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Guess what this is!
This golden yellow plant part is pretty small since it fits on just part of the torch found on a dime.
(ANSWER BELOW)
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Featured plant: Little bluestem
 | | Little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) |
Little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) is attractive in the summer but it shines in the fall and even in the winter. The finely-textured grass is well-behaved and easy to grow. It's often grown en masse, but it also blends well with perennials.
 | | In the fall |
Light: Sun to part shade Soil: Moist to dry Height: 1 - 4 feet Width: 6-24 inches More info is on the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center website at
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Summer Solstice Snapshot
 | | Milkweed pods are currently forming |
From Project Budburst:
We all get excited and make lots of observations in the spring, when so many plants are first coming out after the winter. But then summer comes along and we often forget to observe the plants around us, so summer is often a slow time for Project BudBurst.
But, if you look carefully, you'll probably be surprised at how many plants are still actively going through their phenophases during the summer months. June and July, for example, are great months to watch for fruits to appear and ripen for many wildflowers, trees and shrubs....One of the most frequent requests we get from scientists is for enhanced geographic coverage of observations. The more people participating across the country, the better the geographic coverage and the more useful the data is to our scientists. Scientists can use your data to look for general trends, to see if it can provide ground-truthing to better understand remotely sensed data such as that taken by satellites or cameras, and more... Summer Solstice Snapshot was developed with your busy schedule in mind to demonstrate how easy it is to register, make an observation, and report that observation online. The Single Report protocol is the best way to make observations during the campaign. Report what you saw and where you saw it on any day from June to July and you're done! Read more about how to participate on the Project Budburst website at http://www.budburst.org/summer/
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Pesticides and biodiversity
 | | Green frog |
Many scientists rank biodiversity loss very high on their list of urgent global concerns -- on a par with climate change.
Now a new study published in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences provides compelling data about the effects of pesticides on biodiversity.
Researchers found that both family and species biodiversity decreased significantly with increased pesticide contamination of streams in three countries.
This is one of several studies showing that pesticides pose a long-term threat to important ecosystems.
Read more about this study at the Beyond Pesticides Daily News blog at
http://www.beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/?p=10993
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THE ANSWER:
 | Honeybee stuck in the flower, covered with chains of pollinaria
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A pollinium!
Unlike the dust of pollen grains seen on most flowers, milkweed packs hundreds of pollen grains into two connected sacs that together are called a pollinarium.
These structures are found in the slit between each of the five hoods of the milkweed flower.
 | Pollinium deposited on milkweed
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Milkweed flowers use their abundant nectar to attract bees and other insects to their flower -- despite the fact that it's risky business for the insect. Many an insect has left a leg behind when it couldn't extract it from the milkweed. Some even drink their last nectar when they cannot free themselves at all. (Note: After taking the above photo, I helped this honeybee free himself from the flower.) If you examine your milkweed flowers, you may see left-behind legs or even dead insects entrapped by the flower. And if you observe the insects nectaring at the milkweed, you might see pollinia attached to their legs. Recall the size of the pollinia on the dime above; you'll have to look closely since they're small! For more information, read the Audubon Guides blog at http://blog.audubonguides.com/tag/pollinia/ and Snared by a milkweed at http://eyeonnature.wordpress.com/2012/07/29/snared-by-a-milkweed/. Pollination, Plants, and Insects, an excellent 8-minute video by ScienceOnline is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiwkJui2mh0
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