Giant Swallowtail

© Dave Spier

With a wingspan of roughly five inches (give or take an inch), the Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes, syn. Heraclides cresphontes) is one of the largest butterflies in eastern and southern North America. Females are larger than males.

This butterfly species ranges from Arizona to the East Coast and from southeastern Canada to Texas and Florida with a population extension into California. In the south the caterpillars are sometimes considered pests in citrus orchards. In the north the larvae eat Prickly-ash (a shrub unrelated to ash trees, although the compound leaves have a similar appearance). Common or Northern Prickly-ash (Zanthoxylum americanum) is in the citrus family (Rutaceae) and sometimes called "toothache tree" because the bark was chewed to relieve tooth-ache. Although I've found prickly-ash locally, its core range is the upper Mid-west.

Giant Swallowtails are dark brown to black with rows of pale yellow spots near the outer edges of all the wings and another row straight across the fore wings. The rear wing "tails" have yellow centers. Small orange and blue spots on the inner wing edges flank the abdomen tip.

Look for these butterflies in open areas and scattered woodlands, a perfect description of our yard where the butterflies check our garden flowers for nectar. The photo, however, was taken beside the Manchester Gateway Trail along Canandaigua Outlet Creek in the Village of Manchester, NY. It was visiting flowers in the open area under the high-voltage power lines. The rest of the trail is mostly wooded floodplain with deciduous trees.

There are several broods per year in the north, but the timing is variable from May to August or September.

Corrections, comments and questions are always welcome at northeastnaturalist@yahoo.com or connect through my Facebook page and photo page. There's also a community-type page for The Northeast Naturalist. Other nature and geology topics can be found on the parallel blogs Adirondack Naturalist and Heading Out.

Canada Thistle

Beware of tall, attractive wildflowers with prickly leaves growing in fields. Most have beautiful magenta or lavender-colored heads, but the leaves, and sometimes the stems, are edged with numerous, sharp spines to defend against herbivores looking for an easy meal. These are the thistles. They are composites, related to daisies and goldenrods in spite of the obvious differences. Most are biennials, starting as a ground-hugging rosette of prickly leaves the first year, then growing tall and flowering the second.
 

The Canada Thistle (Cirsium arvense), a misnamed alien invasive from Europe, is one of the less-obvious species here [in the northern Finger Lakes region of NY] because its light-purple heads are less than an inch high. The whole plant grows four to five-plus feet high and often forms dense colonies after spreading by underground stems. In Europe and northern Asia, it is known as Creeping Thistle. One plant's roots can spread to a three-foot diameter (or more) in one year and continue growing at this rate for many years, making it a difficult plant to eradicate. A single thistle plant can be considered biennial, but the root system is perennial and continues to put its energy into new clonal [cloned] shoots.
 

Canada Thistles form colonies from a spreading underground
 root system. Less energy goes into producing flowers.

Less energy goes into producing flowers which are usually dioecious (either male or female). Male flowers may be slightly smaller, but otherwise similar. Both are very fragrant, which is energy spent to attract pollinators and NOT humans. Female flowers produce 40 to 80 seeds per head, but the fuzzy pappus is loosely attached and often ineffective in seed dispersal.

Canada Thistle's main stems are smooth, but the deeply-lobed leaves are designed to keep you at a distance. In the spring, wear heavy gloves and protective clothing so you can return to the location and collect the young leaves, young stems and roots for food. One of the plant's nicknames is "lettuce from hell" (and it actually is related to lettuce). After removing the spines, add young leaves to salads or eat them cooked. The pithy, young stems are easier to deal with; just peel and eat raw or cooked. The roots of first year plants, before the tall stems begin, are a survival food, but they also can cause flatulence.


A crab spider is camouflaged against a Canada Thistle flower bud.

