Category Archives: Gardening for Wildlife

American Cranberrybush

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American Cranberrybush  (Viburnum opulus var. americanum synonym V. trilobum), also called Highbush Cranberry, Cranberrybush Viburnum, and several other common names, is not the source of the cranberries often served for Thanksgiving dinner.  Those cranberries come from an unrelated species, Cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon), a member of the heath family, and a plant that is more closely related to blueberries than it is to American Cranberrybush.

American Cranberrybush (Viburnum opulus var. americanum) fruit

American Cranberrybush gets its common name from the color of its bright red fruit, which does resemble the cranberries so often used to make holiday side dishes or to garnish a salad.  The common name Highbush Cranberry refers to this shrub’s height, which can be in the range of 8 to 12 feet (2.5 – 3.6 meters), much taller than the species that yield fruit for those traditional dishes.

This lovely shrub blooms in spring, usually some time in May.  Its floral display consists of two types of flowers arranged in a large rounded cluster, creating a lace-cap effect.  Large white sterile flowers form the perimeter of the flower cluster, surrounding a dense group of much smaller fertile flowers that make up most of the inflorescence.  The job of the sterile flowers is to be showy enough to attract potential pollinators to the fertile flowers, where the work of reproduction is carried out.  This floral strategy is shared by Hobblebush Viburnum (Viburnum lantanoides, synonym V. alnifolia) and some of the hydrangeas.

The sterile perimeter flowers bloom first.

American Cranberrybush (Viburnum opulus var. americanum) flower cluster. The large sterile flowers around the perimeter are in bloom, while the fertile flowers are still in bud.

Then gradually, the fertile flowers open for business, enticing pollinators to visit, including many flies, bees and beetles, all important pollinators.

American Cranberrybush (Viburnum opulus var. americanum) flower clusters. Many of the small fertile flowers in the center of the inflorescences are in bloom, in addition to the sterile flowers around the perimeter. If you look closely at the top cluster, you can see a fly (a potential pollinator) foraging for nectar and pollen.
Foraging Mining Bee (Andrena sp.) on blooming American Cranberrybush (Viburnum opulus var. americanum) flowers.
Mining Bee (Andrena sp.) and another tiny pollinator a bit above and to her right, on blooming American Cranberrybush (Viburnum opulus var. americanum) flowers.

Spring Azure butterflies use the flowers and buds of this and other spring-blooming viburnums, and a few other woody species as food for their caterpillars. 

Spring Azure butterfly

Hummingbird Clearwing and several other moth species also use this and other viburnums as food for their caterpillars.

Hummingbird Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe) moth

American Cranberrybush leaves have three lobes, resembling the leaves of Red Maple (Acer rubrum). To protect itself from hungry marauding caterpillars, American Cranberrybush has glands on its leaf stems just below where the stem meets the leaf blade. These glands are extra-floral nectaries, designed to lure insects that can be enticed by both a sweet nectar treat and the protein available from a caterpillar. Ants, wasps, even some flies are potential security guards that are paid for their presence with nectar from these glands, with the potential for a bonus: as many caterpillars as they can find.  Ants drink nectar and eat caterpillars and other insects. Wasps and flies drink nectar, and some also hunt caterpillars or other insects to feed their young.  The presence of these predatory insects helps protect American Cranberrybush from foraging caterpillars.

Note the bumps on the leaf stem, just below the 3-lobed leaf blade. They are the extra-floral nectaries.

American Cranberrybush is a variety of a look-alike shrub, European Cranberrybush (Viburnum opulus) which is of European origin and can become invasive in North America.  The two can interbreed, which has the undesirable potential to lead to the loss or alteration of the native variety. The best way to tell the two apart is by their extra-floral nectaries.  On American Cranberrybush, these nectaries are somewhat convex or slightly rounded at the top, while those on European Cranberrybush leaf petioles (stems) are concave.

By late June, developing fruit replaces successfully pollinated flowers, ripening as the summer goes on.  The fruit is a drupe, a fleshy fruit with a single seed encased in a stony pit. Peaches and cherries are examples of fruits that are drupes.

