Ramble Report July 7 2022

Ramble Report July 7, 2022 

 

Leader for today's Ramble: Linda Chafin

Authors of today's report: Linda

Insect identifications: Don Hunter, Heather Larkin, Dale Hoyt

 

Link to Don’s Facebook album for this Ramble. All the photos that appear in this report, unless otherwise credited, were taken by Don Hunter. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.6022574794425702&type=3

 

27 Ramblers today 

 

Announcements:  

Bob announced a new David Attenborough series, “The Green Planet,” showing on PBS. Filmed over a period of three years in 27 different countries, it consists of five episodes.

 

Today's emphasis:  What’s blooming and who’s eating who in the right-of-way

 

Reading: Today we had two readings….

 

Kathy had a reading from a rabbinic midrash: 

"There is a wonderful Chasidic story about the child of a rabbi who used to wander in the woods. At first his father let him wander, but over time he became concerned. The woods were dangerous. He did not know what lurked there. He decided to discuss the matter with his child. 

 

One day he took him aside and said, 'You know, I have noticed that each day you walk into the woods. I wonder, why do you go there?'

 

The boy said to his father, 'I go there to find God.'

'That is a very good thing,' the father replied gently. 'I am glad you are searching for God. But, my child, don't you know that God is the same everywhere?'

'Yes,' the boy answered, 'but I am not.'"

***********

Terry brought in our second reading, excerpted from an interview with Ed Yong, science writer, in Publisher's Weekly (link to interview):

"There is one thing that I keep thinking about: if you look at all the colors of the flowers around you and consider what kind of eye would be best at telling them apart, what you end up with is an eye that’s basically exactly like what a bee has. You might think, then, that the bee has evolved an eye that’s really good at seeing flowers. And actually, you would be completely wrong. It’s the other way around. The bees came first and the flowers came after, which means that flower colors evolved to tickle the eyes of bees and other insects. And I think that’s just a truly magical thing to discover."

Show and Tell: 

Heather brought in a branch from a White Oak tree; every leaf had been extensively damaged by Solitary Oak Leaf Miners, caterpillars so tiny they can actually feed between the upper and lower surfaces of the leaves, then go on to spin a cocoon and pupate there as well. The adult form is a very small, silvery moth with tan markings on its wings. For more information and suggestions for reducing leaf miner damage to your trees, check this link.

 

  

Tom brought two dead male Hercules beetles that he collected beneath an outdoor light at his house.

 

 

 

 

 Today's Route: We left the Children’s Garden arbor and wove our way through the Shade Garden and over to the the Georgia Power right-of-way. We ventured briefly down the ROW but then turned north and walked up the ROW nearly to the top of the hill. From there we returned to the Visitor Center via the road.

Today’s Observations:

The small stand of Sweetshrub in the Lower Shade Garden blooms regularly but bears only a few fruits each year, relying more on vegetative spread than sexual reproduction. It may be that the sap beetles that pollinate Sweetshrub flowers are in short supply in this part of the Garden. Sweetshrub’s ancestors evolved early in the history of flowering plants, about 97 million years ago, and are pollinated mainly by sap beetles. Sap beetles (family Nitidulidae) are small dull-colored insects that mainly eat decaying vegetation, over-ripe fruit, and sap. They are drawn to Sweetshrub’s flowers by their fragrance which has been described as a mixture of melon, banana, pineapple, and strawberry. (Here’s a link to a great article about Sweetshrub pollination.) 

 

Sweetshrub ‘fruit’ is a bit of a misnomer – what appears to be a lumpy green fruit is actually a fleshy structure called a floral tube, formed when the lower part of petals, sepals, and stamens fuse together. If the flower is pollinated and ovules are fertilized, the floral tube expands and encloses the developing seeds. 

Sweetshrub fruit with mature seeds.
Photo by Dan Tenaglia

Sweetshrub fruit opened by a rodent.
Photo by Gary Knight.

 

 

Once the seeds mature, the sack-like tube dries and turns brown. It persists on the shrub through the winter; mice and other rodents tear open the sack and make off with the seeds. 

We first thought this Mabel Orchard Orbweaver was our first sighting of a Joro spider of the year -- that actually happened later in the ramble. So it begins….

