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

7-12 Orange Grass

7-12
Orange Grass, AKA Pineweed, a diminutive member of the St. Johnswort family is starting to flower.
Water Horehound graces wet areas.
Bull Thistle towers over old fields and thickets.
A Primrose Moth rested for the day on a bush clover.
John

Orange Grass

Water Horehound

Bull Thistle

Primrose moth

7-11 Bouncing Bet

7-11
Bouncing Bet and White Vervain are both flowering.
John

Bouncing Bet

White Vervain

7-10 Pokeweed

7-10
Pokeweed, Water Hemlock and Fragrant Water Lily are among the day's flowerings. And, on a Black-eyed Susan, a Green Leuconyeta moth rests in the embrace of a crab spider. Only the spider's legs are visible gripping the moth from below.
John

Pokeweed

Water Hemlock

Fragrant Water Lily

Green Leuconyeta moth in spider's grip

7-9 Blue Vervain

7-9
Blue Vervain, Swamp Milkweed and Bur Reed are in flower. And a duck led 4 nearly grown ducklings to safety as I approached.
John

Blue Vervain

Swamp Milkweed

Bur Reed

Duck and ducklings

7-8 Foxglove

7-8
A trio of garden escapes are flowering: common Foxglove, Straw foxglove and Japanese Spirea.
John

common Foxglove

Straw Foxglove

Japanese Spirea

7-7 Knapweed

7-7
Knapweed is flowering in disturbed areas and railroad right of way.
Staghorn Sumac has set fruit.
A butternut tree seems to be bearing a bumper crop.
John

Knapweed

Staghorn Sumac

Butternuts

7-6 Canadian Burnet

7-6
Canadian Burnet is decorating river bank thickets and early Goldenrod is starting to brightening roadsides and old fields.
John

Canadian Burnet

Early Goldenrod

7-5 Calligrapha Beetle

7-5
One of the calligrapha beetles, this one possibly a dogwood specialist, posed quietly while I snapped a picture.
Dwarf Enchanter's Nightshade can be found in damp shady places.
A largish Snapping Turtle performed a rather ponderous water ballet yesterday as if celebrating the 4th.
John

calligrapha beetle

Dwarf Enchanter's Nightshade

snapping turtle

snapping turtle

7-4 Basswood

7-4
The heavy sweet scent of Basswood's flowering carries on the wind.
Pointed-leaved Tick Trefoil is the first of 10 tick trefoils to flower.
The little evergreen Pipsissewa's waxy pink flowers nod earthward as if to escape our notice.
John

Basswood

Pointed-leaved Tick Trefoil

Pipsissewa

7-3 Canada Lily

7-3
In damp thickets and along river banks Canada Lilies are opening.
Pale Touch-me-nots are brightening damp shaded woodlands.
Large Cranberries are in flower out on the river cobbles. These are the cranberries that are grown commercially - but not along the West River.
John

Canada Lily 

Canada Lily

Pale Touch-me-not

Large Cranberries

7-2 American Toad

7-2
An American Toad has staked out a cool damp place to spend hot days.
Dogbane Beetles are showing up on dogbanes.
Saprophytic Indian Pipes are pushing up through the leaf litter.
John

Indian Pipes

American Toad

Dogbane Beetle

7-1 Spiked Lobelia

7-1
Spiked Lobelia, one of 6 or 7 lobelia species we might see, is starting to flower. Field Milkworts are not far behind them. Bracted Plantains are at their less than spectacular peak.
John

Spiked Lobelia

Field Milkwort

Bracted Plantain