Category Archives: Plants & Fungi

plants & fungi

Bananas Are Berries

Plants & Fungi
Banana photo from Wikimedia Commons

Of course bananas are fruits but did you know they are technically berries? Here’s what a berry is:

In botany, a berry is a fleshy fruit without a stone (pit) produced from a single flower containing one ovary. 

— Berry (botany) entry on Wikipedia

Blueberries and strawberries easily fit the definition. You can see their fruits forming from the flowers’ ovaries.

Blueberry and strawberry flowers (photos from Wikimedia Commons)

Banana flowers, yellow in the photo below, grow in bunches that bloom as the inflorescence opens.

Banana inflorescence, flowers and fruits (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Each flower becomes a fruit in the bunch.

Bananas photo by Augustus Binu via Wikimedia Commons

The lack of a stone — such as a peach pit — does not mean true berries have no seeds. In fact their seeds are often numerous.

Blueberries and strawberries for sale (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Wild bananas have numerous seeds.

Wild bananas have lots of seeds (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

But grocery store bananas do not. They were originally cultivated from two naturally occurring seedless species – Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana.

Longitudinal slice of a banana (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Our grocery store bananas come from Central America but that’s not where they really come from. The two seedless species are from Indomalaya, first cultivated in Papua New Guinea in 10,000 to 6500 BC.

Original native ranges of the two ancestors of edible bananas (map from Wikimedia Commons)

Learn more cool facts about bananas as berries at Wikipedia: Banana.

(photos from Wikimedia Commons; click on the images to see the originals)

Seen This Week in Schenley Park

Phenology, Plants & Fungi, Schenley Park
Cultivated St. Johnswort at Westinghouse Fountain, Schenley Park, 3 July 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)

There was plenty to see this week in Schenley Park even though the weather was hot.

My best visit was on Thursday morning when my friend Andrea convinced me to come out at 7:30a. I’ve been missing a lot by sitting at my computer until 9am. Best Bird: Louisiana waterthrush! Waterthrushes don’t breed in the park but they stop by in transit before and after breeding.

Best flowers this week include the bright yellow flower (above) near the Westinghouse fountain, a cultivated variety of St. Johnswort (Hypericum).

Teasel (Dipsacus), an invasive alien, has not bloomed yet but the flower buds are visible between the spikes.

Teasel flower buds not yet open, Schenley Park, 2 July 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is in full bloom.

Yarrow in bloom, Schenley Park, 2 July 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)

And finally the bottlebrush buckeyes (Aesculus parviflora) bloomed this week. On 30 June they were starting from the bottom.

By 3 July they had nearly made it to the top.

Stop by Panther Hollow Lake or the area across the road from the Westinghouse fountain to see the bottlebrush buckeyes.

(photos by Kate St. John)

p.s. Happy Fourth of July!

This Week in Schenley Park

Insects, Phenology, Plants & Fungi, Schenley Park
Spotted joe pye weed, flower buds in leaf axils, Schenley Park, 26 June 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)

This week I found buds and bugs in Schenley Park.

Spotted joe pye weed (Eupatorium maculatum), above, has buds in the leaf axils but when it blooms the showy flowers at the top attract all our attention. This year I’ll have to watch for the side flowers as well.

Enchanters nightshade (Circaea canadensis), below, blooms from the bottom up and has plenty of buds yet to open. The lower buds in the photo are on a different branch.

Enchanters nightshade, Schenley Park 21 June 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)

Bugs are quite evident now but they are difficult to photograph because they move(!). Below, this silver-spotted skipper (Epargyreus clarus) appeared to be rubbing its abdomen on the bird dropping. Was it ovipositing?

Silver spotted skipper on a bird dropping, Schenley Park (photo by Kate St. John)

Aphids are not plentiful this year — yet — but it’s only a matter of time. There’s only one winged adult in this photo but the juveniles will grow up, sprout wings, and fly to other Helianthus plants to reproduce. It won’t be long before I think there are too many.

Aphids on Helianthus stem (photo by Kate St. John)

And finally, some bugs are never seen but we know they were there … as this leaf attests.

Insect damage on a leaf. No insect visible (photo by Kate St. John)

(photos by Kate St. John)

(photos by Kate St. John)

Flowers Last Week

Phenology, Plants & Fungi, Schenley Park
Chickory, Schenley Park, 18 June 2020

21 June 2020

Plants are getting interesting as the next flower season begins in Pittsburgh.

Last week I found chickory (Cichorium intybus) and thimbleweed (Anemone virginiana) blooming in the city and a variety of flowers north of town.

Thimbleweed, Duck Hollow, 19 June 2020

On 17 June six friends and I gathered at Wolf Creek Narrows to bird watch and botanize.

I was hoping to find ramps (Allium tricoccum) in full bloom but we were too early to see the balls of flowers that become these unusual starburst seed pods. Note that the leaves in the background are a different plant. Ramps don’t have leaves when they bloom.

