Wishing Upon a Seed

Potential wish-carrying seeds

Milkweed pods"exploding"

It's that time of year when the slightest of breezes will cause milkweed seeds to take flight. The seedlings are brown with fluffy white silky hairs. The filaments are hollow and coated with a wax. Because of this, they make good insulation and were used for stuffing things like pillows and mattresses. During World War II more than 5,000 tons of milkweed floss were collected in the United States for life jackets when the usual stuffing was in short supply.

When the seed pods dry out and turn grey they split open releasing the seeds

Milkweed pod slowly opening

A "resting" milkweed seed

I was told that if you encountered a drifting milkweed seed and carefully catch it in your hands you could make a wish upon it and release it again to float away with the next breeze. However, if it touched the ground within eyesight, your wish would not come true.

The milkweed floss was used to stuff pillows, mattresses and life jackets

Waiting patiently for the next breeze

Smoking Cattails

As kids, my friends and I would collect dried cattails, light the ends and pretend we were smoking cigars. The cattail would slowly burn and produce a steady stream of smoke.

End of summer cattail stand

Sometimes we would pick the cattails before they were thoroughly dry. We would lay them out on the roof of a metal shed allowing the sun to beat down on them. The heat off the metal roof quickened the drying process. At times we would get impatient and try unsuccessfully to light the "green" cattails.  

Cattails can be burned to deter mosquitoes

One day we thought we could bypass the complete drying process by adding an accelerate to the cattail. We found an old lawnmower next to a barn and dipped the cattails into the gas tank. After several attempts, we were successful in lighting our “cigars” and proudly raised them - flames and all - in a celebratory toast to our success.

Muskrats feed on the shoots of cattails

It was then that I saw my mother speed walking in our direction. A neighbor had been watching and called her. I never saw my mother walk so fast or look so angry. My friends scattered leaving me there alone as I waited her approach and reprimand. 

I received one of the harshest scolding’s in my life. I stood in fear as I listened to her shout and flail her arms about. Her face grew redder and redder. I was in trouble, big trouble. After all, I was playing with matches and gasoline next to an old wooden barn. Throughout her scolding she painted a vivid picture of roaring flames, screaming children and hundreds of fire trucks. Later that day, I had difficulty sitting down due to a whole different kind of burning sensation.

 Hundreds of seedlings are released when shaken

Slowly burning cattails can act as an effective mosquito deterrent. Young cattail shoots are desirable food for muskrats and humans. The leaves can be used to weave mats. Birds like the red-winged blackbird nest in the thick clusters of leaves and stems.

 

The largest stand of cattails in Onondaga County is in the Hamlin Wildlife Management Area in the town of Clay.

The well-dried out puffy looking cattails will “explode” with hundreds of seedlings when shaken or pounded upon.

Goldenrod and New England Aster - Stars in the Fields

The roadsides and fields are rich with the yellow blossoms of goldenrod and the brilliant purple of New England aster. Both are late summer-early autumn wildflowers. When it comes to the scientific classification of  these two natural beauties, both are assigned to the aster family. Aster means star.

New England Aster

Goldenrod

Autumn is prime allergy season and goldenrod gets its unfair share of blame for much of the sneezing, runny noses and congestion because of its high visibility. However, the real culprit is ragweed. Ragweed flowers don't draw as much attention to themselves being small and greenish-yellow, blending in with most of the landscape.The pollen from goldenrod is not windblown like ragweed. Insects are the most common transporters of goldenrod pollen. New England asters are frequently found side-by-side with goldenrod. They prefer similar soils and sun conditions.

Asters are common in fields and along gullies

One version of how asters got their name is that Virgo, the goddess of wheat and agriculture in Greek and Roman mythology, sprinkled stardust across the earth and they became the asters. Another version attributes their origin to the goddess Astraea who left earth due to too much sorrow, looked back, wept and her tears became asters.

New England Aster and Goldenrod. Goldenrod is also an aster

In another myth,Virgo is the maiden Astraea, the goddess of innocence and purity.

Goldenrod going to seed

Daddy Long Legs

READER ALERT! Below are close up photos of spiders. Some people are very squeamish about spiders. If you are afraid or don't like spiders you may want to skip this article. The fear of spiders is called arachnophobia or arachnephobia.



The Daddy Long Legs is not a spider. Look closely to see the two black dots on the orange body. Those are the Daddy Long Leg's eyes.

 I was about four or five years old, when I was putting on a pair of boots to go outside and play in the snow. Looking down into one of the boots I found a Daddy Long Legs marching up and out. It frightened me so badly I threw the boot across the room and ran crying to my mother. It took me a while to overcome my arachnophobia. It is a common fear among many children, but like myself, they soon grow out of it.

Most people call a Daddy Long Legs a spider because it has eight legs and behaves like a spider. But  entomologist won't call it that. Eight legs alone doesn't make a spider. A true spider has two distinct body parts and eight legs - the head and the abdomen. A Daddy Long Legs has three body parts - a head, a thorax and an abdomen. However, these three segments are tightly fused together making them appears as one.