American Cranberrybush (Viburnum opulus var. americanum) developing fruit, late June in Pennsylvania.
American Cranberrybush (Viburnum opulus var. americanum) ripening fruit, mid-July in Pennsylvania.

American Cranberrybush fruit has a relatively low fat content, so it is less desirable for migrating birds than some other options like Spicebush (Lindera benzoin).  It often lasts well into the winter, but this year, where I live and play in central New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania, the fruit was already gone by mid-November. Of course, we have already had a few hard freezes, followed by warm-ups.

American Cranberrybush (Viburnum opulus var. americanum) fruit, November, in Pennsylvania.

Robins, Bluebirds, Hermit Thrush, Cedar Waxwings, grouse and many more birds eat American Cranberrybush fruit. 

Cedar Waxing – they are among the birds who eat American Cranberrybush fruit.

All kinds of animals, from moose to fox to squirrels and mice also eat the fruit.

Gray squirrels and many other animals eat American Cranberrybush fruit.

What about humans?  If we get to it before our animal neighbors do, can we use this fruit as an actual cranberry substitute?  If it is cooked with sugar or other sweetener added, people find the fruit of American Cranberrybush edible, too. Some sources say that fruit from European Cranberrybush tends to be more bitter.

Look for American Cranberrybush in wet woods or along streams in its native range, from Nova Scotia to British Columbia in Canada, and in the United States from Maine to Washington state, south to New Jersey, West Virginia and Illinois, although it is more common in the eastern US. The USDA also shows it in one county in New Mexico.

Happy Thanksgiving!  Enjoy those cranberries!

American Cranberrybush (Viburnum opulus var. americanum) fruit

Related Posts

Time for Cranberries!

Praying for Spring? So is Hobblebush Viburnum

‘Will Work for Food’ – Extra-floral Nectaries

Partridge Pea Puzzles

Resources

Beadle, David; Leckie, Seabrooke. Peterson Field Guide to Moths of Northeastern North America. 2012.

Cech, Rick; Tudor, Guy.  Butterflies of the East Coast.  2005.

Eastman, John.  The Book of Forest and Thicket.  1992.

Levine, Carol. A Guide to Wildflowers in Winter. 1995.

Peterson, Lee Allen.  A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants of Eastern and Central North America. 1977.

Illinois Wildflowers

USDA NRCS Plant Database

USDA NRCS Plant Guide

Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder

Downy Skullcap and the Amorous Skippers

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Apparently I planted some Downy Skullcap (Scutellaria incana) in our garden last year and then promptly forgot, so it was a delightful surprise when the vivid blue flowers began to bloom in long stalks above gray-green foliage.

Downy Skullcap (Scutellaria incana) with Flower (Syrphid) Fly

Downy Skullcap (Scutellaria incana) with Flower (Syrphid) Fly

Each long tubular flower has an entrance with a hood- or cap-like overhang at the top, and a floor with a white pathway beckoning to visitors who might help pollinate the flowers.

Downy Skullcap (Scutellaria incana) Flower

Downy Skullcap (Scutellaria incana) Flower

The almost sapphire blue flowers are especially attractive to bees, and are thought to be most often pollinated by Bumble Bees (Bombus species) but they entice other pollinators as well, including flower flies, bee flies, and small butterflies.

I watched for visitors to the flowers in our garden and at another near-by site, Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve. At both locations, bees were the most frequent visitors on days when I checked, and of the bees, Small Carpenter Bees (Ceratina species) were the most common.

Downy Skullcap (Scutellaria incana) with Small Carpenter Bee (Ceratina species)

Downy Skullcap (Scutellaria incana) with Small Carpenter Bee (Ceratina species)

Don’t be put off by the fact that they are called carpenter bees.  These tiny bees won’t be drilling holes in the deck, siding or wood trim of your home.  They nest in the stems of dead or broken twigs, excavating nesting cells by chewing through the pith, the softer tissue inside the stem.  Small Carpenter Bees are pollinators of many plants, especially those with small flowers.

Each bee crawled inside the flower, disappearing down the throat until they reached the nectar reward at the bottom.

