FRED FIRST: Under The Same Sky

The more I walk in Missouri air under Missouri clouds the more I know I am on the same planet as I was in the Republic of Floyd. Even the people are not all that different, and so far, nobody has told us we talk funny.

This is not to say we know where or who we are just yet, and every day I see something I had not seen before. More often than not, I snap a picture and spend some time during the hot part of the day trying to figure out what I have seen. Below are a few taken on the trails in the woods of Lenoir Woods.

This lumpy creature, here suspended on tree branches but appearing detached in some numbers on the trail, looked like pig poop at first glance.

These stout woody galls on bitternut hickory specifically are produced not by midges, like other galls I am familiar with, but the fungus Phomopsis, of which there are more than 200 species, some infecting hickories with galls up to 10 inches across.

There was only a single specimen of this flower visible the second week of September, gone by when we arrived. This looked to me like a boneset, and sure enough, it used to be classified that way. Called blue mistflower or blue ageratum, it is now in the genus Conoclinium. I will call it by name next summer, since we have now been introduced.

I found a single pod and impaled it on the parent plant to have its picture taken. This is honey locust, which I do not remember seeing recently, but must have in the distant past. The genus and species—Gleditsia triachanthos— came immediately to mind, likely from a freshman botany class at Auburn in 1960-something. And tree-huggers: NOT this one.

This time of year I investigate the goldenrods until I find a locust leaf borer—an insect marker for me of the coming of fall. I have looked and found none here.

Then I realized: with the exception of the thorny locust species above, this part of Missouri lacks the black locust host of my beetle in question; so I can stop looking.

However, these black blister beetles (or black aster beetles) seem right at home. Look but do not touch. They are not called BLISTER beetles for nothing!

This morning the destination of our walk will be the community garden, which we have not yet seen in our wanderings. I met Joe, the main gardener, yesterday, and he later found me with a gift of cherry tomatoes that come in by the bucketful this time of year.

Yes, life is going on . . .

– Fred First is an author, naturalist, photographer watching Nature under siege since the first Earth Day. Cautiously hopeful. Writing to think it through. Thanks for joining me. Subscribe to My Substack HERE

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