While walking on the Crabtree Creek Greenway this weekend, we happened to look up as we were walking under the Route 54 bridge. What is that? It looks like organ pipes made out of mud. That is the nest of the Organ Pipe Mud-dauber wasp (Trypoxylon politum).
Author: Jaclyn
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What’s That? March 23, 2024
Have you ever noticed a green slime or jelly like substance on the ground after the rain? What is that? It’s Nostoc commune, or star jelly. It is not a plant. Nostoc commune is a special kind of bacteria called cyanobacteria. Regular bacteria use food to get their energy, while cyanobacteria use light to produce… Continue reading What’s That? March 23, 2024
What’s That? May 14, 2024
What’s that? What is making those piles of tunnels in the dirt hills along the trails? Miner bees! Miner bees look like bumble bees. They are fuzzy and yellow on the top half of their back, and black on the bottom half. Miner bees are ground nesting bees. Each one of those tunnels is a… Continue reading What’s That? May 14, 2024
What’s That? May 20, 2025
What are these purple and white spots on the goldenrod leaves? They are caused by a bug, a goldenrod gall midge called Asteromyia carbonifera. The bugs carry a fungus (Botryosphaeria dothidea) that protect their larvae from parasitoids. The female Asteromyia lay eggs and deposit the fungus along with the eggs on the goldenrod leaves. The… Continue reading What’s That? May 20, 2025
What’s That? May 28, 2024
What’s going on with this hairy cat’s-ear? The stem is really thick and bent. The flower head is flattened and it looks like there’s more than one flower. I’ve never seen anything like that before, so I decided to look it up. This is called plant fasciation. It is a rare condition of abnormal growth… Continue reading What’s That? May 28, 2024
What’s That? May 6, 2024
What’s that? It looks like someone sprayed the blackberry plants with bright orange spray paint. Unfortunately, it isn’t paint. This is a fungal infection known as orange rust. It is two fungal species, Arthuriomyces peckianus and Gymnoconia nitens. Orange rust fungus infects the entire plant: the roots, crown and shoots. This fungus doesn’t usually kill… Continue reading What’s That? May 6, 2024
What’s That? October 5, 2024
Have you seen these tiny white fingers coming up out of the ground? What is that? This is a mushroom commonly called fairy fingers or white worm coral fungus (Clavaria fragilis). I’ve seen it in the woods on the Shiloh and Indian Creek Greenways. It is very small: no more than an inch tall and… Continue reading What’s That? October 5, 2024
What’s That? September 23, 2024
We went for a walk this weekend and came across these colorful berries. They look like Easter eggs! What is that? These are the fruit of porcelain-berry (Ampelopsis glandulosa). Before it had fruit, it looked like a frost grape vine with its forked tendrils. Porcelain-berry is in the grape family, but its berries are poisonous.… Continue reading What’s That? September 23, 2024
Winter Beauty
It’s January and things seem rather dead out there. But take a closer look. There’s still beauty all around. New York ironweed has long lost its showy purple flowers. Here’s what is underneath. The fuzzy seed heads of the goldenrod make interesting texture in the dull brown fields. And these feather-like wands are the seeds… Continue reading Winter Beauty