Category Archives: Plants & Fungi

plants & fungi

Seen at Jennings Last Week

Shrubby St. Johnswort at Jennings, 21 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

29 July 2023

Just over a week ago the Botanical Society of Western Pennsylvania and Wissahickon Nature Club made their annual visit to Jennings Prairie for late July wildflowers. All of these species and more were seen on Friday 21 July. Shown here are:

This thimbleweed still has petals, Jennings, 21 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
Dense blazing star, Jennings, 21 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
Yarrow, Jennings, 21 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

This photo of rattlesnake plantain shows the flower buds. Click here or on the photo to see the entire plant with basal leaves.

Rattlesnake plantain in bud, Jennings, 21 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

Culver’s root was in bloom at Jennings but too far from the trail for a cellphone photo. I found this one blooming on Thursday in a garden near Dippy the Dinosaur at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Do you see the bumblebee?

Culver’s root near Dippy statue, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 27 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

See more photos at the Wissahickon Trip Report and click here for the complete list of species.

(photos by Kate St. John)

Flowers, Trees and Signs This Week

Water beads on wax begonia, 17 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

22 July 2023

Other than a few thunderstorms it’s been a quiet week in Pittsburgh.

At the Cathedral of Learning the garden beds are beautiful with begonias while the peregrines, Carla and Ecco, hang out and finish molting. The pair is no longer courting but sometimes bow together — less than once a day in late July.

Carla (on left) bows with Ecco at the Cathedral of Learning, 20 July 2023 (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ of Pittsburgh)

On Thursday I was lucky to find the right mix of sun and shade to show off eastern enchanter’s nightshade’s (Circaea canadensis) bur-like fruits. They are notoriously difficult to photograph.

Enchanter’s nightshade near Herr’s Island, Pittsburgh, 20 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

On 13 July a brief storm blew through Pittsburgh and broke this more than 100 year old London plane tree near Carnegie Library.

London plane tree at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh broken by strong wind on 13 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

Meanwhile spotted lanternfly (SLF) red nymphs are everywhere, soon to become winged adults. I found thousands of them along the Allegheny River Trail near Herr’s Island plus three adults, the first I’ve seen this year. This winged adult probably just emerged from the crumpled exoskeleton above it. Eewwww!

Spotted lanternfly adult near red nymphs on the Three Rivers Rowing Association building, 20 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

A few people along the trail were stamping on the nymphs and might have been recording their victories in the Squishr app (described here by WHYY). However, as Howard Tobias remarked a few weeks ago, “Tramping on spotted lanternflies is like trying to empty the ocean with a spoon.”

Are you upset by the bugs? Go hit the Panic Button at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh in the Main branch Music Department, 2nd floor. This Panic Button, built into a bookcase, used to be part of the old security system but was disconnected decades ago. Press it to your heart’s content. Very satisfying.

The Panic Button at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh (photo by Kate St. John)

And don’t forget to …

Confirm your paperwork? Or throw it in the bin? at Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, 19 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

(photos by Kate St. John)

On a Morning in July

Beaded water on a bug-eaten leaf, Frick Park, 4 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

8 July 2023

This week on Fourth of July morning, the birds were pretty good at Frick Park but the flowers, insects and an amazing mushroom were even better.

Humidity beaded the edge of a leaf while a great spangled fritillary* (Speyeria cybele) fed on butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa). (* see the comments. This might be a different fritillary than what I wrote.)

Great spangled fritillary, Frick Park, 4 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

A spider hid among the wingstem leaves.

Spider hiding on wingstem, Frick Park, 4 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

A Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense) had woven itself through a chainlink fence. Despite its invasive nature, American goldfinches love its seeds.

Canada thistle weaves through a chainlink fence, Frick Park, 4 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

This mushroom certainly caught our attention along the Nine Mile Run Trail. I think it’s a wood ear mushroom, Auricularia species, whose “ears” look like they are made of jelly.

Wood ear fungi, Auricularia species, Frick Park, 4 July 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

If you know what mushroom this is — or if I’ve misidentified anything — please leave a comment with the answer.

(photos by Kate St. John)

Bees’ Hair Stands on End

Honeybee collecting pollen (a featured picture from Wikimedia Commons)

29 June 2023

When bees visit flowers they collect two kinds of food: nectar for energy and pollen for protein and nutrients. The pollen is food for their larvae in the hive so they carry it home in the pollen sacks on their legs.

Honeybee with full pollen sack (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Filling the pollen sacks requires static electricity, grooming and a bit of nectar to make the pollen clump.

When a bee lands on a flower, the hairs all over the bees’ body attract pollen grains through electrostatic forces. Stiff hairs on their legs enable them to groom the pollen into specialized brushes or pockets on their legs or body, and then carry it back to their nest. 

