Amanita Jacksonii Mushroom

Amanita Jacksonii Mushroom

Truly one of the coolest looking mushrooms I've ever seen.

Of all the mushrooms in this wild world, fungi in the Amanita genus are among the most beautiful. Some of the most dangerous mushrooms in the world are Amanitas. Most Amanita mushrooms are mycorrhizal, meaning that they partner with trees and plants. Amanita mushrooms are common in the forests of North America, where they pair up and trade resources with a wide array of deciduous and coniferous trees. Although some Amanita mushrooms are deadly poisonous, you do not need to fear handling them! The toxins in poisonous Amanitas are only dangerous when they’re consumed, so as long as you don’t eat it, you’re in good shape! This is one of the few that are edible.

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INDIAN HEMP (DOGBANE)

INDIAN HEMP (DOGBANE)

Apocynum cannabinum (dogbane, amy root, hemp dogbane, prairie dogbane, Indian hemp, rheumatism root, or wild cotton)

Hemp Dogbane stems have a tough, fibrous bark that can be used like hemp for making rope, nets, straps, and so on. Native Americans made nets and rope from the fibers of pounded stems and roots. People still use it for making rope and twine, and fabric for clothing.

The milky latex sap which can potentially be used for making rubber.

When bruised, all parts of the plant exude a toxic white juice; the plant has a long list of folkloric medicinal uses.

The toxic juices make this plant inedible to most mammals, but several types of moths eat this plant as caterpillars. They build up the toxin in their bodies and become unpalatable to predators. The delicate cycnia (Cycnia tenera), a tiger moth, is found wherever dogbane grows. Dogbane is also is a larval food plant for the snowberry and clearwings hummingbird, sphinx moths, as well as food for many other insects.

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Lovely Country Shed

Lovely Country Shed

The sweet things you see while driving the back roads of Vermont on a beautiful summer afternoon. 

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American Copper Butterfly

American Copper Butterfly On Echinacea

American Copper Butterfly On White Clover

 

White Clover is Edible

All aerial parts, including the seeds, are edible. The young leaves are harvested before the plant comes into flower and are used in salads, soups etc. They can also be used as a vegetable, cooked like spinach. The leaves are best cooked. Flowers and seed pods are dried, ground into powder and used as a flour or sprinkled on cooked foods such as boiled rice. Very wholesome and nutritious. The young flowers can also be used in salads. Root - cooked. The dried leaves impart a vanilla flavour to cakes etc. Dried flowering heads are a tea substitute. However, it is highly advised if you have never eaten these before to start with a very small quantity. Clovers can cause mild or severe gas.

Medicinally an infusion has been used in the treatment of coughs, colds, fevers and leucorrhoea. A tincture of the leaves is applied as an ointment to gout. An infusion of the flowers has been used as an eyewash.

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© all rights reserved by Elise T. Marks. Please do not use this image on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit written permission.

Disclaimer

My blog is meant to inform and I strive to be totally accurate. It is solely up to the reader to ensure proper plant identification. Some wild plants and mushrooms are poisonous or can have serious adverse health effects.

Hummingbird Moths

Hummingbird Moth On Bee Balm
This is a Hummingbird Clear Wing (Hemaris thysbe) on on (Monarda). They fly and move just like hummingbirds, and can remain suspended in the air in front of a flower while they unfurl their long tongues and insert them in flowers to sip their nectar. They even emit an audible hum like hummingbirds.
Bee Balm, Oswego Tea, Bergamot, Horsebalm Botanical Name-Monarda didyma, is in the Lamiaceae (mint) family. In the language of flowers, Monarda symbolizes compassion and sympathy. Bee Balm leaves and flowers and stems are used in alternative medicine. 

 Hummingbird Moth On Bee Balm

Hummingbird Moth On Bee Balm

Hummingbird Moth And A Bee On Bee Balm

A clearwing humming bird moth and a bee buzzing around the bee balm in my garden. There are four species of hummingbird moths in North America. This is a Snowberry Clearwing (Hemaris diffinis), female. Unlike most moths, Hummingbird moths fly during the day. They fly and move just like hummingbirds. Like them, they can remain suspended in the air in front of a flower while they unfurl their long tongues and insert them in flowers to sip their nectar. They even emit an audible hum like hummingbirds. Like most moths they have a very long tongue which they carry rolled under their chins and that they use to reach the nectar of long-necked flowers. Hummingbird moths are members of the sphinx moth family (Sphingidae), which have heavy bodies and long front wings. The wings of hummingbird moths are clear, with a black or brown border, and are nearly invisible when they fly. Males have a flared tail like that of a hovering hummingbird.
This photo was Awarded Capture My Vermont - Photo of the Day, for September 4, 2015.

Hummingbird Moth On Yarrow

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Moonscape

Moonscape View From The Beach

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Button Bush

                           

Button Bush at the beach in Colchester, Vt. Cephalanthus occidentalis L., Common buttonbush, Buttonbush, Button willow, is a shrub whose flowers are distinctive, dense, spherical clusters (heads) with a fringe of pistils protruded beyond the white corollas. This distant relative of coffee (family Rubiaceae) grows in wetland areas. Ducks and other waterfowl eat the seeds.

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