Canada Thistle is also food for wildlife, especially goldfinches and other finches that eat the seeds. Some butterfly and moth larvae eat the leaves. Look for Red Admirals, Viceroys and Painted Ladies on this thistle. The larvae of the Orellia ruficauda fruit fly parasitize the fertile seed heads, making them a somewhat-effective biological control.

In the past, a tea made from the leaves was used as a general tonic (stimulant) and diuretic to increase the loss of water from the body. Externally, it was used for skin sores and poison-ivy rash. Native Americans used a root tea as a digestive tract stimulant and dewormer. (I wonder what they used before Europeans introduced this wildflower.) At the other extreme, it was said to cause inflammation and irritation (Jacobs and Burlage). Go figure.
 

Cirsium comes from the Greek word, kirsion, from kirsos, a "swollen vein" remedied by one of the species in that genus. The species name, arvense, is Latin for "in the field." Among its other common names are "field thistle," "perennial thistle" and "cursed thistle." It was originally native to the Mediterranean and southeast Europe and likely arrived in North America during the 1600's.

Corrections, comments and questions are always welcome at northeastnaturalist@yahoo.com or connect through my Facebook page and photo page. There's also a community-type page for The Northeast Naturalist. Other nature and geology topics can be found on the parallel blogs Adirondack Naturalist and Heading Out.

Black Elderberry

Elder usually has seven sharply-toothed leaflets,
but the number can vary from five to 11.

© Dave Spier

Common Elder, a.k.a. Black Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis, syn. Sambucus nigra, ssp. canadensis) is a native member of the Honeysuckle family. Beyond the opposite, pinnately-compound leaves, there's little resemblence to indicate the relationship. 

Numerous, small, white flowers are crowded into flat-topped terminal disks that are conspicuous in late June and early July in New York. The flower clusters can be dipped in batter and deep-fried like fritters, or wait for the dark-purple, juicy berries to ripen and make a pie. The dark fruits give the shrub it's alternate name, American Black Elderberry. Aside from the mentioned edibility, take note that the leaves, twigs, roots and unripe fruit are toxic due to cyanogenic glycoside and alkaloid.

The woody stems contain white pith that can be removed in order to make a flute or whistle. This musical quality is the basis of the genus name; in ancient Greece, sambuce was a musical instrument. Given the toxicity of the stems, though, I'd rethink this use for the plant.

Common Elder's range spans all of the southern states from California to Florida, north across most of the Lower 48 (except the Great Basin and Pacific Northwest) and continues north into eastern Canada. There's a range map on the USDA Plants Database. Many of the states have more detailed maps down to the county level. For example, the opening photo was taken at Newtown Battlefield State Park, near Elmira, NY, but the shrub occurs in other scattered locations across New York State.

This elderberry seems to require more sunlight than it's woodland cousin the Red-berried Elder, so look for the purple-fruited species on the edge of woods, usually in lowland spots where there is extra soil moisture, although I would not describe it as a true wetland species because of its low anaerobic tolerance. We live on top of a drumlin ridge and a Common Elder has "volunteered" to grow behind the garage where it is somewhat sunny, at least part of the day. We can assume the original seed was dropped by a bird. A number of species including robins, catbirds and waxwings are berry eaters. I'd be interested in knowing whether elderberry grows near you.

Corrections, comments and questions are always welcome at northeastnaturalist@yahoo.com or connect through my Facebook page and photo page. There's also a community-type page for The Northeast Naturalist. Other nature and geology topics can be found on the parallel blogs Adirondack Naturalist and Heading Out.

Crocuses

Last Saturday, the first two purple crocuses (croci if you prefer) appeared in our front yard. No, they didn't actually open that day. They just poked their spiral-wound heads above the leaf litter to test the cold winds. Sunday was a different story. A patch of a neighbor's front yard turned purple as his crocuses greeted the warmer temperatures. By Tuesday, my white and yellow crocuses also fully opened. I noticed them on my way across our yard to work in the vegetable garden.
 

