1 bug, 1 flower, 0 words xo

a mystery Easter decorator strikes again...

Discovered yesterday while fetching my sneakers...

How sweet is that?

So, now that's one good thing I can say about

the "stick-tight" burs we get around here.

They can append brilliant plumage to sneakers.

Who knew?

=)

bb

SO satisfying: "troll control and smurf suppression"

 

To all my professional killer friends, acquaintances, and peers,

those among you who've been paid $$$
by unnamed organizations
to OFF certain species
(in this case non-native plants),

to "ice" living things,
to make them disappear,

to you I dedicate this post,
and sincerely hope you enjoy this video.





AND for those of you who, like me, have endured
a life time of troll-induced heebie-jeebies,
I hope you enjoyed it, as well.

With heart-felt thanks to its creator (Johnny Fedora?)
and the person who brought this to my attention, Bug Girl.


=)

bb

duct tape, spider, Pepe, bombardier beetle blast & tragi-comic warnings

 
In order:

1. desperately want to duct tape my forearms to take the 1000 tiny barbs out of my arms.

It's okay if I lose hair.

Just did some spontaneous weeding, and while pulling (yes, KILLING) the oh-so-heinous stick tights, I was attacked. (stick tights, a.k.a. Torilis arvensis--don't let the mild photographs on that site fool you, this creature is a GIANT PAIN. Better shots re: heinos-ity, here (scroll down to red "Additional Hitchhiking Plants.")).

So, now their TINY TINY TINY little barbed spines are all over my arms and pretty much invisible.

Their presence, however, is clearly indicated by the stinging itching and red of my forearms. I will spare you the photographic proof.

WHEE!

(p.s. 30 min. later and a few cold water soapy washes and some packing tape press 'n' peel action, feeling ALL better. p.p.s. days later, now, all better, but am a more careful picker of same so, yet again, a PLANT has influenced MY oh-so-superior human behavior. =) )

2. huge spider from last night, lumbering across the wall. Is it possible it's a pregnant female? Her abdomen is HUGE.

Any one of you entomological folks out there know who that is?

While giant, she is kinda glossy...

And this one was without the flash,

so due to darkness & bb's shakiness, turned into abstract art.

3. Pepe or Pepette walked through again last night.

Here's evidence from 6/5 of someone new in the neighborhood.

Clearly, a nose poking through the grass,

digging up dirt 4 snax.

I learned through my thesis research that skunks eat more mice

than any other (local) creature does. Who knew?

(p.s. SO don't have a citation for that, sorry...)

And here's evidence of my photographic prowess. AWEsome. =)

=) Okay. So, if you look at the furthest left fence post, and go down and slightly to the left, kinda in the first blonde vs. light green grass, you MAY see an arc of dark around light.

That's my striped skunk's tail. Hind end.

CALL me a weenie.

However,  I neither wanted to disturb nor inspire-to-spray it.Got a good look moments earlier mildly walking past my porch, in a skunk's characteristic, unhurried way.

Kinda makes you wonder why this super stinky defense is not more common. It's SO effective!

4. I realize, however, that the bombardier beetle has taken chemical defense to another level, as our beloved David A. relates during this amazing footage. Gotta love The Big DA.

The b-beetle's defense is boiling caustic liquid.

 

Boiling caustic liquid.

Sometimes I just like to look up words to be sure I understand the full measure of their meaning.

Even if, as in this case, I have a strong, general idea. After all, I did minor in organic chemistry.*

Boiling, we get.

Boiling HURTS us and other things used to a similar temperature range. Burns & scars skin.

caustic (Wiki):

Causticity, the property of a substance that causes corrosion.

Okay, so then what does corrosion mean, for reals?

Corrosive (Wiki):

A corrosive substance is one that will destroy or irreversibly damage another surface or substance with which it comes into contact. [emphasis added]

Okay, THAT lays it out nice and clear.

liquid I am confident we are quite clear on.

