Tuesday, June 14, 2011

bugs, grasses, things going to seed

This is not a blog about bugs.
P1090547
But when they keep showing up, they keep showing up. From nose to wingtip, this guy was about 3/16” long. He’s sitting on some kind of wild grass (sedge? rush?)
P1090552
This is what he was sitting on.
Yes indeedy, my next project is going to have be learning grasses and sedges.
Grasses: An Identification Guide (Sponsored by the Roger Tory Peterson Institute)
I want this book, but I want it to manifest for free into my life. Anyone want to sponsor me and just send it to me?
P1090526
I guess I have to live with Not Knowing.
P1090527
And I may have to resort to naming these things myself in order to keep track of them. The one above is going to be Rose-Dusted Bottle Brush. OK, that was easy.
The wild roses are just starting to bloom, and they smell divine. Imagine how much better it will be when they all open up.
P1090509

Despite recent developments in the bloom cycle, purple is not willing to cede the field to white and yellow just yet: the spiderwort (Tradescantia ohiensis) just started blooming.
P1090510
According to a Japanese study cited on Wikipedia, “The cells of the stamen hairs of some Tradescantia are colored blue, but when exposed to sources of ionizing radiation such as gamma rays, the cells mutate and change color to pink; they are one of the few tissues known to serve as an effective bioassay for ambient radiation levels.”
Well, here’s hoping that doesn’t come in handy.
Remember how yesterday I couldn’t get a good shot of False Solomon Seal berries? Today went a little better.
P1090537
False Solomon Seal berries. At this point, they are 1/16” in diameter. That’s it. Tiny.
I also ID’d this vine that is in perpetual warfare with the black raspberries:
P1090560
It’s the one-seeded bur cucumber(Sicyos angulatus), of course. (I’ve been growing cucumbers all along? Wow. I had no idea.) Yes, it’s in the gourd family, but apparently the fruit isn’t really edible. But it does make fabulous squigglies with its vines.
P1090558
Last, but not least, a quick visit to a tall buttercup
P1090573
The edges are blurry, but the center holds. Take that, Yeats.

And this is what a buttercup gone to seed looks like. Very similar to the crowfoot of yesterday. In fact, eerily so, since they have nearly the same kind of leaf shape, too. Let’s review, shall we?
P1090456 P1090576
P1090449 P1080836
crowfoot
buttercup

1 comment:

  1. how are you getting the place where magic lives to show up in phots on a blog post!?!?!? i think that looking at your pics messes with my cells. (and i like it!)

    ReplyDelete