Michigan State University, MSU Extension: Pollination

Because bee’s hairs are oppositely charged from the flowers, their the hairs stand on end as they approach them …

Common eastern bumblebee, Wisconsin (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

… and this makes it easier to find the flowers in flight. Learn more in this 2016 article:

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

Two Kinds of Mullein

Common mullein in bloom, Aspinwall, 21 July 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)

24 June 2023

Two kinds of mullein are blooming now in western Pennsylvania. Both are native to Eurasia and northern Africa and are listed as invasive in some states, but not in Pennsylvania.

Common mullein (Verbascum thapsus) is hard to miss in late June, standing 5-6 feet tall with a spike of yellow flowers. This hairy biennial plant spends its first year as a rosette of fuzzy basal leaves, similar to the early stage of lamb’s-ear.

Basal rosette of common mullein leaves, April 2016 (photo by Kate St. John)

In the second year it sends up a tall shoot topped by a flower spike.

Common mullein, Ohio River Trail, Pittsburgh, 18 June 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

As the spikes go to seed in late July you can see why people used these plants as torches.

Common mullein by the river, Pittsburgh, 23 July 2017 (photo by Kate St. John)

Moth mullein (Verbascum blattaria), like common mullein, is also biennial but its flowers are prettier and more delicate.

Moth mullein in bloom, 25 July 2015 (photo by Kate St. John)

The basal leaves are hardly noticeable because the flowers draw so much attention.

Moth mullein basal leaves (photo by Bruce Ackley, Ohio State University via Bugwood.org)

The plant blooms from the bottom up …

Moth mullein, 12 June 2021 (photo by Kate St. John)

… and goes to seed in the same direction. Each seed pod looks like a ball with a string on top.

Moth mullein seed pod, 14 July 2019 (photo by Kate St. John)

Other than its beauty, moth mullein has an unexpected benefit. According to Wikipedia, it has “long been known to be an effective cockroach repellent, and it’s species name blattaria is actually derived from the Latin word for cockroach, blatta.”

Torches and cockroach repellent. Something to think of when you see these two mulleins.

(photo credits are in the captions)

Goatsbeard, Insects and a Smoky Sunrise

Goatsbeard gone to seed, SGL 117, 6 June 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

10 June 2023

Goatsbeard (Tragopogon dubius) lived up to its name this week as it showed off its huge fluffy seed head at SGL 117 in Washington County, PA.

Nymphal froghoppers known as spittlebugs hid under foam while sucking plant juice at Frick Park.

Spittlebugs, Frick Park, 8 June 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

A fluffy white substance that looked like fungus may well be insects — perhaps woolly aphids (“boogie woogie” aphids) sipping sap from a cut branch.

Are these aphids

Canadian wildfire smoke made for eerie an sunrise on Thursday morning. My photos of it were anemic. Check out Dave DiCello’s instead. Click on a photo to enlarge it.

(photos by Kate St. John, tweet embedded from @DaveDiCello)

Seen This Week

Prothontary warbler in Frick Park, 25 May 2023 (photo by Charity Kheshgi)

27 May 2023

This week’s big news was the unexpected prothonotary warbler that Charity Kheshgi and I found in Frick Park on 25 May. He was still present yesterday but BirdCast showed birds migrating out of our area last night so we’ll see if he’s still there this morning.

Migration is nearly over and the dominant landscape color in Pittsburgh now is green. It’s hard to remember that only five weeks ago (23 April) most of the trees were brown.

Daisies are blooming along meadows and roadsides, invasive wineberry is in bud, and bladdernuts have already formed green seed pods in the city parks.

Daisy blooming at Schenley Park, 22 May 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
Wineberry leaves and buds, Schenley Park, 22 May 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
Bladdernut seed pods, Frick Park, 23 May 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

On our walk in Frick Park on 23 May, Charity and I saw many deer including an obviously pregnant doe who looked ready to drop twin fawns. We wondered where she would hide them now that the browseline makes it possible to see right through the woods.

This deer-browsed Japanese knotweed shows how little food remains for deer in Frick. Normally they don’t eat Japanese knotweed but with few native plants left they are hungry enough to try it now.

Deer damage on Japanese knotweed, Frick Park, 23 May 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

In Schenley Park the color green extends to the rampant algae in Panther Hollow Lake. See last November’s article on why the lake has algae so often.

Algae in Panther Hollow Lake, Schenley Park, 26 May 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

What birds will we see this weekend? Come to my Schenley Park outing tomorrow, 28 May, to find out.

(photos by Kate St. John)

Seen This Week + Carla Falcon In The News

Mitrewort, Raccoon Creek Wildflower Reserve, 16 May 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

20 May 2023

This was a good week for birds and flowers. But first, no day would be complete without news of the Pitt peregrines.