Ramps not yet in full bloom, Wolf Creek Narrows, 17 June 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)

However, partridgeberry (Mitchella repens) and Indian cucumber root (Medeola virginiana) were in full bloom.

Partridgeberry, Wolf Creek Narrows, 17 June 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Indian cucumber root, Wolf Creek Narrows, 17 June 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)

Meanwhile, as you examine the flowers, keep your eyes open for bugs. I found this one on golden alexanders in Schenley Park. Is he piercing that flower to suck the juice?

Insect on golden alexanders, Schenley Park, 13 June 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)

(photos by Kate St. John)

Spittlebug Season and Coming Attractions

Insects, Phenology, Plants & Fungi, Schenley Park
Spittlebug foam, McConnell’s Mill State Park, 12 June 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)

There are white foam patches on plant stems now in western Pennsylvania that indicate it’s spittlebug season.

Spittlebugs are nymphal froghoppers that suck the juice out of plants and excrete it as a sticky foam to protect themselves from temperature extremes, dessication and predators.

I’ve never seen a spittlebug but I haven’t looked closely. Fortunately Rod Innes’ 2011 video shows what these insects are up to. Way cool!

There are also some coming attractions outdoors.

Mulberries are bearing fruit in western Pennsylvania, attracting birds and smashing on the sidewalk. Read more about them in this vintage article: Mulberries Underfoot.

Mulberry tree in fruit, Magee Field, 18 June 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Mulberries smashed underfoot, Magee Field, 18 June 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)

Schenley Park’s bottlebrush buckeyes are almost ready to bloom as shown below on 11 June. Stop by the park in early July to see the flowers in full glory at two locations: South side of Panther Hollow Lake (left side of lake as seen from Panther Hollow Bridge) and across West Circuit Road from the Westinghouse Fountain.

Bottlebrush buckeye flower buds, Schenley Park, 11 June 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)

When bottlebrush buckeyes bloom they look like this.

Bottlebrush buckeye flower spike, Schenley Park, 6 July 2018 (photo by Kate St. John)
Bottlebrush buckeye flowers, Schenley Park, 6 July 2018 (photo by Kate St. John)
Bottlebrush buckeyes, Schenley Park, 9 July 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)

(photos by Kate St. John)

Seen This Week: Flowers and a Tiny Caterpillar

Phenology, Plants & Fungi, Schenley Park
Common cinquefoil, 8 June 2020, Schenley Park (photo by Kate St. John)

13 June 2020

In the past week I’ve found flowers and insects in Schenley Park, on Laurel Mountain, and at McConnell’s Mill State Park. Here are the best of the lot.

Ohio spiderwort, Schenley Park, 11 Jun 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)
Common wood sorrel, 12 June 2020, McConnell’s Mill State Park (photo by Kate St. John)

At McConnell’s Mill, white baneberry (Actaea pachypoda) bloomed in May and is already forming berries that become dolls eyes in October. I used two photographic techniques on the same plant. The slideshow shows what a difference that makes.

  • Dolls eyes in portrait mode (photo by Kate St. John)

The mosquitoes are out on Laurel Mountain, especially at dusk, but so are the caterpillars. This oak-eating caterpillar took a chunk out of a leaf but will become a tasty snack for a baby bird if the parents find it.

Caterpillar eating oak leaf near Spruce Flats Bog, 8 June 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)

Leaves are also food for tiny gall-making insects as seen on this leaf in Schenley Park.

Galls on a leaf in Schenley Park, 5 June 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)

As I said it’s bug season, so be prepared when you visit the woods.

(photos by Kate St. John)

Nighttime Gardeners

Deer, Mammals, Plants & Fungi, Schenley Park
Nighttime gardeners trimmed these trees, Schenley Park (photo by Kate St. John)

Every night gardeners roam Pennsylvania’s forests and trim the vegetation. We see their footprints in the morning and the landscape they’ve left behind. Our nighttime gardeners are white-tailed deer.

A doe browsing in Schenley Park (photo by Kate St. John)

Unlike human gardeners, deer cut back the plants they like instead of removing weeds. It’s easy to notice what they over-browse (see arborvitae above), but the mix of plants they leave behind tell a story of poison and preference. Last weekend I decided to read that story in Schenley Park.

In early June the forest floor is green with native plants that deer won’t eat and invasive aliens that deer don’t like.

The “poison” story:

Native plants that thrive in Schenley Park are those that are toxic to deer.

Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum), photo by Kate St. John
Mayapples (Podophyllum peltatum) in Schenley Park (photo by Kate St. John)
Golden alexanders (Zizia aurea), photo by Kate St. John
White snakeroot (Ageratina altissima), photo by Kate St. John

The “preference” story:

These alien plants are unpalatable to deer and some are toxic.

