6-30 Indian Pipes

6-30
Indian Pipes are poking up through the leaf litter.
The little brownish flowers of Maryland Figwort can be seen in damp roadside weed patches.
blue Vervain puts up it showy spikes in wet meadows and marshy areas.
John

Indian Pipes

Maryland Figwort

Blue Vervain

6-29 Spotted Knapweed

6-29
Spotted Knapweed is in flower and attracting pollinators.
A not very well camouflaged Clymene moth rested for the day on a plantain leaf.
Fringed Loosestrife - so named for the hairy fringe on its leaf stems - colors moist thickets, ditches and shores.
John

Spotted Knapweed

Clymene moth

Fringed Loosestrife

6-28 Purple Milkwort

6-28
Purple Milkwort, a flower of damp meadows and riverbanks, is starting to flower.
A pair of 'fireflies' of a diurnal non-luminous species (Pyropyga nigricans) mated on a rock next to the West River. Forty percent of all firefly species have no luminescence.
John

Purple Milkwort

'Fireflies' mating

6-27 Tubercled Orchid

6-27
Tubercled Orchids, AKA Southern Rain Orchids, are in flower. I find them along river banks.
Pale Spike Lobelia can be found along old logging roads and other such disturbed areas.
John

Tubercled Orchid

Close up of Tubercled Orchid

Pale Spike Lobelia

6-26 Whorled Coreopsis

6-26
Whorled Coreopsis, a garden escape, is in flower.
Tiny 1/8 inch globe shaped flowers mark the shrub called Maleberry.
Two butterflies posed nicely while I snapped pictures, a Gray Comma and a Northern Pearly eye.
John

Whorled Coreopsis

Maleberry

Gray Comma

Northern Pearly Eye

6-25 Spotted Touch-me-not

6-25
Spotted Touch-me-not can be found in wet shaded areas.
Creeping Spearwort finds soil to root in on the river cobble.
Purple Loosestrife, an aggressive alien, is coloring river banks.
A rather uniquely colored Ladybird Beetle hunted aphids on a willow leaf.
John

Spotted Touch-me-not

Creeping Spearwort

Purple Loosestrife

Ladybird Beetle

6-24Evening Primrose

6-24

The showy yellow flowers of Evening Primrose are opening.

Partridgeberry's fuzzy white ground hugging flowers dot mossy banks.

Nipplewort decorates roadsides and open woods.

John

Evening Primrose

Partridgeberry

Nipplewort

Nipplewort leaf

6-23 Moth Mullein

6-23
Moth Mullein which can be either yellow or white can be found along dry roadsides.
A rather common dragonfly aptly called the Twelve-spotted Skimmer sat still long enough for me to get a picture.
John

Yellow Moth Mullein

White Moth Mullein

Twelve-spotted Skimmer

6-22 White Sweet Clover

6-22
 White Sweet Clover, an introduced species, waves its wands along roadsides.
Cow Wheat's tiny, white, yellow-lipped flowers dot dry woodlands.
Monkey Flower is up in wet places, often is standing water.
The abbreviated petals of Rough Avens rise over damp shaded thickets.
John

White Sweet Clover

Cow Wheat

Monkey Flower

Rough Avens

6-21 Common St. John's Wort

6-21
Common St. John's Wort is brightening fields and roadsides.
Fuzzy grayish pink flower heads make Rabbit-foot Clover easy to identify.
Wide clusters of white flowers in damp thickets mark Common Elder.
A beautifully iridescent Dogbane Beetle sat patiently while I snapped its picture.
John

Common St. John's Wort

Rabbit Foot Clover

Common Elder

Dogbane Beetle

6-20 Small Sundrops

6-20
Small Sundrops are in flower. Look for their 4 petaled yellow flowers in grassy areas.
Bristly Sarsaparilla's skeletal white flowers can be seen in thickets and along roadsides
Yellow Rattle, a parasite on grasses, can occasionally be found in old fields.
John

Small Sundrops

Bristly Sarsaparilla

Yellow Rattle

6-19 White Beardtongue

6-19
White Beardtongue is starting to flower.
Hundreds of Bracted Plantains fur an area of compacted gravel.
Black-eyed Susans dot fields and roadsides.
Everlasting Pea, often introduced on construction sites, brightens otherwise species poor banks. This clump was growing on rip rap.
John

White Beardtongue

Bracted Plantain

black-eyed susan

Everlasting Pea

6-18 Common Milkweed

6-18
Common Milkweed is starting to open flowers.
Deptford Pink joins its close relative Maiden Pink in thinly vegetated, sandy areas.
Aptly named Butter and Eggs can be seen along roads and railroad tracks.
The pale yellow flowers of Moneywort sprawl over wet ditches and along edges of thickets.
John

Common Milkweed

Deptford Pink

Butter and Eggs

Moneywort

6-17 Yellow Sweet Clover

6-17
Yellow Sweet Clover, an alien species, is starting to flower.
Common Mullein is up in thickets and along roadsides.
Tiny blue flowers with conspicuous white palates make Blue Toadflax an easy species to identify
The pink and white clover-like flowers of Crown Vetch, another alien, dot roadsides and fields.
John

Yellow Sweet Clover

Common Mullein

Blue Toad Flax

Crown Vetch

6-16 Tall Cinquefoil

6-16
Tall Cinquefoil, the only non-yellow cinquefoil, is flowering.
Harebell dangles its flowers from ledges.
Meadowsweet can be found in thickets and old fields.
Smooth Rose, a mostly thornless species with dull green leaves, colors river banks.
John

Tall Cinquefoil

Harebell

Meadowsweet

Smooth Rose