Carla the Falcon was featured in the Pitt News at “A new peregrine falcon moved into the Cathedral of Learning.” Watch for her on the National Aviary Falconcam at the Cathedral of Learning.

Carla the Falcon at Pitt, 18 May 2023, 11:24a (photo from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh)

Seen This Week: While out birding on Tuesday I noticed blooming flowers and unusual leaves at Raccoon Creek Wildflower Reserve. Mitrewort (Mitella diphylla), at top, is one of my favorites because of its delicate, intricate flowers.

The Greek genus name of Star-of-Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum) roughly means “bird’s milk.”

Star-of-Bethlehem, Raccoon Creek Wildflower Reserve, 16 May 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

This red leaf gall caught my attention, but the bulk of it is under of the leaf and colored green (second photo). Does anyone know the name of this gall?

Upper side of leaf gall, Raccoon Creek Wildflower Reserve, 16 May 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
Underside of leaf gall, Raccoon Creek Wildflower Reserve, 16 May 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

Large-flowered valerian (Valeriana pauciflora) is in bud and in bloom at Raccoon Wildlfower Reserve.

Largeflower valerian, in bud and blooming, Raccoon Creek Wildflower Reserve, 16 May 2023 (photos by Kate St. John)

Meanwhile jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) is blooming in Schenley Park. I could not resist raising his lid.

Jack-in-the-pulpit, normal pose and lid raised, Schenley Park, 19 May 2023 (photos by Kate St. John)

(flower photos by Kate St. John; peregrine photo from the National Aviary falconcam at Univ of Pittsburgh)

Seen This Week and Earlier

A flying insect on my 6th floor window, 4 May 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

13 May 2023

I’ve known for years that chimney swifts eat flying bugs as they zip around above us but I didn’t think about the variety of insects they encounter. Now that I live in a high-rise flying insects sometimes perch outside my window. This elegant bit of “chimney swift food” visited my window more than a week ago.

This week I spent four days birding at Magee Marsh, Ohio on Lake Erie’s shore where I saw 113 species including 20 species of warblers. See my eBird trip report here.

The warblers were on time but the plants were late compared to Pittsburgh. Places near the lake have a later growing season because water temperature changes more slowly than land and influences local weather. Instead of deep green leaves, the trees had tiny leaves and the oaks were still flowering.

Woodland wildflowers were also still in bloom. At Pearson Metropark in Oregon, Ohio I found wild geranium (Geranium maculatum), star-flowered lily-of-the-valley (Maianthemum stellatum) and wild ginger (Asarum canadense).

Wild geranium, Pearson Metropark, 9 May 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

Star-flowered lily-of-the-valley (Maianthemum stellatum)

Star-flowered lily-of-the-valley , Pearson Metropark, 9 May 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)
Wild ginger, Pearson Metropark, 9 May 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

This blooming plant was new to me: American black currant (Ribes americanum)

American black currant, Pearson Metropark, 9 May 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

On the subject of green things, last weekend in Schenley Park this small cascade pond on Phipps Run was too green with clumpy algae. Algae is unusual for Phipps Run. Something went wrong … but what?

Phipps Run cascade pond with rampant algae, Schenley Park, 7 May 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

(photos by Kate St. John)

A Smell That Reminds Me

John William Waterhouse – The Soul of the Rose, 1903 (image from Wikimedia Commons)

11 May 2023

We’ve all experienced a moment when a smell suddenly brings back memories. A whiff of perfume, a hint of cinnamon and clove, even the smell of furniture polish can send us back in time with vivid detail.

The reason is that our olfactory bulb which processes smells is physically connected to the two places in our brain that process emotion and memory, the amygdala and hippocampus. The link makes a lot of sense in animals that use pheromones for sexual attraction.

This strange entanglement of emotions and scents may actually have a simple evolutionary explanation. The amygdala evolved from an area of the brain that was originally dedicated to detecting chemicals, Herz said. “Emotions tell us about approaching things and avoiding things, and that’s exactly what the sense of smell does too,” she said. “So, they’re both very intimately connected to our survival.”  In fact, the way we use emotions to understand and respond to the world resembles how animals use their sense of smell.

Live Science: Why smells trigger memories

Which brings me to this plant I found blooming at Hays Woods in late April. The scent of cypress spurge (Euphorbia cyparissias) is so unique that it takes me back to a particular place and time and the happiness of seeing beautiful birds at Presque Isle State Park in early May.

Cypress spurge, Hays Woods, Pittsburgh, 24 April 2023 (photo by Kate St. John)

On Throw Back Thursday here’s why cypress spurge reminds me of migrating warblers:

p.s. Smells aren’t always happy. Unfortunately our brains can associate a smell with a traumatic experience so that the scent causes PTSD flashbacks.

(photos from Wikimedia Commons and Kate St. John)