7-31 Wild Clematis

7-31
Wild Clematis and Wild Cucumber drape riverside thickets. Nearby a Monarch butterfly caterpillar explores the leaves of Virginia Creeper.
John

Wild Clematis

Wild Cucumber

Monarch caterpillar on Virginia Creeper

7-30 Yellow Avens

7-30
Yellow Avens is flowering along the banks of the West River and Northern Green Orchids can be found in damp woods.
John

Yellow Avens

Northern Green Orchids

7-29 Blue Curl

7-29
Blue Curls, a little delicate mint family member, is starting its flowering. It favors dry, sandy even salty locations.
In thickets, head-high Woodland Sunflowers raise their flowers over competing weeds and shrubs.
John

Blue Curl

Woodland Sunflower

7-28 Partridge Pea

7-28
Partridge Pea is opening flowers.
Parasitic Pinesaps are pushing up through layers of shed needles and other detrius.
 Lance-leaved AKA Grass-leaved Goldenrod can be found on dry banks and in old fields.
John

Partridge Pea

Pinesaps

Lance-leaved Goldenrod

7-27 Great Chickweed

7-27
Great AKA Star Chickweed is in flower and a white flowering Chicory lightens a nearby roadside. Chicory flowers may be white, pink or blue.
John

Great Chickweed

White Chicory

7-26 Common Arrowhead

7-26
The white three-petaled flowers of Common Arrowhead grace muddy edges, Mad-dog Skullcap favors similar habitats and Steeplebush is usually not far away.
John

Common Arrowhead

Mad-dog Skullcap

Steeplebush

7-25 Whorled Milkwort

7-25
Whorled Milkwort, American Germander (AKA Wood Sage) and Spotted Spurge were all flowering along the West River this morning.
John

Whorled Milkwort

American Germander

Spotted Spurge

7-24 Wild Geranium

7-24
Wild Geranium can be found in old fields.
Black Nightshade which has white flowers favors damper edges.
White Baneberry, AKA Doll's Eyes, and the closely related Red Baneberry have both set fruit.
John

Wild Geranium

Black Nightshade

White Baneberry (Doll's Eyes)

Red Baneberry

7-23 Wild Sensitive Plant

7-23
Wild Sensitive Plant, a State listed rare species reacts to touch.
Velvet Leaf is a pest in agricultural fields
Slender Cottonweed, an invasive which is slowly marching north on I91, is occasionally found along Rte. 5.
John

Wild Sensitive Plants

Velvet Leaf

Slender Cottonweed

7-22 Catnip

7-22
Catnip and Woodland Agrimony are in flower and the nymphal husks of Dogday Harvestflies (cicadas) hang on trees while the flies that emerged from them shrill from the treetops on hot afternoons.
John

Catnip

Woodland Agrimony

Dogday Harvestfly nymphal husk

7-21 Purslane

7-21
the little yellow flowers of Purslane are open for only a few early morning hours and a moth called the Beautiful Wood Nymph waits out the daylight hours on a convenient leaf.
John

Purslane

Beautiful Wood Nymph moth

7-20 White Turtlehead

7-20
White Turtlehead is flowering in swamps and wet ditches.
Galinsoga, AKA Quickweed, is a pest in cultivated areas.
A White-tailed Buck enjoys a mouthful of greenery even while contemplating flight.
John

White Turtlehead

Galinsoga

White-tailed buck

7-19 Northern Willow Herb

7-19
Northern Willow Herb and False Pimpernel are both flowering in wet areas.
Monarch caterpillars fed on young milkweed while a monarch egg waits to hatch.
John

Northern Willow Herb

False Pimpernel

Monarch egg on Milkweed

Monarch caterpillar on milkweed

7-18 Wild Basil

7-18
Wild Basil is starting to flower.
One of three bur producing docks, this one possibly Woolly Burdock, is in bloom.
John

Wild Basil

Burdock

7-17 Creeping Spearwort

7-17
Weak creeping stems and tiny yellow flowers make Creeping Spearwort easy to identify.
Black seed clusters help identify Black Medick.
One-sided spikes of small yellow-green flowers mark Ditch Stonecrop.
John

Creeping Spearwort

Black Medick

Ditch Stonecrop

7-16 Helleborine

7-16
Our only on-native orchid, Helleborine, is starting to flower and Ragged Fringed Orchid is up although deer truncated in this instance.
John

Helleborine

Ragged Fringed Orchid

7-15 Hairy Willow Herb

7-15
Hairy Willow Herb is flowering in areas with water saturated soils.
Water Lobelia prefers standing water.
John

Hairy Willow Herb

Water Lobelia

7-14 Hemp Nettle Hemp Nettle

Hemp Nettle is flowering in waste places and carnivorous Inflated Bladderwort floats on spokelike modified leaves while dangling insect traps in the water.
John

Hemp Nettle

Inflated Bladderwort

7-13 Silverrod

7-13
Siverrod -the only goldenrod that's not golden - is starting its flowering season adn Spotted Wintergreen is not far behind.
John

Silverrod

Spotted Wintergreen