The bonus re: bombardier beetle is it's AIMED at you and spraying in rapid pulses.

wow.

5. Here's the heartwarming sign which one uses to indicate contents are corrosive:

LOVE signs like this.

This reminds me of the don't feed the squirrels sign I've seen in parks which cracks me up. It shows a person's hand, presenting peanuts-in-the-shell to the squirrel, and the squirrel has grabbed one of the person's fingers which is very similarly shaped...

LOVE it. I can even tell you where in Yosemite one is, or at least used to be. And how it's been embellished...

Anyhow, that's enough for today!!!

FYI: Photo quiz was answered correctly by 2 ladies 

(WOO WOO!!! Honk Honk!! Nice work!!!)

check out the comments below that post.

xoxobb

PS Did fieldwork 2 days last week, then traveled to wedding reception, so this was delayed...

*Really, I feel that all I remember is that H2SO4 (NOT an organic chemical) is VERY REACTIVE SO BE CAREFUL was the message in chem lab. Remember, sulfuric acid is created when you get gassed by cutting onions: posted on this INSANE plant defense and the goddess Julia Child earlier.

k. abbreviated post as garden update or it'll never happen.

  

33 dF this a.m.

ONE degree above freezing.

In June.

In inland California! So odd.

Poor little tomatoes and peppers and basil.

But, hey, it's better than 32 or 31 or 30, so I'll take it.

Visual garden update 'cause the longer post is not getting done.

Been dealing with household crisis/pet illness/vet/petdeath (last 1.5 days, don't get me started) & must work (only worked 4hrs so far this week!!), so longer post re: gardening progress for this WEIRD spring of 2011 is just NOT getting done--when have more time and am better healed later will probably post 'cause I like some of the messages.

Meanwhile, back at the 3400 ft elevation garden

May 15th

May 23

Whattanighmareofnon-nativegrassyhell.

Just looking at it makes the conservation biologist in me wither.

May 31

 

Ah, much better. Still lotsa nasties, but much progress.

Oh, now that I think of it, this may be partly why I've inexplicably shrunk a bit, lately. 10,000 hrs of work for sick pet & healthy chickens & drowning garden & 2 weeks of laundry from fieldwork.

Orientation:  Plots named 1-5, starting with closest-to-garden-door/furthest south

• Closest plot (in photo above) on right is Plot 1
• next is non-plot/possible arch site, Plot 2 (looks like log & one shrub)
• Plot 3 is the nest one out, planted (see below)
• Plots 4 and 5 are beyond.

Plot 1

In the back is tomatoes & peppers, basil plants sprinkled here & there.

Foreground is rattlesnake pole beans planted in a circle.

The beans'll become a tepee when they sprout and I add long bamboo poles. It'll be SO COOL! I've never done it.

Plot 2 is abandoned until I get state folks notified of the arrowhead I found.

Plot 3

 Tomatoes & basil & peppers in foreground

Middle is my 1st perma-plot:

chives (pretty blooms), chrysanthemum, & mint.

Back is broccoli from last fall & petunias.

Plot 4

This will be roots this year.

Was "miscellaneous" last year (squash/melon)

The middle is where I chucked a bunch of

cilantro seeds I got tired of holding in a jar

on the kitchen counter, late last fall. WOW.

Plot 5

Peas in back on left (caged) and planted 2 rows

of rattlesnake pole beans 2 days ago.

Still plan on planting soybeans on right (s) end of plot.

Really need to put something OVER all the beans I planted so they don't get eaten by squirrels, jays, etc. Soon. But v. busy lately. Jeeze.

The rotation system I (sorta) follow is PLMR:

• Potatoes (and tomatoes, peppers, e.g. nightshade family)
• Legumes (& brassica)
• Miscellaneous (squash, etc.)
• Roots.

The way I remember it is Planters Like More Rows.

Nice lighting on irises that the gopher's not yet eaten

These were virtually invisible before last weekend.

Covered in grasses and vetch.

