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Hydrophobic
Hydrophobic, meaning water-repellent. Many plants have hydrophobic leaves and they can be found looking for them while it’s raining, or soon after it stops. This one is Virginia Spiderwort (Tradescantia virginiana). Sensitive Fern (Onoclea sensibilis) is also hydrophobic. The reasons that leaves might be hydrophobic are many. One reason is to protect the plant from…
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Dot-Lined White Moth
With the look of a tiny stuffed animal wrapped in a white fluffy fur coat, this is a Dot-lined White Moth (Artace cribrarius). Wingspan of one to nearly two and a half inches, males are smaller than females. These moths are generally found in the eastern United States. Their larval host plants are species of…
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Surprise, Surprise!
What a delightful surprise this morning. Well, actually not really a surprise, but after almost a whole week of fog, drizzle, rain, and no sunshine – there it was, the sun was out creating lovely shadows all over the mountain! I grabbed my dear camera and the two of us roamed with thoughts of capturing…
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A Queen
Roaming with my camera a couple days ago as the drizzle came down, I came upon an Eastern Yellow Jacket (Vespula maculifrons). This one though was larger than I’m used to seeing. Turns out it is a queen Yellow Jacket. The size difference? The worker Yellow Jacket is about 1/2 inch long and the queen…
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Dogwood
Another day of thick fog, drizzle and rain. Another day of wet leaves that brighten the colors of the leaves and color the beginning of autumn. There are well more than thirty — to nearly sixty — species of plants in the genus Cornus. Twelve of them are native to the United States and Canada.…
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Drizzle On Winged Sumac
Today more drizzle, fog, and rain. And the moisture only makes the color of the Winged Sumac (Rhus copallinum) *pop* even more. This deciduous shrub or tree is a fun to find. When its flowers are blooming, mid-summer, the whole tree buzzes loudly with all the bees that are collecting nectar and pollen. And now,…
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A Hungry Caterpillar
Looking to me like a Yorkshire Terrier dressed for Halloween, this is actually a Milkweed Tussock Moth caterpillar (Euchaetes egle), out and about in late summer and now, early autumn. These larvae principally choose Milkweed (Asclepias) or Dogbane (Apocynum) as their host plants. Not to be of concern though. These caterpillars generally go for older…
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Beware The Hitchhiker
Naked-flowered Tick Trefoil (Desmodium nudiflorum) native to eastern North America. It’s going to seed now, just waiting for you to hike past. Its flat seedpods, called loments or more casually, hitchhikers, are covered with short hooked hairs — think miniature velcro. They’re out there and when you come home covered with them it will take…
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Native But Aggressive
Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) a quick growing vine, native to eastern and central North America. It has palmately compound leaves usually with 5 leaflets. And can be confused with Poison Ivy (Toxicodendron radicans) so double check the number of leaflets that you’re seeing. Maybe what you see is not Poison Ivy, but just Virginia Creeper.…