Friday, August 30, 2019

Bloomlist for Aug. 29, 2019



    This week's bloomlist for Wildflower Island is at the end of the post, and Bonnie's pictures
    can be found HERE. Peterson names are used for consistency wherever possible, and comments
    and clarifications are welcome in the comments section.




The Sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale) is so gorgeous, though as usual, it's in the lake and you have to look past the fence to see them.

Doing the bloomlist was great today because we got mentored by Charlie Roberto on various butterflies and insects on some of the plants in The Woods. The most exciting thing was the caterpillar of the Spicebush Swallowtail, resembling a small snake (below left). Yummy. It secretes enough sticky stuff to hold a folded leaf of the Spicebush (or in this case, a young Sassafras tree) over on itself for protection. In a previous stage (below right), the caterpillar looks like black bird poop, which is another kind of protection. Not so yummy.

                

Other stages of this caterpillar and the beautiful butterfly it turns into can be seen on this Gardens with Wings webpage. So if you see a leaf on a shrub that seems to be folded over, it's quite possible an insect has pasted itself into the fold for protection.  Neat.

Another picture from the lesson was an example of an "aphid farm," in this case, the Woolly Aphid.

We saw ants and bees actually caring for this stretch of aphids on the branch on the right, behavior explained in Wiki thus:
Some species of ants farm aphids, protecting them on the plants where they are feeding, and consuming the honeydew the aphids release ... a mutualistic relationship, with these dairying ants milking the aphids by stroking them with their antennae.  Although mutualistic, the feeding behavior of aphids is altered by ant attendance. Aphids attended by ants tend to increase the production of honeydew in smaller drops with a greater concentration of amino acids.

Gorgeous photos from Bonnie include the Closed Gentian (Gentiana andrewsii) and the carpets of young Straw-colored Flatsedge in the lake.




This close-up of the New York Ironweed (Vernonia noveboracensis) on the Island captured a couple of Silver-spotted Skippers. 



Rick Bunting just told us about this butterfly in a recent photo newsletter (which you can sign up for by contacting him at the address in the sidebar).


No. 25 on the Island might be Sweet Goldenrod (Solidago odora).  The leaves are not toothed and smell like anise.




I think The Woods may have three or four kinds of Asters, but ID'ing them is a perennial problem for me, and here's why.

The White Wood Aster (Eurybia divaricatus) right has properly stalked, strongly serrated leaves and sparsely rayed flowers, as in Bonnie's picture this week on the right. There's a better picture of the leaf stems here.

Schreber's Aster (Eurybia schreberi), according to Peterson and many other sources, has a broad angular notch on the basal leaves, see below from GoBotanyBut GoBotany's pictures of the White Wood Aster leaves (here) have the same kind of broad notching. Is that a mistake?

Then there's what seems to be Lowrie's Aster (Symphyotrichum lowrieanum). Peterson says the wing or flanging on the petiole is distinctive, as in Bonnie's picture below right.

A month ago we thought we were looking at Wavy-leaved Asters (Symphyotrichum undulatum), whose leaves flare out and actually clasp the stem, as in the picture below left from Native Plants of the Carolinas and Georgia.

Peterson puts the Wavy-leaved in the blue section and the Lowrie's in the white. We never saw any true blue asters this whole season.



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