What to See This Week

Seeds of ramps in the Woodland Garden are beginning to mature, turning into shiny, pearly black seeds on the ends of the stalks. While seeds may drop and grow on their own, ramps take up to seven years of growth from seed before producing their own flower and seeds.

A unique plant can currently be seen in forested areas near beech trees. These are beechdrops, a parasitic plant that grows on the roots of beech trees. Beechdrops lack chlorophyll entirely and therefore don’t undergo photosynthesis. They rely completely on their beech tree hosts for all nutrients. While they are a parasite, the impact on the beech tree is negligible and they don’t cause lasting damage to the tree.

While looking for beechdrops under beech trees, make sure to look up and see if you can spot beech blight aphids! Beech blight aphids are very apparent this time of year, often congregating in large numbers on certain twigs and branches of beech trees. They also have been given the nickname “boogie woogie aphid” for their amazing defense strategy. When disturbed, the large group of aphids will begin wiggling in unison, confusing would-be predators. This defense is not captured well in a photograph so take a moment to look up a video of this fascinating phenomenon! Beech blight aphids typically don’t cause lasting damage to mature trees.

Millipedes are common inhabitants of the forest floor. Pictured here is an American giant millipede, found crawling across a rotting log. Although the many legs and large size (nearly 5 inches!) can make some people uneasy, millipedes aren’t harmful. They are decomposers, usually feeding on leaf litter and rotting wood. Centipedes, on the other hand, are predators with a venomous bite, so don’t get the many-legged critters confused!

Typically it is fresher mushrooms that get photographed, but having a bite taken out of the cap makes for the perfect shot revealing the color of the gills without picking the mushroom. This is purple-gilled laccaria, a common species of mushroom seen in the late summer or early fall. It is one of several species of purple mushroom that can be seen at The Arboretum, however this one is typically hard to spot as it looks fairly typical without seeing the underside of the cap.

In the Crevice Garden the prickly pear fruits are just beginning to ripen. Prickly pear fruits are edible, but you must be careful when harvesting. There are large spines easily visible on the pads, but you have to worry more about the tiny hairs present in clusters on both the pads and the fruits. These tiny hairs are called glochids; tiny barbed bristles that get stuck in skin and can be particularly irritating. They must be removed through careful peeling, burning or other methods prior to eating the fruit. 

When native plants are planted, the insects that use the plant often quickly follow. Pictured here is a gold moth caterpillar, a species that only feeds on wingstem or other plants in the genus Verbesina. Several of them could be seen crawling in the wingstem in the Bird Watching Garden.

It is not often you run across a monarch chrysalis. They are often well hidden and that is for the best as they will remain defenseless for about two weeks in this stage. They are typically found about 10-15 feet away from the milkweed they grew up on. The location of this chrysalis was pointed out by our Archivist who noticed the caterpillar hanging in a “j” shape, signifying it would transform soon! If you’re keeping an eye on a monarch chrysalis, watch for the pattern of the wings to begin showing through. This is a sign that the butterfly will emerge within about 24 hours!