Better.
NOW I need to add fertilizer some time.

And from the forecast for our area, courtesy of NOAA, of course, a hazardous weather notice today:

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY

A LARGE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL MOVE SOUTH ALONG THE CALIFORNIA COAST EARLY THIS WEEKEND...THEN SHIFT INLAND SUNDAY. ALTHOUGH THERE IS STILL SOME UNCERTAINTY WITH THIS SYSTEM...THERE IS A CHANCE OF RAIN AND HIGHER ELEVATION SNOW AS WELL AS WINDY CONDITIONS FOR MUCH OF THE AREA. THE HEAVIER AND MORE WIDESPREAD PRECIPITATION IS EXPECTED NORTH OF KINGS CANYON AND THE CENTRAL SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY.


WEIRDEST spring ever.

xo

bb

Yellow flower Phriday photo quiz phor you!

  
Tweeted this, as blogger was down, but this is a better venue, I think.

Here's 3.

Can you identify them (common and scientific name), and if so, can you also tell me which are native or non-native in California?

Took these shots all last Thursday in coastal northern California.

Yellow flower #1

Yellow flower #2

Yellow flower #3

Think these are all big files, so you can click on them and zoom way in.

Good luck!

bb

p.s. yes, was traveling, but also blogger's been freaky for  a few days now, so not really able to post until now.

absinthe, Degas, death, & petting bird poop: vocab quiz answer

(fyi to navigate this TOME, bold = sub-title topics)

As a reminder, the phrase in my head while waking up Saturday a.m. was: Foeniculum vulgare. Over and over and over.

Had no idea what it was, aside from a scientific name, and probably a plant; thus the quiz.

Let's review the delightful guesses...

Cindy said...

smelly rangy thang? I know the plant is wild fennel but never thought about the Latin derivation. I will resist looking up to wait for your own particular biobab presentation of the facts.

Patricia Lichen said...

Clearly, Foeniculum vulgare is Latin for those people who hold loud cellular phone discussions about their romantic conquests.

MObugs said...

noxious, vulgar shrubs for those people who are partial to smelly, toxic, unpleasant greenery?

mainly mongoose (Lynda) said...

Foeniculum vulgare is a small bony protuberance which develops on the index finger due to excessive belligerent gesturing.

*sigh*

Do you see why I love these people? =) So creative and funny.

First, I hereby declare ALL of these guesses 100% correct in Biobabbler-ville. Excellent work!

Foeniculum vulgare, a.k.a. fennel.

photo by Carsten Niehaus from Wiki commons

Next, yes, as Cindy said, F.v.'s common names include fennel and anise; if you've brushed against it, you probably smelled black licorice.

Through the years resource managers removed fennel from

Cabrillo National Monument. At least, I think it's still gone...

Now, lets get Wikilicious:

"Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) is a plant species in the genus Foeniculum... It is a member of the family Apiaceae. It is a hardy, perennial... herb, with yellow flowers and feathery leaves. It is generally considered indigenous to the shores of the Mediterranean, but has become widely naturalised in many parts of the world, especially on dry soils near the sea-coast and on river-banks."

That last bb-italicized part means, again "will pester biobabbler's beloved coastal sage scrub (CSS)."

Coastal southern California has a Mediterranean climate (check out the map on that link, very limited areas, but many of them swap species...). Pretty much anything indigenous to the shores of the Med has a better-than-random chance of making it on the soCal coast.

*******

Here's a quiz within-a-quiz-answer: Based on how the author spelled "naturalised" where might this person be from (assuming they are a skilled speller)? 

*******

Calflora pulls no punches:

"...Is a perennial herb that is not native to California; it was introduced from elsewhere and naturalized in the wild.

" The California Invasive Plant Council (Cal-IPC) lists plants that cause serious problems in native ecosystems... [and] classifies the statewide impact [of F.v.] as high."