This Daddy Long Legs has only seven legs.

A true spider with eight legs and two clearly distinct body segments.

The Daddy Long Legs is also called a harvestmen. This group of jointed eight-legged creatures are omnivores, meaning they eat both animals and plants.

It is not uncommon to find one or more legs missing on a Daddy Long Legs. Of the four I recently saw, two  had seven legs, one had five and one had eight. That is because a Daddy Long Legs can willing detach a leg from its body if necessary. This helps it escape from predators. When the leg detaches it will twitch - sometimes up to an hour, distracting the predator as the Daddy Long Legs makes it's escape. The missing leg will not grow back.

Watching one closely, you will notice the Daddy Long Legs using its second pair of legs (counting from the front of the head to the back) as antennae, reaching out and touching things as it moves about. This set of  legs are also the longest of all the legs. One Daddy Long Legs I recently saw had a pair with each leg reaching out about three inches. The tips of these legs are very sensitive and relay vital information regarding the Daddy Long Legs environment.

A Daddy long Legs' vision are not quite as sharp as a spider's. It probably because a Daddy Long Legs has only one pair of eyes while a true spider has three or four pairs. 

True spiders will have six to eight eyes. Four eyes are clearly visible on this spider - two large eyes in the front center and two smaller eyes on either side of the center ones.

With only two eyes, one fused body segment and often times less than eight legs, the fast, nimble harvestmen do quite well. You can find them just about anywhere.

Fungi

This past spring had been a wet one.  The rain has continued into summer, with the addition of high humidity. All that moisture has been excellent for the growth of fungi, which includes mushrooms.

Do you know the names of these fungi?  Post a comment. Thanks.

 

Caterpillars With a Sting

Tussock moth caterpillar

Io moth caterpillar

I mentioned in my post about milkweed (8/21/13) that I had seen a tussock moth caterpillar feeding on the milkweed. Although it looked cute, warm and fuzzy, I warned readers to beware of this little creature. That is because its fuzzy hair can cause harm to some people. Between the hairs are sharp little barbs that can prick your skin like a needle.

A few days after seeing that caterpillar, I came across a different, but more potentially harmful caterpillar called the Io (eye-oh) moth caterpillar.  It is on a list of the Top Ten Most Poisonous Caterpillars. It too has these sharp barbs that can puncture your skin and cause an intense stinging sensation as well as inflammation for some people.

I was telling a friend how I found the Io caterpillar and picked it up to get a closer look before I knew of its infamous reputation. I told him that I had touched it, but didn’t feel any barbs sticking me. He replied, “Yeah, but did you put it in your mouth?”  I gave him a quizzical look. He then added, justifying his silly remark, “There is danger and then there is DANGER!”

That being said, their poisonous reputation needs to be put in perspective. Although their barbs can be harmful, it’s not like these caterpillars are out looking to sting anyone. They are used as defense mechanisms against potential predators like birds that may want to have them for a snack.

I don’t think any one should panic or run away in fear of these caterpillars. They are certainly worth a close, albeit, safe look. 

Tussock moth caterpillar

Tussock moth caterpillar

Tussock moth caterpillar

Io moth caterpillar with head at the lower end.

A curled up Io moth caterpillar.

A close up of the hind quarters of Io moth caterpillar. The dark brown and black features to the right of the red stripe are the rear legs of the caterpillar.

On the Loose

Beautiful Trouble. Purple loose strife is an alien plant that has invaded our wetlands and is gaining control by crowding out more diverse and beneficial plants.



Purple Loosestrife is very abundant this time of year. You can find it almost anywhere there is water - perpetually moist soils, roadside ditches, streams, ponds, lake shores, etc. If it wasn't such a domineering plant you might consider it for your garden.

I first noticed it years ago at the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge. The wide purple expanses of the plant viewed from the NYS Thruway caught my eye. Unfortunately, it is not a welcomed plant and efforts are underway to limit or reduce its spreading. Completely eradicating it is not feasible. It spreads so rapidly and the costs would be prohibitive.

It crowds out other plants, decreasing the biodiversity of vegetation as well as eliminating natural foods and cover for wildlife where ever it grows. Scientists believe it first touched our eastern shores arriving from Europe as a contaminate in the ballast of ships. It was also introduced as a medicinal herb.

It is still used today as a natural remedy in the form of a tea for diarrhea, intestinal problems, and bacterial infections. It is sometimes applied directly to the affected area for varicose veins, bleeding gums, hemorrhoids and eczema.

By the early 1800s, it became well established along the New England seaboard. Inland canals and waterways helped move the plant into interior New York and the St. Lawrence River Valley. The development of new roads, commercial sale of the plant for gardens and bee forage also contributed to its wide distribution. As of the mid 1990s, it was found in every state except Florida.