Downy Skullcap (Scutellaria incana) with Small Carpenter Bee (Ceratina species) crawling down the throat of the flower to reach the nectar reward

Downy Skullcap (Scutellaria incana) with Small Carpenter Bee (Ceratina species) crawling down the throat of the flower to reach the nectar reward

But it wasn’t just nectar they were after.  Bees need a balanced diet.  They wanted pollen, too, for the protein and lipids it provides.  The flowers’ reproductive parts, the stamens and pistils, are hidden under the hood at their entrance.  After emerging from drinking nectar at the depths of a flower, each bee then checked under the hood for pollen, which is dispersed from the anthers at the stamens’ tips.  Some bees even went straight for the pollen without bothering with the nectar.  Hopefully some of that pollen was later deposited on the stigma of another flower, the female flower part where pollen must be placed in order for pollination to occur.

Downy Skullcap (Scutellaria incana) with Small Carpenter Bee (Ceratina species) emerging from the flower

Downy Skullcap (Scutellaria incana) with Small Carpenter Bee (Ceratina species) emerging from the flower

Downy Skullcap (Scutellaria incana) with Small Carpenter Bee (Ceratina species) harvesting pollen

Downy Skullcap (Scutellaria incana) with Small Carpenter Bee (Ceratina species) harvesting pollen

Much larger relatives of these tiny bees, Eastern Carpenter Bees (Xylocopa virginica), also visited the flowers.  Although these bees can be excellent pollinators, it pains me to tell you that in the case of Downy Skullcap, Eastern Carpenter Bees are thieves. They can’t access the flowers’ nectar by going through the inviting entrance, thus interacting with the flowers’ reproductive parts and helping with pollination.  So instead, they bite through the floral tube near its base, directly accessing the nectar, doing nothing in return to assist the plant in its reproductive goals.  Interestingly, a Honey Bee tried to discourage the Eastern Carpenter Bees from this dishonest activity by trying to chase them away, with some success. And yes, regrettably, Eastern Carpenter Bees might choose to nest in the wood of your home.

Downy Skullcap (Scutellaria incana) with Eastern Carpenter Bees (Xylocopa virginica) robbing the flower of nectar by biting through the floral tube to drink it.

Downy Skullcap (Scutellaria incana) with Eastern Carpenter Bees (Xylocopa virginica) robbing the flower of nectar by biting through the floral tube to drink it.

While looking for Downy Skullcap flower visitors in our garden, I spotted a male Zabulon Skipper drinking nectar.

Male Zabulon Skipper drinking nectar from a Downy Skullcap (Scutellaria incana) flower

Male Zabulon Skipper drinking nectar from a Downy Skullcap (Scutellaria incana) flower

A moment later, I noticed a female Zabulon Skipper, doing the same.

Female Zabulon Skipper drinking nectar from a Downy Skullcap (Scutellaria incana) flower. Notice the bee disappearing into the flower above hers.

Female Zabulon Skipper drinking nectar from a Downy Skullcap (Scutellaria incana) flower. Notice the bee disappearing into the flower above hers.

Then the male flew over to the female and suggested a ‘hook up’.

Female (top) and male (bottom) Zabulon Skippers, negotiating a hook up. Their wings are a little out of focus because both were vibrating them energetically as a lead up to an agreement.

Female (top) and male (bottom) Zabulon Skippers, negotiating a hook up. Their wings are a little out of focus because both were vibrating them energetically as a lead-up to an agreement.

She was apparently persuaded by his pitch.  They went off to a more secluded spot, and stayed there beyond the limits of my attention span.

Zabulon Skippers, mating

Zabulon Skippers, mating

Zabulon Skippers, mating

Zabulon Skippers, mating

These small butterflies are common in gardens and natural areas, specializing on many grass species as food for their caterpillars, including Purpletop (Tridens flavus), Purple Love Grass (Eragrostis spectabilis), and other related species.

Purpletop (Tridens flavus), a caterpillar food for Zabulon Skippers

Purpletop (Tridens flavus), a caterpillar food for Zabulon Skippers

When the flowers have finished blooming and drop away, a cap-shaped calyx, the set of sepals that act as bud scales remains, providing the inspiration for the common name ‘skullcap’.

