Oh, what a magnificent morning! The air temperature was about sixty degrees, and the cool breeze was delightful. The sky was still overcast, and I felt a bit of mist against my skin as I made my way to Piney Woods Church Road. Evidence of the long overnight rainstorm were everywhere. To celebrate Day 135, I have chosen this macro of a single drop of water, containing an inverted roadside landscape, suspended from a horizontal plant stem.
My wife found this swamp milkweed leaf beetle (Labidomera clivicollis) while weeding in the garden (which, at the moment, is basically just weeds). True to form, it was perched on a milkweed leaf. We planted the milkweeds a couple of years ago to attract monarchs. No monarchs yet, but we have found all sorts of other creatures on them. Milkweed plants, we have found, also have a penchant for spreading willy-nilly in a garden.
On my walk home today along Hutcheson Ferry Road, I noticed this banded flower longhorn beetle (Typocerus velutinus) resting on an English daisy flower head. The larvae of this beetle feed on decaying hardwood trees, while the adults, not surprisingly, dine on nectar and pollen.
After so many photographs of light on leaves (and so many more to come, no doubt), today I photographed this sassafras tree trunk along the edge of Piney Woods Church Road.
On my way back toward Rico Road, my attention was caught by a couple of blades of grass in a recently planted future horse pasture along Piney Woods Church Road. One blade was curved above another, shorter one. I was entranced by their flowing forms in the golden light of one half-hour before sunset.
On a warm and humid mid-afternoon, I roamed Piney Woods Church Road, in search of new discoveries and possible images. Near Rico Road, I found an circular web with this jewel of a spider waiting patiently for her prey. She is a female orchard orbweaver (Leucage venusta), a relatively common orb spider of the Eastern forest, notable for a prominent orange-red horseshoe on the underside of her abdomen.
Join me on a Georgia roadside walk in mid-spring, and let us see what flowers we might gather in honor of Mother’s Day. Most wildflowers of the rural road edges do not hold up well cut and placed into a vase; they thrive better where they grow, in ditches or along embankments. For this reason, we will seek instead a photographic bouquet, which lasts far longer and (in the case of our thistle species, at least) is far less prickly. One of our first discoveries, perhaps because it is so abundant, is a plant with stalked clusters of yellow flowers, vaguely reminiscent of a brown-eyed Susan without the brown eye and with fewer petals. The basal leaves of the plant are somewhat elliptical in outline and highly serrated. The plant is Southern ragwort, also called Small’s ragwort (Senecio anonymus), a member of the Aster or Sunflower Family. Although used medicinally by Native Americans, this native plant has been found to contain toxins that can cause a number of ill effects, and should best be appreciated for its visual qualities only.
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Continuing down the dusty gravel road, we pass an extensive grassy area filled with flowers that look like over-sized dandelions. They rise above the ground up to two feet on their slender stalks. Their leaves are all in a rosette at the base, and look nearly identical to those of the dandelion, only a bit larger. The plant in question is the rough cat’s ear (Hypochaeris radicata), a Eurasian plant that is now widespread across the United States. Unlike the ragwort, this plant is a worthy salad additive; both the young leaves and the flower heads can be eaten raw.
Next we encounter a clump of low, clover-leaved plants, each having bright yellow heads that with forty minute florets each. Called low hop clover (Trifolium campestre), the plant is a Eurasian native that has become established throughout the United States. Because it is a legume (a member of the Bean or Pea Family), it helps to add nitrogen to the soil. (Nitrogen is a nutrient necessary for plant growth.) As the flower head dies, the florets all droop downward, making the head appear like dried hops. While blooming, the flowers are frequented by honeybees.
Our next discovery is an inconspicuous plant with minute, five-lobed white flowers, having a most distinctive name. Called beaked corn salad (Valerianella radiata), it can be identified by its forked stem with sessile stem leaves (meaning that they are attached directly to the stem, without a petiole). Its name originates from its habit of growing wild in corn fields. The leaves make an excellent salad ingredient, with a delicious nutty flavor. The European corn salad (Valerianella locusta) is nearly identical but has pale blue flowers. A popular green, it is also called lamb’s lettuce.
Our Georgia roadside walk would not be complete this time of year without spotting one thistle blooming in a pasture or roadside ditch (or, as cattle farmers who consider it a noxious weed would prefer to call it, a “blooming thistle”.) Closely related to artichokes, thistles are almost entirely edible, from their roots and leaf ribs to their flower stalks and flower heads (equivalent to the artichoke heart). They are edible, that is, if one has a lot of patience, a lot of time, and a lot of thistles. For our purpose, this purple bull thistle from Eurasia (Circium vulgare) will add a splash of vibrant color to the whites and yellows of our bouquet.
On my way home down Rico Rd., I found this pair of Japanese honeysuckle blossoms along the roadside.
I ventured out this morning into lingering fog after rain yesterday and overnight. I found endless delight in all the water droplets, like finely polished gems, that had collected on the surfaces of leaves and at their tips. My photograph today is the largest droplet I saw on my walk, suspended at the curled tip of a Chinese privet leaf.
Today I spotted the first daisy fleabane (Erigeron annuus) in bloom along Piney Woods Church Road. Summer is approaching.