"It can drastically alter the composition and structure of many plant communities, including grasslands, coastal scrub, riparian, and wetland communities." (Cal-IPC)

death

Translation: biobabbler learned while baby ranger
that this is a "bad plant."

Initially my NPS-vegetation-world-view was made up of 2 categories:

native = good

non-native = bad

This fork in the logic tree led to two different actions:

good => protect and/or propagate

bad =>  kill

So, fennel = non-native = bad = I got to kill it.

I was obliged to kill it.

bb-as-lethal-weapon*

It was my duty to remove this scourge in order to protect CSS.

And being a conservation biology dork, NPS mission believer, and a rather high energy 22-year-old, this translated into:

Kill Kill Kill!

Alternatively (and botanically loosely**) billed as:

Kill Dill!

(picture credit listed as Thomas, but I kinda doubt he's the original.

Lemmeno if this is yours and how I might credit it [if I may still use it].)

absinthe

Foeniculum vulgare "...is a highly aromatic and flavorful herb with culinary and medicinal uses, and is one of the primary ingredients of absinthe." (Wiki)

Degas

Now that brings to mind the lovely L'Absinthe (Degas 1876)

This is where I got this image.***

Love this painting.

I think it very effectively conveys a seldom-portrayed mood.

And, is not unlike biobabbler-at-low-blood-sugar
(if she's also unusually well dressed at the time).

Kinda absent. 

Absinthe minded.

Absinthe has experienced a renaissance, of late (biobabbler does listen to food shows), being made in a few countries, but mostly minus it's narcotic effects which, according to Wiki, had been exaggerated.

Lovely 1895 painting by Albert Maignan,

called La Muse Verte (the green muse, a.k.a. absinthe).
Never seen this before and totally smitten. LOVE IT.

The name absinthe comes from the specific name of the main plant usually used to make this drink, Artemesia absinthium (a.k.a. wormwood).****

Back to the quiz: Foeniculum is apparently Latin for fennel and

"In Ancient Greek, fennel was called marathon (μάραθον)... John Chadwick noted this word is the origin of the place name Marathon (meaning "place of fennel")" (Wiki)

Now, this link to the word marathon, was TOTALLY unexpected. Fennel Place. Who knew?


From etymonline.com it appears that vulgare = common. Interesting tidbits from there:

Vulgate

c.1600, Latin translation of the Bible [bb emphasis], especially that completed in 405 by St. Jerome (c.340-420), from M.L. Vulgata, from L.L. vulgata "common, general, ordinary, popular" (in vulgata editio "popular edition"), from L. vulgata, fem. pp. of vulgare "make common or public," from vulgus "the common people" (see vulgar). So called because the translations made the book accessible to the common people of ancient Rome.

divulge

mid-15c., from L. divulgare "publish, make common," from dis- "apart" (see dis-) + vulgare "make common property," from vulgus "common people" (see vulgar). Related: Divulged; divulging.

petting bird poop

"Fennel is used as a food plant by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including the mouse moth and the anise swallowtail." (Wiki)

This brings to mind a tale. Specifically, an anise swallowtail tale.

When I lived in San Diego, there were Foeniculum vulgare plants bursting through the sidewalk cracks in our back alley, so we passed them every time we ventured toward the trash or recycling bins.

My friend Dan (Rubinoff, a.k.a. Moth Man), helped us (my landlady and her family and I) notice the the anise swallowtail larvae that lived there and that would eventually become those large, gorgeous butterflies we'd see flitting about my landlady's lovely garden (which was my front yard, lucky me).

photo by Calibas

So, having learned what their larvae look like...

 This is a black swallowtail butterfly larva, 1st instar 

photo by Galukalock

... I was searching the anise plant one day, hoping to find one of these little cuties. Well, apparently they have evolved to resemble bird droppings.

And you'd think, "I'm not going to confuse them, silly! I'm not some dopey bird..."

Well, I reached out to touch what I thought was a tiny, adorable caterpillar, and it mooshed onto my finger.

ew.