Interestingly some aliens can only out-compete native plants with the help of too many deer. Garlic mustard is one such plant. Fewer deer, less garlic mustard.

Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) in Schenley Park (photo by Kate St. John)
Goutweed (Aegopodium podagraria) in Schenley Park (photo by Kate St. John)
Poison hemlock (Conium maculatum) at DPW staging area in Schenley Park (photo by Kate St. John)

Check out the mix of plants in your local forest or woodlot. If you find only toxic natives and unpalatable aliens it’s the cumulative effect of too many “gardeners” every night.

(photos by Kate St. John)

Herds of Glacier Mice

Plants & Fungi
“Glacier mouse” at Skaftafell National Park, Iceland (photo by cariberry via Flickr, Creative Commons license)

At certain glaciers in Iceland, Alaska, Svalbard and South America green balls of moss roam very slowly across the ice. Oblong in shape the balls form when moss clings to a bit of grit, gathers more moss, and eventually includes microscopic creatures. In the 1950s Icelandic meteorologist Jón Eyþórsson named them glacier mice (jökla-mýs).

Glacier mice are green all the way round because they move, eventually exposing every surface to the sun. How do they do it?

Glacier moss at Skaftafell National Park, Iceland (photo by cariberry via Flickr, Creative Commons license)

In 2009 Scott Hotaling, Tim Batholomaus and Sophie L Gilbert began a four-year study at the Root Glacier in Alaska to find out where glacier mice go and why.

Root Glacier at Wrangell, Alaska (photo by NPS via Wikimedia Commons)

After tagging grapefruit-sized moss balls with trackers they returned every year to find and measure the balls’ locations. In the process they learned that glacier mice move an inch a day and they move like a herd in the same direction!

Tim Bartholomaus tweeted when the study was published in April’s Polar Biology: Rolling stones gather moss: Movement and longevity of moss balls on an Alaskan glacier.

So now we know where glacier mice go and how fast they get there but we still don’t know how or why they do it. The team measured the prevailing wind and the slope of the ice but the mice didn’t blow in the wind nor reliably roll downhill. They just moved — somehow — in a very slow herd.

Listen to their story or read about them in NPR’s article: Herd of Fuzzy Green ‘Glacier Mice’ Baffles Scientists.

There’s more to learn about glacier mice.

(photos by Cari (cariberry) on Flickr, Creative Commons license and from Wikimedia Commons; click on the captions to see the originals)

White Flowers

Phenology, Plants & Fungi
Mock orange blooming, 1 June 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)

Songbird migration is over so I’m paying more attention to flowers even though there aren’t very many in early June. April’s woodland flowers are long past and July’s field flowers aren’t here yet. Even so, I found a few blooms last week in Schenley and Frick Parks.

Above, an ornamental mock orange shrub bloomed along the Lower Panther Hollow Trail in Schenley Park. Below, daisies are blooming at the tiny meadow next to Bartlett Playground.

Daisy near Bartlett Playground, June 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)

In Frick Park I found cow parsnip (Heracleum maximum) along Lower Nine Mile Run Trail.

Cow parsnip at Frick Park, June 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)

This native plant can grow 7 feet tall. Here I stand by one at Mingo Creek in 2013.

Kate St. John next to cow parsnip, June 2013 (photo by Dianne Machesney)

Because their flowers and leaves are similar, some people mistake cow parsnip for giant hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum), an invasive plant from Eurasia that’s so toxic it causes nasty skin rashes if you merely brush against it. Fortunately it’s easy to tell the difference by looking at the stems and leaf joints.

Cow parsnip is all green. (2 photos above)

Giant hogweed has purple blotches on its stem and leaf joints, just like poison hemlock. (2 photos below)

Giant hogweed plant and stem (photos from Wikimedia Commons)

Both plants are so big that you can identify them from afar before getting too close.

Green is good. Purple is bad. The flowers are white on both of them.

(photos by Kate St. John except where noted in the caption which is linked to the originals on Wikimedia Commons)

A Few Plants Seen This Week

Phenology, Plants & Fungi
Bird’s eye speedwell near the road (photo by Kate St. John)

Everything’s green and the leaves are big. Suddenly the woods feel closer, shadier and sometimes dark. This week a just few plants attracted my attention.

Above the alien “weed” bird’s eye speedwell (Veronica persica) has a delicate beauty when seen at close range. It blooms in fields and rocky places from spring through fall.

Below, a small tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera) at Deer Lakes Park has leaves almost larger than the tree itself.

This tuliptree has leaves that seem larger than the tree itself, Deer Lakes Park, 27 May 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)

Black locusts (Robinia pseudoacacia) bloomed in the City of Pittsburgh last week and some have already begun to drop their flowers. This bunch caught the early morning light on Tuesday in Greenfield.

Black locust flowers in Pittsburgh, 26 May 2020 (photo by Kate St. John)

(photos by Kate St. John)