northeast-flora-and-fauna

This Pearl Crescent has some wing damage (especially to the left front wing); I was wondering if this could be an older individual who hibernated as a caterpillar before resuming life last spring. Apparently that's what a Pearl Crescent does if it hatches when temperatures are beginning to get cold.  On the other hand, the wing coloring doesn't look too faded, suggesting that the butterfly isn't especially old. (I think I'm talking myself into this being a butterfly that hatched earlier in the spring as opposed to last fall.) Of course, age is relative as the Pearl Crescent lives a much shorter life than ours: They hatch about 1 week after their egg is laid. They spend about 2 weeks chowing down on plants as caterpillars, with some of our asters being favorite foods. Then it's time to metaphorize ; they go into a chrysalis for 1-2 weeks. When they emerge as butterflies, they can live as long as 2 months, though most probably don't last that long. May 18, 20...

Here's an American Senna  (aka Wild Senna), a native plant in the legume family . This is an interesting family of plants. It's the 3rd largest family of land plants behind only the orchids and asters (who are in a close race for 1st place). And while we might be most familiar with them for the beans and peas we eat, they're all around us and in various sizes: Clovers are usually low to the ground wildflowers. Sennas are up to 6 feet in height and straddle that area between wildflowers and shrubs. Kentucky Coffeetrees are trees. This indicates that there are some trees that are more closely related to the string beans in your garden than they are to other trees like oaks, maples, etc. Trees do not form a clade ! The largish, healthy population of American Senna at Duke Farms is suspected to be the reason that a butterfly rarely seen in the rest of Somerset County - the Sleepy Orange - is commonly found there. They and other sulphur butterflies like the Cloudless Sulphu...

Here's a meadow that, as best as I can determine, was dominated in June by wildflowers called fleabanes . In the first picture you can see the wildflowers fairly well; in the second picture you can see just how much of it was growing out there. (It's difficult to be certain that all that white was the same type of wildflower, though based on what I could see I'm pretty sure the vast majority of it was the same plant.) There are a few different fleabanes kicking around central NJ. I'm suspicious these are Prairie Fleabanes (aka Lesser Daisy Fleabanes) since this species is known to live on the property. My picture doesn't give a great view of the leaves, but individual leaves would clasp (have a connection all around) to the stem in a Philadelphia Fleabane  (aka Common Fleabane). The Eastern Daisy Fleabane is a more subtle species to differentiate from the Prairie Fleabane; the Eastern Daisy Fleabane is more likely to have toothed leaves, generally looks leafier, h...