Bird poop.

Wow.

Color me a little grossed out, and very impressed that those little tiny bugs got me (you know, Homo smartypants) to try and pet bird poop 'cause I thought it was a baby butterfly.


Well, I guess if in biology you wanna learn, you're likely to get a little dirty, now and then.

However, sometimes, like today, we can also get a little artsy. Now and then.

And to think all I set out to learn was what Foeniculum vulgare meant.

Thank you, brain! (you little badgering vocabulary hoarder)


And thank you biobabbler readers for motivating me to wander down these pathways, exploring the world, feeding the gray matter. Very much present, thank you very much.

Great fun.

=)

xobiobabbler

*bb re-enacting 4th grade door-busting-episode wherein bb imitated (all too well) the bionic woman or wonder woman and during a flying leap, pretending to break down the door (to retrieve a 4 square ball, I think?), her foot actually went through that very door. Oops.

**You know, the Quentin Tarentino film? I liked Kill Bill II best, but how could I not love a film with a super ass-kicking 6 foot tall blond heroine?? But I digress... oh, and check the link on "botanically loosely" as dill and fennel are not the same spp. but are quite similar.

***"This media file is in the public domain in the United States. This applies to U.S. works where the copyright has expired, often because its first publication occurred prior to January 1, 1923. See this page for further explanation."

****(btw Artemesia californica , California sagebrush, is a key component of coastal sage scrub.)

Gaga over GOGA

                     

That's Golden Gate National Recreation Area to most. More info @ www.nps.gov/goga.

The view Sunday morning. I was brought there by my charming SF hosts who kindly accommodate my dog-like need to be walked. Happily, they have dogs who like it too, so it's a win-win.

Oh, that bridge...

The biggest miner's lettuce I've EVER seen. It's growing in a very shady, damp area--i.e., in an area NOTHING like our house, where the top leaf of this plant is a little bigger than my thumb.

Happy little boat patrolling, making sure the two ocean colors don't mix...

beach

surf

rocks

foam

Looked much better after red plastic bag was removed from branches...

Dogs corralling me--person holding dog leashes (in one hand) is behind me, dogs walked around me (this happened repeatedly) and then rejoined, so I just stood, caught by happy dogs in a leash hug.

The always-intriguing Sutro baths area, and some very nice looking native coastal habitat. I remember wandering around here in high school, quietly fascinated.

If you look at the historic photos of the baths on the GOGA web site, you can find an interior shot that shows the outlined bath visible in this photo on the right. It was a raised pool, deeper, for diving practice and such.

There's a very weird mix of plant species here. Some seem to be lovely coastal native species (the coastal sage scrub community was my world for years), and then the obvious non-natives I used to get paid to yank for the NPS (but not @GOGA): Bermuda buttercup (Oxalis pes-caprae), "ice plant" (Carpobrotus spp.), jade plant (Crassula ovata), various geranium, lily, other clearly escaped (or illicitly planted) ornamentals. Made for some interesting ogling.

As I said, I used to get paid to pull jade plants, among others, so when I was in Michigan and someone very proudly showed me their big, potted jade plant I had to pretend to be impressed versus perplexed. I later realized that what is a weed in California may be quite difficult to grow in freezing Michigan, so then I understood why they were proud. At least I think I did....

Speaking of jade, seeing some of the green rocks on the beach reminded me that this park has serpentine habitat and the associated rare plant community. A very informative paper on the geology of GOGA, including the serpentine goodies, go to www.nps.gov/goga and type in serpentine in the search window (just  for that site, not all NPS). It's an interesting little world, the serpentine.

Anyhow, had a lovely outing in this unit of the NPS, and paid precisely $0 for the privilege. This is one of the reasons I don't mind paying taxes. I heart the NPS, and the opportunities it grants the public. Really substantially contributes to the quality of life, in my view, not to mention the health of the planet.

But to enjoy it, you gotta go.

So, go, already.   =)

the biobabbler