Chinese Pistache Tree

A small Chinese Pistache Tree growing along the White Trail Spur has so far escaped Gary’s eradication efforts. Pistache Trees of both sexes were planted in several places in the Garden decades ago, guaranteeing its spread. Although not on the Georgia Exotic Pest Plant Council’s list of invasive species, it is expected to become a widespread problem, especially if both sexes are sold. Its leaves resemble those of several native trees but the crushed vegetation has a distinctive– and very unpleasant–odor.

 

Yaupon Holly in fruit. Yaupon is the only native North American plant containing caffeine and was a valuable trade item among Native Americans

 

Hop Hornbeam in fruit
The fruits – small, seedlike nutlets – are contained in the slightly inflated sacs that make up the fruit clusters. There are 10-30 sacs per cluster and only one nutlet per sac. The clusters of sacs superficially resemble the flower clusters of the hop plants (no relation) that are used in beer-making.

 

Red-femured Orbweaver spiders are easily identifiable
by their red leg segments and the “cat-face” pattern on their abdomens.

Heather found a tiny Meadow Katydid nymph

The single Red Buckeye tree in the ROW is loaded with fruit. Each of its flower clusters has many flowers but only the flowers at the base of the cluster will bear fruit; the rest of the flower cluster has been shed, leaving behind only a bit of the dried stalk seen in Don’s photo.

Cross-section of a Red Buckeye fruit.

It is typical for each fruit to contain two or three

developing seeds and one or more aborted seeds.

Unlike the Red Buckeye, which flowered in April, Bottlebrush Buckeye
blooms in the summer. Its fruits will closely resemble those of Red Buckeye. All buckeye species have highly toxic seeds.

Holly found a Field Cricket which we containerized for viewing.

A leaf-footed bug was also captured for viewing. It appears to be a
late instar nymph of Acanthocephala terminalis, no common name.

Post Oak leaves

A small Post Oak sapling has so far escaped the maintenance mowing in the right-of-way. These tough trees are denizens of dry, open ridges and upper slopes. It comes equipped for droughts and dry soils: its leaves have a thick, waxy coating above and a felt-like coating of hairs below. It is also adapted to the frequent fires that used to sweep across Piedmont prairies and creep through Piedmont woodlands–it sprouts prolifically after fire and also after browsing.

 

Carolina Desert Chicory

Carolina Desert Chicory flower heads are composed of delicate, almost translucent, ray flowers that are a distinctive pale lemon yellow, different from the golden yellow of late summer’s sunflowers. But what’s up with that unwieldy name? The Carolina part it comes by honestly: the species name is carolinianus, indicating that the plant specimen on which the name was based was collected in “the Carolinas.” But desert…in the Carolinas? Of the four or five species in its genus, all but this one occur in the desert southwest of the U.S. and this one was swept up in the naming frenzy. And chicory? A bit more complicated: this species belongs to a subgroup of Aster Family plants called the Chicory Tribe (Cichorieae). Their flower heads are made up entirely of rays, all of which are fertile and capable of forming seeds. Disk flowers are absent. Instead, in the center of the head, you can see the dark anthers and yellow style branches belonging to each ray flower. If you’ve ever seen the blue flower heads of Chicory, you may recall the resemblance – other than the color – to this flower head. 

Photo by D. Mott
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dmott9/3599782266

Blue flower head of Chicory

Little Sensitive Briar is in the genus Mimosa.
Its flower heads resemble those of a Mimosa Tree.

Virginia Buttonweed in the moist, grassy areas of the right-of-way.

Southern Mountain Mint

Southern Mountain-mint is one of the most common wildflowers in the right-of-way and will be a pollinator magnet once the flowers open. Most mountain-mints have whitened bracts and calyxes that draw bees and butterflies to its otherwise inconspicuous flowers. The powdery white coating is called “pulverescence,” which shares a root word with pulverize–to reduce to powderiness (Thanks, Avis!). 

Redbud trees in the right-of-way are playing host to the caterpillars of Redbud Leaf-folder Moth. Dale wrote about this species in the July 10, 2014 Ramble Report: “Many insects and spiders fold or roll leaves to make a protective home that they can either retreat to or feed in. (Think of the fern leaf ball roller caterpillar we saw earlier this year.) So, it is was no surprise when someone noticed a folded leaf on a small Redbud. Carefully opening it, we discovered not one but two small caterpillars. They were light colored with numerous black rings encircling their bodies. This turned out to be the Redbud Leaf-folder caterpillar…Folded or rolled leaf shelters can provide protection from parasitic wasps and other predators, but some animals are capable of using the folded leaves as a sign of a tasty meal inside. An observer on buguide.net indicated that two birds, titmice and chickadees, were seen foraging on folded redbud leaves. When the leaves were examined after the birds left, no caterpillars were present.”

