18 December 2012

It’s poinsettia time so I went online to look for a pretty picture.  That’s when I got into trouble.

I searched Wikimedia Commons for poinsetta and found only four pictures.  Huh?  Only 4?  That cannot be possible.

One of the photos pointed to another view of the same plant and I finally got the hint.  I was spelling it the way I pronounce it — poin SET ah — without the second “i.” I was spelling it wrong.

Poinsettias are native to Mexico where they are very leggy plants in the wild.  They were named for Joel Roberts Poinsett, first U.S. Minister to Mexico, who brought them to the U.S. in 1825.

The plant became popular as a Christmas decoration when Albert Ecke became fascinated by them, his son learned to make them into bushier, more beautiful plants, and his grandson promoted them on television in the 1960’s.  The rest is history.

Meanwhile, I was shocked — shocked! — to discover that there are two i’s in poinsettia and the second “i” should (or could) be pronounced.    I have never pronounced that second “i” and I wondered if this was a ‘Burgh thing (we have a notoriously vowel poor accent) so I conducted an informal poll.

How do you say the name of this plant?

So far, everyone I’ve asked says poin-SET-ah (no second “i”).  Two people knew about the extra “i” and one of them changed her pronunciation after she learned about it — but she didn’t start out that way.

I’ve heard that in some parts of the U.S. people say poin-SET-tee-ah, but if you’re from the Pittsburgh, well…    Poinsetta.

Hah!  No wonder I misspelled it.

(photo by André Karwath on Wikimedia Commons. Click on the image to see the original)

Pretty berries, right?

Wrong.  You don’t want them!  These are the fruits of mile-a-minute weed (Persicaria perfoliata), an invasive species that earned its name because it grows really fast — up to 25 feet in a single growing season.

Mile-a-minute arrived in Stewartstown, PA from Japan in the late 1930’s and spread from there.  Because birds and animals eat the berries, the plant spreads easily to new and remote locations. I’ve seen it growing on top of Laurel Mountain; Dianne Machesney photographed these berries at Green Cove Wetlands.

Mile-a-minute can take over a sunny spot very quickly and choke out every plant that underlies it.  You can recognize it by its triangular leaves, barbed stems (it’s called a “tearthumb”) and cup-shaped shield leaves at the stem joints.

Because mile-a-minute is an annual with shallow roots you can eradicate it if you’re vigilant.  Put on stout gloves and pull it out.   If it’s gone to seed — as it has by now — collect the seeds first, then pull.

Here’s what to do in a fun video from the Home and Garden Information Center at the University of Maryland Extension.

(photo of fruit by Dianne Machesney, photo of leaves in the public domain from Wikimedia Commons, video from University of Maryland Extension)

Sometimes seed pods are just as interesting as the flowers that produce them.

These many-faceted globes are Wingstem (Verbesina alternifolia) gone to seed.

(photo by Kate St. John)

These beautiful fall crocuses are blooming today near the back entrance of Carnegie Museum and Library.

What a treat to see this vision of spring in September.

(photo by Kate St. John)

Just to give you butterfly folks a jolt… I bet you haven’t seen this butterfly on goldenrod in Pennsylvania.

Canada goldenrod (Solidago canadensis) is native to North America but the butterfly is not.  It’s a Common Bluebottle (Graphium sarpedon) found in Asia and Australia.

It’s nice to know that goldenrod attracts such beautiful butterflies but how did these two get together?

The photo was taken in Japan. The goldenrod was imported.

Unfortunately Canada goldenrod went wild when it got overseas and is now an invasive species in Asia.  It’s such a problem in China that they have eradication programs for it just as we do for Japanese knotweed.

If we could only trade our Japanese knotweed for their goldenrod, we’d all be happy.

(photo by Isaka Yogi on Wikimedia Commons.  Click on the image to see the original.)

Ironweed (Vernonia altissima) has been blooming since July.

I never get tired of its purple color.

(photo by Kate St. John)

Continuing on the theme of strange predators here’s interesting news about a plant that preys on insects.

Nepenthes gracilis is a tropical pitcher plant native to Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.  Like all pitcher plants it eats insects by trapping them in the digestive fluid at the bottom of its tubed-shaped pitcher.  The inner surface is slippery when wet to enhance the trapping effect.

This is dangerous for an insect, so why would an ant bother to get near the pitcher opening?  Why would it go under the lid?

Nepenthes gracilis tempts insects with a tasty nectar coating on the underside of the lid.  In fair weather a skillful bug can perch on the edge, eat the treat, and walk away.

But in the tropics it rains often and heavily.  Sometimes insects seek shelter under the lid or are eating underneath it when the rain begins… and then…

Researchers discovered that heavy raindrops prompt the insects’ demise.  The lid is poised like a springboard.  The weight of a raindrop springs the trap and catapults the insect into the bottom of the pitcher.

Sneaky!  Food, shelter and trap.

Read more about this discovery in the PLOS One article.

(photo from the PLOS One article by Bauer, U., B. Di Giusto, J. Skepper, T.U. Grafe & W. Federle 2012, (CC-BY-SA), Wikimedia Commons.  Click on the photo to see the original)