
22 June 2025
This week I saw flowers, fruiting fungi, and insects in Schenley and Frick Parks. The flowers are urban pioneers, the fungi are native, and the insects are mostly mysteries. Here’s the story in photos:
- Urban pioneer plants: When in doubt I used the Picture This app to identify them.
- Wild basil (Clinopodium vulgare)
- Common nipplewort (Lapsana communis)
- Hairy galinsoga (Galinsoga quadriradiata), native to Central America and especially Mexico, this plant moved north.
- Oriental bittersweet in bloom (Celastrus orbiculatus)
- Oriental lady’s thumb (Persicaria longiseta)
- Lots of wet weather has encouraged fruiting fungi in Schenley Park. Google Lens tells me they are:
- Probably… Blusher (Amanita rubescens)
- Oak bracket fungus a.k.a. weeping polypore (Inonotus dryadeus) growing at the base of an oak on Circuit Drive
- Insects:
- Spotted lanternfly nymphs on Devil’s walking stick/Japanese aralia
- Galls on shagbark hickory leaves. This tree was infested in Frick Park.
- Spittlebugs on wingstem in Frick Park.








