8-27 Northern Walking Stick

8-27 This male Northern Walking Stick clung motionless on a locust tree today. John

8-26 Umbrella-wort

8-26 Umbrella-wort, AKA Four O'clock, is a western species that turns up occasionally in Vermont. John

8-25 Prostrate Vervain

8-25 Dry, waste places are home to Prostrate, AKA Large-bracted, Vervain a more southerly species only rarely found in Vermont. This occurrence was in Rockingham. John

8-24 Panicled Aster

8-24 Panicled, AKA Lance-leaved, Asters grace fields, pastures and roadsides. There are 37 aster species listed in the Flora of Vermont. John

8-23 American Pennyroyal

8-23 Fields and dry woods are home to American Pannyroyal. Bruised leaves of this mint family member smell strongly of oil of pennyroyal. John

8-22 Beggar-ticks

8-22 The rayless flowers of Beggar-Ticks are surrounded by numerous leaf-like bracts. John

8-21 Slender Gerardia, Monarch

8-21 Slender Purple Gerardia, AKA False Foxglove, has opened the first of its flowers. Look for it on river banks and in damp meadows.

Of the dozen Monarch caterpillars hatched on our milkweeds only the three that were container raised survived.

8-20 Pennsylvania Leatherwing, Sarsaparilla leaves

8-20 This beetle, called by one source a Pennsylvania Leatherwing, is more flatteringly called a Golden Soldier Beetle. I see them on Goldenrods.

Leaf Miner damage on Sarsaparilla leaves makes an interesting - and I think pleasing - picture. John

8-19 Closed Gentian, Great Blue Heron

8-19 Moist woods and meadows are home to Closed Gentian, AKA Bottle Gentian, so called because its flowers never open.

Great Blue Herons are hearty. This one may linger until ice begins to cap shallow waters. John

8-18 Northern Flatid Planthopper, Banded Tussock Moth caterpillar

8-18 The snowy white color of the Northern Flatid Planthopper seems to provide no camouflage in a predominantly green landscape.

Banded Tussock Moth caterpillars, generalist feeders on the leaves of trees and shrubs, are often called Bottle Brush or Fu Manchu caterpillars. It's thought that their bristles make them unpalatable to birds. John