originally posted: June 26, 2002 | by chelsie

The Western pygmy blue butterfly (Brephidium exilis [Boisduval]) lives in waste places--alkali flats, deserts, salt marshes, and low coastlines from Texas to California. The wings are a rich brown due to pigments in the scales. Close to the body, the brown is overlaid with iridescent blue due to refractive scales. The edges of the wings have fine white fringe. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: June 19, 2002 | by chelsie

The wi keruk (Korthalsia echinometra Beccari) is one of the ant rattans. There are 26 species of ant rattans native to lowland rainforests of Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Papua New Guinea. These palms are vines; the wi keruk can grow to 40 meters (130 feet). [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: June 12, 2002 | by chelsie

There are an estimated 50 species of Yucca; all are native to North America ranging from Canada through Mexico and Guatemala. Yucca are pollinated by the yucca moth (Tegeticula yuccasella [Riley]), once thought to be a single variable species, but now are considered a complex of similar moths. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: June 5, 2002 | by chelsie

Gray's Manual of Botany (1989 reprint, 1950 edition) called it, "A most beautiful tree, sometimes 40 m. high and with trunk 2-3 m. in diameter...." The tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera Linnaeus) is among the tallest growing of the North American hardwoods; it blooms in May or June with pale green and orange flowers, one at the tip of each branch. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: May 29, 2002 | by chelsie

Adam's needle (Yucca filamentosa Linnaeus) is native to the southeastern U.S. In Florida, the plant is found in dry forests and sandhills; ancient dunes now forested with drought-tolerant species. Yuccas are the host plants for the yucca skipper butterfly (Megathymus yuccae [Boisduval and LeConte]). [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: May 22, 2002 | by chelsie

From southern Mexico to Brazil and into the Lesser Antilles lives the leaf-cutter ant, Atta cephalotes. These ants are specialized to live in gaps within forests. Atta cultivate a fungus, probably a basidiomycete, within underground gardens. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: May 15, 2002 | by chelsie

The broad-leaved helleborine (Epipactis helleborine (L.) Crantz) is a shade-loving terrestrial orchid native to Europe and naturalized in the eastern U.S. The orchid is thought capable of persisting in an underground stage for years surviving on food provided by a symbiotic fungus. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: May 8, 2002 | by chelsie

Floodwater mosquitoes (Aedes spp.) [ay' dees] are aggravating creatures with species epithets that describe exactly how humans think of them. Stimulans (to stimulate), vexans (to vex), provocans (to provoke), sollicitans (to cause anxiety), and excrucians (to cause pain) are just a few of the derogatory descriptors. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: May 1, 2002 | by chelsie

In Peru, it is illegal to cut down a Brazil nut tree (Bertholletia excelsa Humboldt and Bonpland). [ber thol let' ee a ex sel' sa] The well-meant law is to protect the Brazil nut industry. Consequently, the trees are left standing when all else has been clear-cut. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: April 24, 2002 | by chelsie

The marsh marigold (Caltha palustris Linnaeus) is a wetland species native to both North America and Eurasia. The brilliant yellow flowers appear for a short time from the middle to the end of April. The marsh marigold has only two weeks of bloom time in which to attract pollinators for the production of seed. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: April 17, 2002 | by chelsie

The pink pineapple mealybug (Dysmicoccus brevipes Cockerell) [dis' mi coc' cus bre vi' pes] feeds on the sap of pineapples and other plants. The mealybug can spread viral diseases which cause the loss of the plant. It reduces the size of the pineapple because of the loss of nutrients and it excretes honeydew, a perfect medium for the growth of sooty mold. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: April 10, 2002 | by chelsie

The quino checkerspot butterfly is found only in southern California. There are a variety of habitats that support the quino checkerspot (Euphydryas editha quino Behr) [you fi dry' as e dith' a key' no]. The QCB can be found from the coastal sage scrub and chaparral to the desert pinyon-juniper woodlands as long as the host plants, Plantago erecta and Castilleja exserta are present. [Click here to read more...]

originally posted: April 3, 2002 | by chelsie

In Oklahoma, the practice was called "charming". In the Florida panhandle, it is called "grunting". In other places, the art consisted of "thumping". Somewhere, a long time ago, people figured out they could call earthworms to the surface. [Click here to read more...]