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.

Witch-hazel

Witch-hazel

© Dave Spier

Sounds like a Halloween shrub, but this "witch" comes from Middle English wiche (from Old English wice) meaning "bendable" and was applied to the Wych Elm. Colonists, not being botanists, transferred the name to the American shrub because the branches were used as divining rods, also called "witching sticks" (to find underground water or precious metals) in the fashion of flexible elm and hazel twigs in England. American Witch-hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) is superficially similar to hazel, especially the leaves.

Witch-hazel is unusual in that it blossoms in the fall. It's yellow flowers with straggly petals are hidden until the wavy-edged, golden leaves drop. The flowers may persist into winter, giving the shrub the nickname "winterbloom." 

At the same time as flowers appear, last year's fruits are maturing. The oily seed interiors are edible and supposedly taste like pistachios. Warm weather will cause the capsules to "explode," a neat trick of nature to disperse the seeds away from the parent's shade. The same thing will happen if you bring the twigs inside.

Witch-hazel long has been used as an external astringent to treat sores, acne, hemorrhoids, insect bites and poison ivy among other things. The Iroquois made a strong tea to treat dysentery, coughs and colds. The bark contains the highst concentration of hamamelitannin, one of the active ingredients. Proanthocyandin extracts have anti-viral properties and reduce inflammation. [Do not try this at home without researching the details, or consult with your doctor.]

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Coltsfoot

Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara) -- © Dave Spier

At a distance, the flowers resemble dandelions. Close-up, the flowers resemble, well, dandelions. In fact, this alien wildflower is a relative of the dandelion. If it weren’t for the leaves (or more apparently the lack of them in early spring), the yellow flowers of Coltsfoot could pass for dandelions. Both are in the Composite, or Aster, Family.

If you’re inclined to get down on the ground and look at the succulent stem of Coltsfoot, you’ll notice that it is scaly. On the other hand, perhaps you won’t want to get down on the ground because it grows in damp soil along streamsides, banks, ditches, roadsides and waste places. Each plant usually appears as a yellow clump with several flower heads.

The green leaves appear later in spring, after the flowers have gone to seed, and the leaves continue to grow through the summer. Someone thought the leaves, which are somewhat heart-shaped but angular and toothed, resembled a colt’s foot. Don't ask; just use your imagination. They can reach a width of seven inches.

A cough syrup can be made by boiling fresh leaves and adding sugar to the extract according to the Peterson Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants. Dried leaves can be steeped to make tea. If the dried leaves are burned, the ash can be used as a salt substitute.

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.