. What an aggressive native thug this species is!

Paved Path, China and Asia Section:

Bottlebrush Buckeye inflorescences

Bottlebrush Buckeye is in full flower. Its elongated spikes of white flowers are favorites with many pollinating insects.

A metallic green sweat bee gathers pollen from a Bottlebrush buckeye flower.

Today we saw a Pure Green Aguochlora bee, its baskets loaded with pollen,

Female Tiger Swallowtail, melanic form, nectaring at Bottlebrush Buckeye.
These large butterflies are likely to pollinate the flowers by transferring pollen on their wings.

and an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Dark Form, visiting the flowers. The tiny bee was not entering the flowers in search of nectar, but flitting from anther to anther, gathering pollen. Perhaps it was brushing some other plant’s pollen off on the stigmas it brushed past, but it was hard to tell.

Dragpm Arum

 

A robust plant of Dragon Arum or Voodoo Lily–not a lily at all, but a close relative of another Arum Family plant, Jack-in-the-pulpit. There was no evidence of flowering today, perhaps for the best since the flowers (resembling Jack-in-the-pulpit flowers on steroids) reportedly smell of rotten meat. Each large leaf consists of many leaflets arranged in a horse-shoe shape.

Syrphid fly on Virginia Jumpseed

Mulberry Weed

Mulberry Weed is a newcomer to the long list of exotic invasive species in Georgia. An herbaceous relative of Mulberry trees, Mulberry Weed “was first reported in the United States (Louisiana) in the early 1960's. As of 2004, its distribution in North America had spread to include 28 states and the District of Columbia, including most states except the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains... Since all early collections seem to be in and around greenhouses and nurseries, it is likely that it has been introduced in horticultural material, perhaps repeatedly... [Mulberry Weed] appears to have become a fairly aggressive weed in eastern North America. It can be expected to continue to spread, and has the potential to become noxious” (Weakley 2015).

Linda talked about a study conducted by a UGA Ecology School professor, Dr. Jacqueline Mohan, involving climate change and Poison Ivy (click on the “media” link at http://mohanlab.uga.edu/ to hear Dr. Mohan interviewed on NPR about this study). Dr. Mohan and other researchers enclosed a part of Duke Forest, a famous ecology research site in the North Carolina Piedmont, in plastic and pumped in carbon dioxide to simulate global warming conditions. And, surprise! Poison Ivy grew 149% faster with elevated CO₂ – plus the plants produce a more allergenic form of urushiol (the irritating compound). Just one more reason to take action to slow and end global climate change… (You can read the research paper here:  http://www.pnas.org/content/103/24/9086.)

Threatened and Endangered Plant Garden:

Royal Catchfly

Royal Catchfly, a common species in states to the northwest of Georgia, is a state-listed species with only one extant population in Georgia.

Wild Petunia

 

Wild Petunia, though not rare in Georgia, is a nice addition to the garden during this time of year when few wildflowers are in bloom.

Banded Tussock Moth caterpillar

Yellow Jacket wasp entering its nest

Yellow Jackets swarmed but fortunately did not sting Ramblers who lingered along the walkway

Paved Path, Around Outcrop, Stopping at the entrance out into the Herb and Physic Garden:

Rough-leaved Dogwood with xylem fibers stretched between torn leaf segments.

Arrow-wood, one of 13 species of Viburnum in Georgia, is usually found on streambanks or in other wet habitats but is thriving here on an upper slope.

Foxglove, a European native and occasional garden escapee, is in full flower.

Carolina Anole

Several ramblers noticed a Carolina Anole in deep cover

River Oats is just beginning to develop its flower heads.

Highbush Blueberry fruits are beginning to ripen.

Herb and Physic Garden:

Toothache Tree tempted Linda to pull a “Sam Jones” on one of the Ramblers. Pat agreed to be the victim and bravely chewed one of the leaves. The leaves and bark contain a compound that causes an unpleasant numbness of the mouth, tongue, teeth, and gums, and were used by Native Americans and early colonists to alleviate toothache. The bark and berries were also used medicinally to treat a wide range of other ailments. Wikipedia has an interesting piece about the uses of this species, with a Bartram family connection. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zanthoxylum_americanum

Blackberry Lily is actually not a lily but a member of the Iris family, as the equitant (fan-like) leaf bases attest. As the flowers dried, the petals curled around each other in a tight spiral.

Pawpaw fruit

 

Tall Pawpaw fruits are coming along but have a ways to go before they are edible.

Long-legged fly.

Longhorn beetle
The "horns" are really its antennae.

The pale pinkish-lavender flowers of Beautyberry are open and attracting a number of pollinators, including this Long-legged Fly and Long-horned Beetle.

SUMMARY OF OBSERVED SPECIES:

Cicada Killer Wasp	Sphecius speciosus
Granulate Ambrosia Beetle	Xylosandrus crassiusculus
Japanese Maple	Acer palmatum
Georgia Rockcress	Arabis georgiana
Purple Coneflower	Echinacea purpurea
Pearl Crescent Butterfly	Phyciodes tharos
Yellow Bush Honeysuckle	Diervilla rivularis
Bracken Fern	Pteridium aquilinum
Blazing Star	Liatris spicata
Tall Goldenrod	Solidago altissima
Bottlebrush Buckeye	Aesculus parviflora
Pure Green Augochlora bee	Augochlora pura
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail	Papilio glaucus
Dragon Arum / Voodoo Lily	Dracunculus vulgaris
Virginia Jumpseed	Persicaria virginiana
Eastern Calligrapher Fly	Toxomerus geminatus
Mulberry Weed	Fatoua villosa
Royal Catchfly	Silene regia
Wild Petunia	Ruellia caroliniensis
Banded Tussock Moth Caterpillar	Halysidota tessellaris
Eastern Yellow Jacket	Vespula maculifrons
Rough-leaf Dogwood	Cornus asperifolia
Arrow-wood	Viburnum dentatum
Purple Foxglove	Digitalis purpurea
River Oats	Chasmanthium latifolium
High-bush Blueberry	Vaccinium corymbosum
Toothache Tree	Zanthoxylum americanum
Blackberry Lily	Iris domestica (= Belamcanda chinensis)
Tall Pawpaw	Asimina triloba
Carolina Anole	Anolis carolinensis
American Beautyberry	Callicarpa americana
Long-legged Fly	Family Dolichopodidae
Longhorn Beetle	Rutpela sp.
Mason Bee	Osmia sp.