Cap or dish like calyxes of Downy Skullcap (Scutellaria incana)

Cap- or dish-like calyxes of Downy Skullcap (Scutellaria incana)

‘Downy’ in the common name and ‘incana’ in the scientific name, which means hoary or quite gray, refer to the short soft hairs present on the flowers and stems of this plant. Hoary Skullcap is another common name for the species.

Downy Skullcap is native in the United States from New York west to Wisconsin, south as far as Texas and the Florida panhandle.  It can tolerate full sun to full shade, dry to moist soil. Blooming in mid-summer, it makes a dramatic addition to a garden.  Add it to yours and wait for the real drama (food foraging, bee face-offs, theft, flirtation, sex!) to begin.

Downy Skullcap (Scutellaria incana) with Small Carpenter Bee (Ceratina species)

Downy Skullcap (Scutellaria incana) with Small Carpenter Bee (Ceratina species)

Resources

Cech, Rick; Tudor, Guy.  Butterflies of the East Coast.  2005.

Eaton, Eric R.; Kauffman, Ken.  Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America.  2007.

Rhoads, Ann Fowler; Block, Timothy A.  The Plants of Pennsylvania.  2007

Stearn, William T. Stearn’s Dictionary of Plant Names.  1996

Willmer, Pat.  Pollination and Floral Ecology. 2011

Wilson, Joseph S.; Carril, Olivia Messinger.  The Bees in Your Backyard. 2016.

Illinois Wildflowers

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Plant Database

Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder

USDA NRCS Plants Database

 

The Artistry of Seedbox

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Winter is the perfect time to see Seedbox (Ludwigia alternifolia) in fruit, and to understand how this plant got its name.

Seedbox (Ludwigia alternifolia) with fruit capsules

Attached along the length of the standing stems of this plant are fruit capsules that look like perfectly carved wooden boxes, each with a convex top and rounded bottom, and with elaborate designs that appear to be carved on the cube’s lid.

Seedbox (Ludwigia alternifolia) fruit capsules

These tiny decorative fruit capsules are often visible throughout winter, releasing the many tiny seeds inside through a pore on the top of the box, and eventually also by splitting open at the seams.  Before the fruit capsule opens, the seeds may rattle, giving this plant another common name, Rattlebox.

How is this perfectly shaped fruit capsule produced?  Who is responsible for the beautiful carvings on the lid? (Could it be tiny flower elves?  Maybe there is a less magical explanation.)

Seedbox typically blooms in mid to late summer, usually July and August.  Let’s look at the flowers and buds for an explanation.

Seedbox (Ludwigia alternifolia) in bloom

In Seedbox buds, sepals are the outermost layer of flower parts. They are green and leaf-like, and play the role of bud scales, enclosing and protecting the other parts of the flower before it opens.  The photo below shows a flower bud, enclosed by the sepals. In the upper right of the photo, there is a notch in the sepals at the base of the bud, a narrowing of the structure, and a squarish impression in the leafy covering.  This covering is enclosing the flower’s ovary, the flower part destined to become the fruit capsule.  We can see two sides of the ovary, already hinting at the box-like fruit capsule to come.

Seedbox (Ludwigia alternifolia) flower bud. In the top right corner, note the square ovary with a leafy covering at the base of the bud. The ovary will become the fruit capsule; its square shape is already in place.

The purpose of the flowers is to attract visitors to assist with cross-pollination. The most effective pollinator will have a tongue long enough to reach the nectaries on the face of the ovary below, while brushing its body on the flower’s reproductive parts, including the Sweat Bee in the photo below, and some Bumble Bees.  Other bees and beetles are known to visit the flowers for nectar and pollen, while flies, wasps, and butterflies only partake of the nectar.

Seedbox (Ludwigia alternifolia) flower with a visiting Sweat Bee. Her tongue is long enough to reach the nectaries while her body brushes against the flower’s reproductive parts, dropping off and picking up pollen.

The bee is rewarded for her pollination assistance with nectar and pollen for herself, and she will also carry some back to provision her nest for her larvae.

Seedbox (Ludwigia alternifolia) flower with a visiting Sweat Bee. Notice the pollen she has packed on her hind legs to bring back to her nest for her larvae.

Let’s look at an open flower.

