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.

Black Raspberries

Yummy

I have mixed feelings about early July. On the down side are the humidity and the mosquitos (which seem to have reached a new peak). On the positive side, the wild Black Raspberries are ripe. For years, I've been encouraging these bushes to grow around the perimeter of our property. Even though they're thorny and often hook me on the arm or in the hair, the rewards seem to be worth it.

Black Raspberries are native to eastern North America.

The common species is Rubus occidentalis, but similar varieties are numerous. They belong to the rose family, making them direct relatives of blackberries, strawberries, rose hips, cherries, plums, apples and pears. They are nicknamed "black caps" or "thimbleberries," referring to the way the ripe fruit separates easily from the pedicel leaving a round button called a carpel or receptacle (which seems misleading). True blackberries, a distinctly-different species, do not separate from the receptacle. Individual raspberry fruits are composite clusters of small beads called drupelets, each containing a tiny seed. The dark-purple color is produced by anthocyanin pigments which makes them useful as natural dyes -- witness the color of your fingers after picking a few. Raspberries are also healthy. The anthocyanins are powerful antioxidants and are being tested for their effect on cancer.

 

Raspberry canes have a whitish, powdery bloom, best seen at upper left

It takes raspberry canes a year and a half to mature and bear fruit. The first year, the canes (green with a whitish, powdery coating) bear compound leaves usually with three leaflets but sometimes five arranged palmately (like fingers or spokes from a single point). The undersides of the toothed leaflets are silvery white, much like Silver Maple leaves. The second year, the canes turn dark purple or reddish, but the remaining powder makes them look bluish. They send out short branches that produce alternate, compound leaves with only three leaflets (unfortunately resembling poison ivy). Flowers with five white petals appear in May and these develop into red fruits which turn dark as they ripen around July 4th, give or take, here in the Finger Lakes region of New York. After the fruit is gone, you can still use the leaves to make tea.

The undersides of Black Raspberry leaves [turned over at right] are nearly white.

The arching canes may root at the tip if they touch the ground. In this way, one shrub can form broad colonies that provide protective cover for small mammals. During the winter, the canes of all brambles (including dewberries, black and red raspberries and true blackberries) become food for cottontail rabbits. Canes die at the end of their second year, but the roots continue to send up new shoots every spring.

Black Raspberries are native from Wyoming to Ontario and Quebec and south to Georgia and Mississippi. If you live in this area and want to collect raspberries, you need to get to them before the songbirds, game birds and wild mammals of all sizes. If you want to grow your own, they tolerate a wide variety of conditions from open sunlight to shade and soils that are moist or dry. They will grow in open woods, thickets, stream banks, wet meadows and old fields as well as the edge of your lawn. If you leave a spot around some trees unmowed, the birds will probably drop some seeds and help you get started. In two years you'll be on your way to healthy eating.

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.

Rhododendron

Great Rhododendrons (Rhododendron maximum) grow wild in scattered colonies across New York and New England as far as southwestern Maine, but it's found primarily in the Appalachians from Pennsylvania to northern Georgia. Beyond that it has been widely planted as an ornamental. Wherever there is sufficient moisture, these evergreen members of the heath family can form dense thickets generally reaching a height of 13 feet, but old bushes are capable of growing to a height of 30 or even 40 feet and a crown diameter of 12 feet, essentially becoming small trees. The main requirement is acidic soil with a high organic content.

The concave leaves are long and leathery and curve down to smooth edges that may curl under during dry or cold weather. Most of the leaves are clustered in whorls around the end of twigs and surround the showy, rose-pink to purple, sometimes white, flower clusters that open between March and August, depending on the local climate. Our ornamental version opens in late May here in the northern Finger Lakes region.

In the wild, rhododendron is an understory plant and does well in the shade of taller trees. Combine that factor with the shrub's dense, evergreen foliage and you can understand why it's difficult for smaller plants and wildflowers to grow underneath rhododendrons.

This species has a number of alternate common names including Late or Summer Rhododendron, Great, Bigleaf or Deertongue Laurel and Rosebay. It's the state flower of West Virginia. The name Mountain Laurel is reserved for its smaller relative, Kalmia latifolia.

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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November Trails -- Part 1

November Trails

© Dave Spier

Unexpectedly warm and sunny weather followed the first feeble attempt at an autumn snowfall. Call it Indian Summer, or just call it enjoyable. Mornings were chilly and dew-laden, but that's normal November. I hope you have a chance to get out and savor the weather before things go downhill again.

The trail through the field back to the woods is dotted with open milkweed pods releasing brown seeds to float on white down. The zebra-striped Monarch caterpillars that fed on the toxic white sap of the summer leaves long ago transformed to butterflies and headed south toward their winter home in Mexico. You might have noticed the Canadian Monarchs passing through New York in early October.

Near the milkweed, the once-plump, off-white berries on Red-panicled Dogwoods are now wrinkled and dry. Chickadees have been snatching as many of the fruits as they can, and the ones that fall to the ground become food for grouse. The shrub's name comes from the red stems that hold the berries, but the gray bark on the main branches gives it the alternate name, Gray Dogwood. [see the previous blog post] Next to the dogwood, a flock of Purple Finches landed in a small tree and then flew again in unison. These birds, red-raspberry relatives of goldfinches, breed across southern Canada and winter in the eastern half of the United States. We see them most often during their migrations.

In the middle of the field, a thorny rosebush is covered with tasteless rosehips that are nonetheless high in vitamin C. These small, red fruits are credited with supporting the expansion of the mockingbird from its southern strongholds to the cold climates of Upstate New York.

Northern Mockingbird in Multi-flora Rose bush -- © Dave Spier

In the woods, small beige moths flit among the trees while a pair of Red-bellied Woodpeckers chase each other from one tree trunk to the next. In spite of brilliant scarlet feathers on the nape (back of the neck) and crown of the male, the bird is named for an obscure patch of salmon red on the belly between the legs. The bird has to be at just the right angle to see it. The problem with the name is that another woodpecker with an entirely red head and neck took the name Red-headed Woodpecker. That species is a southern bird; we seldom see them in the Finger Lakes region.

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Dogwoods -- © Dave Spier

Gray (Red-panicled) Dogwood berries in the rain - © Dave Spier

Gray Dogwood, an upland shrub named for the gray bark on trunks and main branches, produces white berries prized by songbirds. It is also called Red-panicled Dogwood (Cornus racemosa) because the berry clusters grow on red stems (panicles). By now the simple, opposite leaves have fallen but this makes the fruits more obvious to chickadees and other birds that seem to enjoy them and unintentionally disburse the seeds.

Gray Dogwood colonizes old fields and spreads by underground runners. The result is a dome-shaped thicket with older, taller shrubs up to 10 feet high in the center. New twigs are brown, and the center of branchlets have light brown pith.

Its close cousin, Red-osier Dogwood (Cornus stolonifera = C. alba) will do the same in wet meadows. It also has white berries prized by songbirds and Ruffed Grouse. The red twigs are eaten by deer and cottontails. If you cut across one of the bright red (sometimes green) twigs with a sharp knife, you'll notice the center is filled with white pith.

Most dogwoods have branchlets with opposite twigs and leaves similar to maples and viburnums. The exception is Alternate-leaf Dogwood (Cornus alternifolia), also called Pagoda Dogwood because of its growth form with whorls of leaves at the end of green twigs.

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