indigenous fruit

The paw paw is the largest edible fruit indigenous to the United States. Asimina triloba has had numerous local common names including: wild banana, prairie banana, Indiana banana, Hoosier banana, West Virginia banana, Kansas banana, Kentucky banana, Michigan banana, Missouri banana, the poor man’s banana, Ozark banana, and banango.-Wikipedia

Pinus palustris

pinus palustris grass stage
Before European settlement, longleaf pine forest dominated as much as 90,000,000 acres stretching from Virginia south to Florida and west to eastern Texas. That range has been vastly reduced. These are not popular trees with pine plantation folk. This form is called the grass stage. During this stage, which lasts for 5–12 years, vertical growth is very slow, and the tree may take a number of years simply to grow ankle-high.
Longleaf pine takes 100 to 150 years to become full size and may live to be 500 years old. When young, they grow a long taproot, which usually is 2–3 m (6.6–9.8 ft) long; by maturity they have a wide spreading lateral root system with several deep ‘sinker’ roots.–Wikipedia

Herbivores above and below. Last year grackles killed ten of these trees from above. This year I am struggling with the underground herbivores.
Herbivores above and below. Last year grackles killed ten of these trees from above. This year I am struggling with the underground denizens. Voles dig under plants, eat the roots until the plant falls over. I make 1′ diameter rat wire collars, buried at ground level. That way the voles have to work harder for their food.

rat wire in situ
This is a photo in process. Different plant, same species. Three hours after this photo was taken a mole tunnel appeared. Moles are carnivores. Earthworms a major part of their diet. The mole bumped into the wire. My theory is that voles opportunistically run mole tunnels. Just a theory…

Prunus × yedoensis


civility instruction

grey and green touristinfrastructure

Couple on the tidal pool.

much of a muchness



open water

anisota senatoria

yellowstriped oakworms in situ
University of Florida has an excellent write-up about these critters.
q palustis w/ egg cluster
They tend to lay egg masses on the lower leaves. So if you were able to inspect a few thousand leaves
3 versions of same thing
Hoping the Charlottesville downtown mall isn’t beset by these. They particularly like q. phellos.
Differences between instars can often be seen in altered body proportions, colors, patterns, or changes in the number of body segments. —Wikipedia