I'm surprised my crocuses lasted as many years as they have. They came with the house when we bought it in 1984. Their numbers have dwindled and the large patch in the front yard is down to one or two. I'm not replacing them with more crocuses as I let the yard go native, but neither will I dig out and discard perfectly healthy, beautiful, non-invasive plants that signal the arrival of spring. You might say I'm attached to them.

Crocus is a large genus in the iris family. A particular species (Crocus sativus, similar to the garden variety in the photos) is the source of saffron (from the Arabic or Old Persian word za'faran), a spice derived from the dried, aromatic stigmas. The saffron crocus is a sterile species that does not exist in the wild, so it requires continued human help to survive. I remember my grandmother using it as a poultry seasoning, but beware - saffron is now the most expensive spice in the world. It's very labor intensive and each flower yields only a tiny amount.
  

Corrections, comments and questions are always welcome at northeastnaturalist@yahoo.com or connect through my Facebook page and photo page. There's also a community-type page for The Northeast Naturalist. Other nature and geology topics can be found on the parallel blogs Adirondack Naturalist and Heading Out.

 

Golden Garden Spiders

A female Argiope aurantia, the golden garden spider, hangs upside down as it finishes wrapping its prey in a gauze straight jacket. The heavy zig-zag stitching on the web (called stabilimento) is believed to warn birds that might otherwise wreck the web. The yellow flowers supporting the web are brown-eyed Susans 'Goldsturm.'
© Dave Spier photo # D050779 [resolution reduced for web use]

Golden Garden Spiders

© Dave Spier

The small patch of Brown-eyed Susans 'Goldsturm' has grown over the years and it now spreads along the entire east side of our patio. Sheltered from north and west winds, it catches the morning sun that burns off the dew. Yesterday I was leaving the house and just walking past when a new visitor caught my attention. A great, circular web stretched through a gap between several of the taller plants. A white, zig-zag stitching reinforced the center and there, hanging head down, was a huge multi-colored spider wrapping her prey. The eight black and pink legs easily spanned two inches. The egg-shaped abdomen was black with bright yellow markings. This was a Golden Garden Spider, Argiope aurantia, also known as the Black-and-yellow Orb Weaver.

I've also found these spiders in shrubs, tall grass and fields of wildflowers. They build their elastic webs by first throwing a "bridge" thread (a loose strand of silk) carried on air currents to a second support. From the center of the bridge, they drop down with an anchor thread to form a tripod. A box frame is built around the intended area and more radial spokes are added. Then a few quick spirals of non-stickly thread allow the spider to walk anywhere on the web. Finally, a tight pattern of sticky spirals completes the trap and the spider waits for its victim. They ignore the high-frequency vibrations of dangerous prey such as wasps, but quickly dash out and wrap more delectable goodies such as grasshoppers and other juicy insects. With its potential meal in a gauze straight jacket, the spider bites with fangs and injects a paralyzing venom. Then digestive enzymes are pumped in to liquify the soft body tissues, turning them into a soup that the spider sucks out. All that's left is the insect's exoskeleton.

By the end of the day, the sticky threads are too dry to be effective, so the spider eats the web and spins a new one. The silk, produced by spinnerets under the tip of the abdomen, is a liquid protein that hardens when it contacts the air. Besides the two types used to make webs, their is a third silk used to wrap prey and then another silk to wrap and protect the spider's eggs. Silk can also be used for "ballooning," sort of a magic carpet ride on the air. The heavy, zig-zag stitching, called stabilimento, across the central hub of the web is believed to warn birds that might otherwise blunder through the web. This saves the spider time, energy and material in prematurely rebuilding the web.

Late summer is spider season. Look out across any field just after sunrise and notice all of the dew-soaked webs catching the morning light. Each of these is both home and kitchen to a spider.

Contact Dave at northeastnaturalist@yahoo.com or Facebook. There is also a Facebook page for The Northeast Naturalist.

(This copyrighted article and photo first appeared in the Times of Wayne County, September 1, 2008. All rights reserved.)