Seedbox (Ludwigia alternifolia) in flower.

Working from the outer ring of flower parts layer by layer towards the center, each flower has four sepals, four yellow petals, four stamens (male reproductive parts) and one pistil (female reproductive part).  The pistil consists of a stigma at its tip, where the pollen must be deposited in order for pollination to take place, the style, which positions the stigma and through which the pollen must travel to get to the ovary, which is at the pistil’s base. Seedbox stigmas look like miniature pompoms perched at the top of their pedestal-like styles.  As the ovary ripens to a fruit capsule, if the pollen successfully reaches and fertilizes the ovules in the ovary, seeds will be produced.

Seedbox (Ludwigia alternifolia) in flower. The green sepals are peeking out from behind the yellow petals. The petals, stamens and style of the pistil are attached to the top of the ovary, while the sepals are appressed to the four sides of the ovary.

If we look at the very center of the flower, we can see the petals, stamens and pistil attached to the square top of the ovary, with the sepals appressed to the four straight sides around the ovary’s outside edges.

The flower parts that made pollination possible eventually wither and drop off, leaving their mark on the face of the ripening fruit capsule.

The petals drop off after about a day, leaving tiny scars that can be seen at each corner of the developing fruit capsule’s topside.  As the stamens drop off, each leaves a mark midway between the corners, just slightly in from the edge of the square.

Developing Seedbox (Ludwigia alternifolia) fruit capsule. Notice the scars left by the petals and stamens which have withered and dropped off. The stigma, style and sepals are still present.

Eventually the pistil’s stigma and style, positioned at the center of the flower above the ovary, drop off, leaving a round scar as a reminder of their role in the flower’s reproduction strategy.

Developing Seedbox (Ludwigia alternifolia) fruit capsule. The stigma and style have dropped off. The sepals are still present.

Finally the sepals are gone, leaving the bare woody ‘seedbox’.

Seedbox (Ludwigia alternifolia) fruit capsules

The face of a Seedbox fruit capsule records the history of its pollination story. The four large-ish evenly spaced ovals in each quadrant on the top of the fruit capsule were the nectaries, the source of the beverage that enticed the flower’s visitors.

Seedbox (Ludwigia alternifolia) fruit capsules. The scars from the petals and stamens are visible near the edges of the fruit capsule’s top, the round scar in the center marks the spot where the style was attached, and the four ovals are the flower’s nectaries.

Seedbox prefers moist soil, and can be found growing in wet meadows, prairies and woods, as well as in drainage ditches. It is native in Quebec and Ontario provinces in Canada, and in the United States from Vermont west to Wisconsin, southwest to Colorado, then south as far as Texas and the Florida panhandle. It is a member of the Evening-primrose (Onagraceae) family.

If you’re looking for something to do while waiting for spring, look for Seedbox!

Dedication:  Pam, this is for you!

Related Posts

Evening Primrose

Resources

Illinois Wildflowers

Illinois Wildflowers Flower Visiting Insects

Missouri Botanical Garden

USDA NRCS Plant Database

Holiday Gift Ideas for Your Wild Neighbors

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American Robin with Winterberry Holly (Ilex verticillata) at Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve, New Hope, PA

Looking for the perfect holiday gifts for the birds, butterflies, bees and other wildlife neighbors outside your windows?

The answer is simple.  Give them plants that are native to where you live.  Plants and animals have evolved together over many centuries in such a way that they depend on each other for their survival.  Animals depend on native plants for food, shelter, nesting sites and materials.  Plants in turn depend on animals to help disperse their seeds, and in many cases for essential assistance in reproduction, as their pollination intermediaries.

You’ll be doing yourself a favor, too, since native plants, once established, typically don’t require fertilizer, watering or other special care.

The American Robin shown here with Winterberry Holly (Ilex verticillata) was one member of a flock of Robins that swooped down to devour the bright winter-time fruit.  Winterberry Holly has fruit high in carbohydrates and low in fats, a recipe for being ignored during migration season in fall, but devoured during the cold days of winter when birds need those carbohydrates. In exchange for this winter feast, birds ‘disperse’ the seeds complete with fertilizer after the seeds move through a bird’s digestive system.

