8-26
The ripening berries of False Solomon's Seal show a unique mottled pattern. Wooded banks and roadsides are home to this native species.
Another native, Large Cranberry, a plant of bogs and occasionally river cobble is also ripening fruit.
In thickets and along roadsides Jerusalem Artichoke, a sunflower, shines brightly. It is also native.
John (due to other duties blog posts will be sporadic in future.)
8-25
Common Ragweed is a native species found in weedy places.
Another native, Grass-leaved Arrowhead, grows in shallow water and marshes.
John
8-24
The frothy white flower spikes of the alien invasive Japanese Knotweed color roadsides and waste places.
John
8-23
Great Lobelia is both a native wildflower and a common garden escape making the origins of any particular plant hard to determine. Its favored habitats are moist thickets and swamps.
John
8-22
Purple-stemmed Beggar's Tick, AKA Swamp Beggar's Tick, is a native species of wet areas. Their rayless flowers are surrounded by green bracts.
John
8-21
Sweet Autumn Clematis (Japanese) is flowering in my dooryard. This species occasionally escapes to roadside thickets.
Ambush Bugs are frequently seen on Golden Rods.
Northern Walking Sticks are large enough to notice - I usually see them only on even numbered years.
John
8-20
Tall Rattlesnake Root, AKA Gall-of-the-earth, is a native species of woods and thickets.
The Intermediate cucillia caterpillar with its row of orange spots would have sported only a white lateral stripe in its previous instar. It will eventually become an unremarkable gray Ducky Hooded Owlet moth. Wild lettuce is the caterpillar's host plant.
John
8-19
Slender Gerardia is a native species found in woods and fields, often in thinly vegetated damp areas.
John
8-18
Whorled Aster, AKA Mountain and Sharp-leaved aster, is a native woodland species.
Marsh St. Johnswort, also native, favors bogs and swamps. It is the only St. Johnswort that is not yellow.
John
8-17
Liverworts are non-vascular and produce no flowers. Reproduction, which starts out plant-like with a fertilized egg, becomes spore producing and fern-like.
Suffice it to say that the umbrella-like structures lifting above this specimen prove it to be male. Palm-tree-like female parts will be produced on separate plants.
John
8-16
There are 10 Amaranthus (Pigweed) species listed in the lora of Vermont. The notch tipped leaves and sprawling form of this variety indicate that it's one known as Prostrate Pigwee.
John
8-15
Cotton Grass, actually a sedge, colors bogs and the margins of swamps.
A few Closed, AKA Bottle, Gentians are showing their blue-violet colors.
Both are native.
An occasional Hickory Tussock Moth caterpillar can be seen.
John
8-14
Spotted St. Johnswort is a native species of damp places so named because the backs of its petals and leaves are black dotted.
Twice-stabbed Stinkbugs so named because of the two red dots on their backs posed nicely on White Hemp Nettle.
John
8-13
One-seeded Bur cucumber is a native member of the gourd family found in moist thickets and on riverbanks.
The burs of Common Clotbur, AKA Cocklebur, also native can be seen along riverbanks and other such wet areas.
John
8-11
Branched Bur-reed is a native species found on muddy shores and in shallow water.
John
8-10
Calico, AKA Starved Aster, is a native species of fields and borders.
Another native, Dwarf St. Johnswort favors moist or wet open locations.
And an Eastern Black Swallowtail nectared on a Tiger Lily this morning.
John
8-9
Hairy Willow Herb is a showy alien found in damp thickets and swamps.
The native Spikenard favors rich woods. The beetles in the specimen are probably Soldier Beetles (cantharidae).
John
8-8
New England Aster is a native species of fields, damp meadows and shores.
John
8-7
Bulb-bearing Water Hemlock is a native (and very poisonous) plant found in swampy areas.
Common Arrowhead found in marshes, ditches and along muddy shores is also native.
John
8-6
Buttonbush is a native shrub of wet places.
Golden Hedge Hyssop, AKA Pert, also native, favors wet sandy shores.
John
8-5
Hairy Bush Clover is a rare native species found in dry open places and along roadsides.
Wild Cucumber, also native, favors streambanks and moist thickets.
On Dwarf, AKA Shining, Sumac larvae of beetles scientifically known as Blepharida rhois construct rather messy, but effective, fecal shields.
John
8-4
Silverrod, our only white goldenrod, is a native species of dry soils.
Musk Mallow is an alien escape found along roadsides and at old house sites.
John
8-3
White Turtlehead is a native species that favors stream banks and swampy soils.
John
8-2
Steeplebush, named for the shape of its inflorescences, is coloring low ground, fields and pastures.
Panicled Hawkweed favors dry woods. Both. are native.
Tansy, an alien garden escape, is flowering along roadsides and in vacant lots.
John
8-1
Indian Tobacco, a native species of open woods, fields and a variety of waste places is in flower.
Another native, White Snakeroot favors rich often shaded soils.
John