A folded Redbud leaf indicates that a Leaf-folder caterpillar
is hiding (and eating) inside.

 

Black and white stripes mark the Redbud Leaf-folder Moth caterpillar,
seen here with lots of frass

Delta Flower Scarab beetle

Heather took this photo of a Delta Flower Scarab beetle,
a first sighting for her and an old favorite of Don's, who sees it each summer starting in late June or early July.

Thimbleweed flower is rare in the right-of-way but common and widespread
throughout much of North America in areas with high-calcium soils.

Molted skin of a Praying Mantis

Short-horned Grasshopper on the leaves
of White Crownbeard

Rustweed with its narrow, pointed leaves and tiny flowers.
This plant forms circular mats on the ground, with the lower portions
of the branches rusty-red at their bases.

Carolina Milkvine is still in flower.

We visited the right-of-way milkvine patch near the Sparkleberry tree on May 12 and found a large number of flowers. We returned today, expecting to see developing fruits. Instead, ever more flower clusters were in full bloom or even still in bud. Milkvines are close relatives of milkweeds and have the same risky pollination system that depends on precise yet accidental leg movements by pollinators. Details in last week’s blog!

Carolina Milkvine flower

Widow Skimmer dragonfly resting near the patch of Carolina Milkvine

A friendly Mischievous Bird Grasshopper hopped from one Rambler to the next.
It was particularly fond of one of the flowers on Linda’s shirt.

Heal-all (aka Self-heal) living on this continent was long thought to be a European import. Recent molecular genetics work indicates that there is a native variety that differs in leaf shape; both are found in disturbed habitats such as the right-of-way. 

Pencil Flower

Wild Petunias are abundant in the right-of-way.

Each Wild Petunia flower lasts only a day but the plants are prolific and continue blooming well into summer. The flowers provide nectar for butterflies, bees, wasps, and hummingbirds. It is a host plant for caterpillars of Common Buckeye butterflies.

SUMMARY OF OBSERVED SPECIES

Eastern White-tailed Deer     Odocoileus virginiana
Sweetshrub     Calycanthus floridus
Joro Spider     Trichonephila clavata
Chinese Pistache Tree      Pistacia chinensis
Clasping Heliotrope   Heliotropium amplexicaule
Yaupon Holly     Ilex vomitoria
American Hophornbeam     Ostrya virginiana
Meadow Katydid (nymph)     Conocephalus sp.
Red-femured Orbweaver spider     Neoscona domiciliorum
Red Buckeye     Aesculus pavia
Bottlebrush Buckeye   Aesculus parviflora
Field Cricket     Gryllus sp.
Leaf-footed Bug (no common name)     Acanthocephala terminalis
Post Oak     Quercus stellata
Carolina Desert Chicory     Pyrrhopappus carolinianus
Virginia Buttonweed     Diodia virginiana
Little Sensitive Briar     Mimosa microphylla
Southern Mountain-mint     Pycnanthemum pycnanthemoides
Foxtail grass     Setaria sp.
Elliott’s Milkpea     Galactia elliottii
Eastern Redbud tree     Cercis canadensis
Redbud Leaf-folder Moth (caterpillar)     Fascista cercerisella
Delta Flower Scarab beetle     Trigonopeltastes delta
White Crownbeard/Frostweed     Verbesina virginica
Short-horned Grasshopper  Melanoplus sp.
Thimbleweed     Anemone virginiana
Wild Bergamot     Monarda fistulosa
Daisy Fleabane     Erigeron sp.
Rustweed/Juniper Leaf     Polypremum procumbens
Praying Mantis (molted skin)     Family Mantidae
Carolina Milkvine     Matelea carolinensis
Widow Skimmer Dragonfly     Libellula luctuosa
Mischievous Bird Grasshopper     Schistocerca damnifica
Pencil Flower     Stylosanthes biflora
Starry Rosinweed     Silphium asteriscus
Versute Sharpshooter  Graphocephala versuta
Heal-all     Prunella vulgaris
Wild Petunia     Ruellia caroliniensis