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Common Name: Black Cherry
Species Name: Prunus serotina
Where to look: Black Cherry trees occur throughout the Center on all trails. This image was made next to Price Hall near the bicycle rack.
Photo and text by Bill Stark
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Remnants of fruit feasts can be seen lying on
the trails under Black Cherry trees throughout the Center. Birds and squirrels
are the likely culprits who drop part of their meal when disturbed.
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weed, a member of the Milkweed family of plants is now in flower in
Butterfly Garden. The flowers are attractive sources of nectar for
butterflies and Monarchs sometimes deposit eggs on the plants during
the April northward migration. |
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Common Name: Butterfly Weed
Scientific Name: Asclepias tuberosa
Where to look: Butterfly Garden.
Photo and text by Bill Stark
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This
green insect is a sapsucking member of a planthopper family, related to
aphids and treehoppers and cicadas. In addition to the large adult
shown in this image, smaller nymphs covered with white material are
also present on the plant stems.
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Common Name: Flatid Planthopper
Scientific Name: Anormenis septentrionalis
Where to look: Throughout the Center but common on vines (blackberry, pepper vine) along Pioneer Trail.
Photo and text by Bill Stark |
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Common Name: Lampyrid Beetle or Lightning Bug
Scientific Name: Unidentified but a member of the family Lampyridae
Where to look: Throughout the Center but not often seen during the daylight hours.
Photo and text by Bill Stark |
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Lightning bugs, or lampyrid beetles,
are among the more familiar insects to children of the South. This
adult is resting on Poison Ivy along the Fern Gully trail, perhaps in
preparation for a busy evening of exchanging flashes with other members
of the population.
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Magnolia
flowers are among the most spectacular floral sights our state has to
offer. Unfortunately the trees along the trails, although fairly
common, are all relatively young and are not flowering. This image was
made from the tree at the entrance to the Center.
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Common Name: Southern Magnolia
Scientific Name: Magnolia grandiflora
Where to look: Our only flowering specimen is on the entrance lot but young individuals can be seen on most trails.
Photo and text by Bill Stark |
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Several
species of Squash Bugs, a group of plant feeding insects, occur in
the Center. This individual is in the nymphal stage and has not been
identified to species but it may be a member of the genus
Acanthocephala. |
Common Name: Squash Bug
Scientific Name: Unidentified but a member of the family Coreidae
Where to look: On various shrubs and herbaceous plants.
Photo and text by Bill Stark |
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Common Name: Camper’s Friend, or Mullein
Scientific Name: Verbascum thapsus
Where to look: On the parking lot at Price Hall.
Photo and text by Bill Stark |
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Some may
have been tempted to pull up this “weed” growing on the
parking lot edge near the greenhouse, but it is an escapee from one of
our seed collections of Camper’s Friend, and now, 3 years later,
we have a tall floral spike to admire thanks to the caution of our
volunteers. Perhaps we will have the opportunity to collect more seed
from this plant and continue our efforts to establish it in Butterfly
Garden. |
| Our
efforts at establishing larval food plants for butterfly species has
again been rewarded, this time by a visit of a Gulf Fritillary in
Butterfly Garden. A single female deposited several yellowish,
pearl-like eggs on Passionvine near the Butterfly Garden Pond on the
morning of June 7. The female was difficult to approach so no suitable
images were obtained, but we will monitor these plants and perhaps can
offer an image of a larva later this month. |
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Common Name: Gulf Fritillary
Scientific Name: Agraulis vanillae
Where to look: Around Passionvine in Butterfly Garden, and on the south
end of the greenhouse. Often seeks nectar on Lantana and other
flowering plants.
Photo and text by Bill Stark |
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Common Name: False Dragonhead or Obedient Plant
Scientific Name: Physostegia
virginiana
Where to look: Several plants occur in the moist area below
the Butterfly Garden pond. Photo and text by Bill Stark
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False
Dragonhead, a member of the Mint Family, has attractive trumpet shaped
flowers with a faint purple tinge embellished with darker spots on the
lip of the trumpet. The plants are relatively tall and often grow in
dense clusters along roadways, particularly in moist areas. |
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Delicate clusters of tiny pink flowers now decorate the
stems of Beauty Berry, one of our more common shrubs along the Pioneer Trail,
Grapevine Loop and Fern Gully. Flower clusters are grouped along the stem
length in the same positions that the more conspicuous magenta fruits are
located in the fall.
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Common Name: Beauty Berry or French Mulberry
Scientific Name: Callicarpa americana
Where to look: Throughout the Center but especially abundant on Pioneer Trail and Grapevine Loop.
Photo and text by Bill Stark |
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Common Name: Longhorn Beetle
Scientific Name: Unidentified, but probably a member of genus Strangalia
Where to Find: Very common at present, on Beauty Berry, but earlier it was present on flowers of Rusty Blackhaw.
Photo and text by Bill Stark |
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Stop
occasionally on your walk through the Center and inspect the flowers
and leaves of plants to see the great diversity of pollinator and
predator arthropods which occur here. This longhorn beetle, a member of
family Cerambycidae, is enjoying today’s special, the pollen of
Beauty Berry. |
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Common Name: Buttonbush
Scientific Name: Cephalanthus
occidentalis
Where to look: Flowering individuals can be found at the
“Raccoon Bridge” on Pioneer Trail.
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Buttonbush is a gangly shrub whose distinctive flowers are
clustered together in a white sphere attractive to many species of butterflies,
bees and beetles. The plant is usually found in moist areas and does well as an
edge plant.
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Yucca is known by several common names including Bear Grass
and Spanish Bayonets. Our common native Yucca persists as a basal rosette of
leaves for extended periods and, on occasion, one plant or another sends up a
tall floral spike which produces white, bell-shaped clusters of flowers. This
summer two of our Yucca’s are in flower in Butterfly Garden.
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Common Name: Yucca
Scientific Name: Yucca flaccida
Where to look: Butterfly Garden along Monarch Trail below the pond |
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