9-20 Toadflax Brocade Caterpillar

 9-20

toadflax Brocade Caterpillars feed on Butter and Eggs, a species of toadflax. The caterpillars, originally from E
urope, were introduced into Ontario in 1968 as a biological control for Butter and Eggs which can be quite invasive.

John

9-20 Nodding Ladies Tresses

 9-19

Nodding Ladies Tresses are among the very latest wildflowers of any season.

John

9-1 Closed Gentain

9-1
Closed Gentian, AKA Bottle Gentian, is at its blue-violet best. Look for it in damp thickets and along riverbanks. Despite the fact that they never open, these gentians are entered and pollenated by Bumblebees.
John

8-26 Caterpillars

8-26
A Milkweed Tussock Moth Caterpillar was still fattening on Milkweed leaves while a Sycamore Tussock Moth Caterpillar wandered, perhaps looking for a place to pupate.
John

Milkweed Tussock Moth Caterpillar

Sycamore Tussock Moth Caterpillar

8-25 Cucumber

8-25
One-seeded Bur Cucumber is in flower as is Wild Cucumber, AKA Balsam Apple.
John

One-seeded Bur Cucumber

Wild Cucumber

8-24 Hairy Willow Herb

8-24
The cleft petaled pink flowers of Hairy Willow Herb are chest high in marshy swales.
John

8-23 Slender Gerardia

8-23
Slender Gerardia is opening its first flowers. This species is said to favor dry woods and fields. I find it along sandy river banks and in old parking lots and gravel pits.
A dagger moth caterpillar - probably that of the Splendid Dagger Moth - posed motionless on a willow twig.
John

Slender Gerardia

Splendid Dagger Moth caterpillar

Splendid Dagger Moth caterpillar

8-22 Hog Peanut

8-22
The pale, purple, or sometimes white, flowers of Hog Peanut twine through moist thickets. Being small and low to the ground these flowers are seldom noticed.
John

8-21 Purple-stemmed Asters

8-21
Purple-stemmed Asters like marshy ground. Their flowers may be blue-violet, lilac or, rarely, white.
John

8-20 Common Clotbur

8-20
Common Clotbur is in flower in its own unspectacular way.
A well-camouflaged male Northern Walkingstick rests motionless on a Black Locust tree.
John

Common Clotbur

Northern Walkingstick

8-19 Common Ragweed

8-19
Common Ragweed is described by one field guide as an unattractive weed and a principal cause of hay fever. Some of which seems a bit judgmental.
A Tachinid Fly rather unimaginatively called the Beelike Tachinid rests on a leaf. Larvae of this fly are internal parasites of moth and butterfly caterpillars.
John

Common Ragweed

Beelike Tachinid Fly

8-18 Spearmint

8-18
spearmint - an introduced and widely escaped species - is in full flower.
John

8-17 Water Lobelia

8-17
Water Lobelia is in flower. Look for it in shallow water or on wet shores.
A Twice-stabbed Stink Bug, so named for obvious reasons, rested on a Hemp Nettle this morning.
John

Water Lobelia

Twice-stabbed Stink Bug

8-16 Golden Hedge Hyssop

8-16
Golden Hedge Hyssop, AKA Pert, is flowering along wet sandy shores
Ball-like heads of tiny white flowers give Button Bush its common name. This species also likes wet feet.
The leaves of this Indian Cucumber Root have faded to buttery yellow and scarlet. Its berries will eventually turn dark purple.
John

Golden Hedge Hyssop

Button Bush

Indian Cucumber Root

8-15 Slender Cottonweed

8-15
Slender Cottonweed, AKA Slender Snake Cotton, flourishes along dry, often salty, roadsides.
Tall Rattlesnake Root, AKA Gall-of-the-earth, favors dry woods and sandy soil.
John

Slender Cottonweed

Slender Cottonweed leaves

Tall Rattlesnake Root

8-14 Whorled Aster

8-14
Whorled Aster, AKA Sharp-leaved Aster, is a woodland species. Flowers may be either white or purple tinged.
Field Sow Thistle favors fields and roadsides. It forms colonies, spreading by underground stems.
John

Whorled Asters

Field Sow Thistle

Field Sow Thistle leaves

8-13 Beggar's Tick

8-13
Beggar's Tick and Blue Lettuce are both flowering.
John

Beggar's Tick

Blue Lettuce

8-12 Fall Webworm

8-12
The communal nests of Fall Webworm envelop entire tree branches which may be completely defoliated. The worms are host to over 50 species of parasitic wasps and flies, yet manage to survive in good numbers.
The fungus, commonly known as an elegant Stinkhorn, was not deterred by a crusty soil layer.
John

Fall Webworm

Elegant Stinkhorn

8-11 Large Coralroot

8-11
Large Coralroot is leafless, lacks green pigment and grows in deeply shaded summer woods!
John

8-10 Common Dodder

8-10
Common Dodder is totally parasitic, it takes all of the nutrients it needs from the plants it climbs on.
Panicled Tick-Trefoil -  a state listed rare species - is in flower.
A Yellow Bear caterpillar crossed a local road, safely reaching the other side.
John

Common Dodder

Panicled Tick-trefoil

Yellow Bear

8-9 Rough Cinquefoil

8-9
Rough Cinquefoil which, strangely, has only 3 leaves is still in flower and the bright white flowers of White Snakeroot can be seen in rich woods.
John

Rough Cinquefoil

White Snakeroot

8-8 Pearly Everlasting

8-8
Pearly Everlasting is a plant of dry, open places. Both the stem and the leaves of this species have a white woolly appearance.
John

8-7 Groundnut

8-7
Groundnut's root is a round edible tuber. Its pea-like flowers have a unique rather overpowering scent.
Round-headed Bush Clover is opening a few flowers.
A Milbert's Tortoiseshell Butterfly displayed both its boldly patterned orange and black underwing and its dull black and brown upper.
John

Groundnut

Round-headed Bush Clover

Milbert's Tortoiseshell butterfly underwings

Milbert's Tortoiseshell butterfly upperwing

8-6 Nodding Pogonia

8-6
Nodding Pogonia, AKA Three Birds, is starting its flowering.
John

8-5 Blue Curls

8-5
Blue Curls are somewhat salt tolerant and will grow in sandy or gravelly soils. Therefore, road shoulders are a good place to find them. The long curving stamens of this mint relative give it its common name.
A moth caterpillar - that of the White-blotched Heterocampa - posed in all its white splotched splendor.
John

Blue Curls

White-blotched Heterocampa caterpillar

8-4 Shining Flower Beetles

8-4
Shining Flower Beetles are congregating on Goldenrods in this picture taken on a day drier than this one!
John

8-3 Silverrod

8-3
Silverrod, our only white goldenrod, is starting to flower.
John

8-2 Inidan Mallow

8-2
Indian Mallow, AKA Ve,velvetleaf, is a plant of waste places and corn fields.
False Dragonhead, AKA Obedient Plant, is a plant of damp thickets and shores. Obedient refers to the fact that, if repositioned, flowers of the plant remain as placed. They are obedient. At least for a while.
John

Indian Malllow

False Dragonhead