6-30 New Jersey Tea, Pipsissewa

 6-30

New Jersey Tea  -  a Buckthorn relative - thrives in dry open woods and on rocky banks.

Pipsissewa, AKA Prince's Pine, is an evergreen component of dry woods.

John

6-29 Basswood

 6-29 

American Basswood, AKA Linden and Bee-tree, has opened its yellowish white, dangling, heavily scented flowers. Its long-stalked flower clusters hang from the middle of leafy greenish bracts. The nut-like drupes that eventually form are dispersed helicopter fashion by the wing-like bracts. Basswood is a moist soil component of deciduous forests.

John

6-28 Carpetweed, Whorled Coreopsis

 6-28

Carpetweed, an obscure prostrate species that inhabits gardens and other disturbed areas, has opened a few tiny flowers.

Whorled Coreopsis, native from Maryland south and a garden escape here, is seen occasionally in our area.

John

6-27 Fringed Loosestrife, Shinleaf

 6-27

Shores and moist thickets are home to Fringed Loosestrife which was given its common name because of its hair fringed leaf stalks.

The dangling waxy cup flowers of Shinleaf, the most common member of the Pyrola clan, shine above either moist or dry woodland habitats.

John

6-26 Monkey Flower, Butter-and-eggs, Smooth Winterberry

 6-26

The flowers of Monkey Flower supposedly bear  a resemblance to the face of a monkey. Look for them in wet places.

Roadsides and waste places are home to the alien (occasionally cultivated) Butter-and-eggs.

Smooth Winterberry - a late bloomer in the holly family that will hold its bright red berries long into the winter - graces wooded swamps.

John

6-25 Cow Wheat, Great Angelica, Venus's Looking Glass

 6-25

Cow Wheat is an easily overlooked hemiparasitic component of dry woods.

Stream banks and low meadows are home to Great Angelica which may reach as much as ten feet tall.

And Venus's Looking Glass - so called because of the shape of its seeds - is flowering. I see it on dry rip-rapped banks, the edges of cornfields, gravel parking lots and similar, thinly vegitated sites.

John

6-24 Queen Anne's Lace, Common Mullein and Field Peppergrass

 6-24

Queen Anne's Lace, AKA Wild Carrot, is a common component of fields and weed patches.

Roadsides are prime habitat for Common Mullein.

Agricultural fields and roadsides are home to Field Peppergrass.

John

6-23 Dogbane Beetle, Common St. Johnswort, Musk Mallow, Common Elder

 6-23

Oval, shiny iridescent Dogbane Beetles feed exclusively on spreading Dogbane.

Fields and waste places are home to Common St. Johnswort, once a troublesome invasive that is now controlled by an introduced beetle.

Musk Mallow shows up along roadsides and the margins of agricultural fields.

And Common Elder is coloring moist places especially thickets.

John

6-22 Everlasting Pea, Indian Cucumber Root and Yellow Hop Clover

 6-22

Everlasting Pea is a roadside escape from cultivation and is sometimes introduced for erosion control.

Rich moist woods are home to Indian Cucumber Root, a member of the Lily family.

And Hop Clover, AKA Yellow Clover, is having a banner year, carpeting roadsides.

John

6-21 Wild Radish, Charlock, Partridgeberry and Eight-spotted Forester

 6-21

The dark veined flowers of Wild Radish can be seen in fields and waste places often in disturbed soils.

Charlock is a common weed of cultivated ground.

The paired white (sometimes pink) flowers of Partridgeberry fleck mossy woods and shaded lawns.

And a moth called the Eight-spotted Forester was day flying in a wildflower patch this afternoon.

John

6-20 Meadowsweet, Japanese Spirea and Beard-tongue

 6-20

Meadowsweet is a semi-woody plant in the rose family found in dry open woods and on rocky banks.

The closely related Japanese Spirea is an escape from cultivation.

Damp soils in pastures and old fields host Tall White Beard-tongue also called Foxglove Beardtongue.

John

6-19 Clammy Ground Cherry, Southern Arrowwood, Giant Ichneumon Wasp, Red-bellied Woodpecker

 6-19

The flowers of Clammy Ground Cherry dangle inconveniently face down. Look for the plant in fields and open woods.

Southern Arrowwood, a Viburnum, can be seen in woods and borders, often near water.

A Giant Ichneumon wasp was busy ovipositing, laying eggs deep into a tunnel bored by the larva of a Pigeon Horntail which the wasp grub will parasitize.

And, rather surprisingly, a Red-bellied Woodpecker is regularly drinking sugar water at my Baltimore Oriole feeder … much to the chagrin of the local hummingbird.

John

6-18 White Avens, Yellow Sweet Clover, Straw Foxglove, Golden Tortoise Beetle, Calligrapha Beetle

 6-18

White Avens - a member of the rose family - thrives in open woods and thickets and along roadsides.

Yellow Sweet Clover waves over waste places and roadsides.

And the escape Straw Foxglove sometimes called Yellow Foxglove favors old home sites and river banks.

The aptly named Golden tortoise Beetle and a closely related Calligrapha Beetle - probably one that specializes on willows, were both feeding heartily this morning.

John

6-17 Crown Vetch, Rabbit-foot Clover, Chicory, Silky Dogwood

 6-17

Crown Vetch, AKA Axseed, is a roadside plant often introduced for erosion control.

Dry fields and roadsides are habitat for Rabbit-foot Clover.

Chicory graces roadsides, fields and waste places.

Moist to wet thickets are home to Silky Dogwood.

John

6-16 Purple-flowering Raspberry, Moneywort, Deptford Pink, Horse Nettle

 6-16

Rocky woods and borders are home to Purple-flowering Raspberry.

The paired yellow flowers of Moneywort - a primrose relative - carpet damp ground.

Deptford Pinks have escaped to fields and roadsides.

And Horse Nettle's cone forming stamens prove it a member of the Nightshade clan. Look for it in sandy fields and waste places.

John

6-15 Sheep Laurel, Motherwort and Low Baby's-breath

 6-15

Sheep Laurel, AKA Lambkill, so called because its foliage its poisonous to livestock, is flowering in old pastures, woods and swamps.

Motherwort - member of the mint family - can be seen near old home sites and in waste places.

Low Baby's-breath favors thin, acidic and often compacted soils such as gravel parking lots and highway verges.

John