If you live in North America, here are a few resources to help you learn which plants are native where you live:

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Audubon

North American Native Plant Society

Also check with your local state or province native plant society.

For the birds, another great gift idea is a heated bird bath.  Birds need to drink and bathe even in winter.

What else can you do? Less:

  • Leave the fallen leaves in your planting beds.  They provide habitat for overwintering insects, and the insects are food for birds.
  • Don’t use pesticides or herbicides
  • Reduce your lawn size if possible
  • Chop up leaves on your lawn with a mulching mower to create a natural chemical-free fertilizer

Happy holidays!

Related Posts

A Wildlife, Family and Pet-friendly Lawn

Red-banded Hairstreaks Need Sumacs and Leaf Mulch

For Great Spangled Fritillaries, Leave the Leaf Litter

American Robin with Winterberry Holly (Ilex verticillata) at Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve, New Hope, PA

Another Migrating Butterfly, and the Plants that Sustain It

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Common Buckeyes have been, well, really common this year.

Common Buckeye drinking nectar from Short-toothed Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum muticum)

That isn’t the case every year in the areas I frequent near the Delaware River in central New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania.  Common Buckeyes are not year-round residents this far north. They migrate south in late fall to spend the winter in warmer territories, often as far south as Florida.  In migration they can sometimes be seen in large numbers, often moving along the coast in the eastern United States, or sometimes following river valleys.  They migrate north in spring and early summer, sometimes reaching as far north as southern Canada.  Their numbers vary from year to year in these northern locations, becoming increasingly rare the further north they go.

On warm sunny days even in late October, I am still seeing Common Buckeyes often drinking nectar, mostly from flowers that are members of the Aster family.  This family of plants, which includes asters, goldenrods, sunflowers, bonesets, beggar-ticks, and more are typically the most abundant plants blooming in late summer through the end of the growing season.

Common Buckeye nectaring on Aromatic Aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium)

Common Buckeyes can also be found basking at ground level, catching the low rays from the late season sun.

Common Buckeye basking

Common Buckeyes frequent open fields, roadsides, gardens, and even beaches, especially where nectar plants are available.

Common Buckeye drinking nectar from goldenrod flowers along the sandy beach at Cape May, New Jersey

Common Buckeyes have a fairly broad geographic range, and have evolved to use a variety of plants as food for their caterpillars, including plantains, figworts,

Lanceleaf Figwort (Scrophularia lanceolata), a caterpillar food plant for Common Buckeye butterflies

gerardia,

Purple Gerardia or Purple False Foxglove (Agalinis purpurea), a caterpillar food plant for Common Buckeye butterflies

Monkey Flower,

Allegheny Monkey Flower (Mimulus ringens), a caterpillar food plant for Common Buckeye butterflies

and Wild Petunia.

Fringeleaf Wild Petunia (Ruellia humilis) a caterpillar food plant for Common Buckeye butterflies

The coloration of the Common Buckeye’s outside hind wing early in the season is mostly tan, with prominent eye spots.

Common Buckeye drinking nectar from Short-toothed Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum muticum). Note the tan color and eyespots of the hind wing.

The wing color can be quite different in late summer and fall, taking on a rosy hue.  This may be an adaptation that helps Common Buckeyes blend in with the changing color of the surrounding foliage.

Common Buckeye in autumn. Note the rosy color of the hind wing.

Keep an eye out for Common Buckeyes on these last warm days of fall!

Common Buckeyes on goldenrod

 

Resources

Brock, Jim P.; Kauffman, Ken.  Kaufman Field Guide to Butterflies of North America.  2003.

Cech, Rick; Tudor, Guy.  Butterflies of the East Coast.  2005.

Glassberg, Jeffrey.  A Swift Guide to Butterflies of North America.  2012.

Glassberg, Jeffrey.  Butterflies through Binoculars A Field Guide to Butterflies in the Boston-New York-Washington Region.  1993.

Rhoads, Ann Fowler; Block, Timothy A.  The Plants of Pennsylvania.  2007

Wagner, David L.;  Caterpillars of Eastern North America, 2005.

Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: Butterflies of Canada

Butterflies and Moths of North America