Gleanings of the Week Ending October 12, 2024

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Who Was Buried in Spain’s Megalithic Necropolis of Panoría? - More women than men were buried in Panoria, where human remains were interred in collective burials between 4,100 and 5,600 years ago.

On Navajo Lands, Ancient Ways Are Restoring the Parched Earth - Traditional rock and stick structures, similar to those used by Native peoples long before Europeans arrived on the continent, are not only delivering water to crops they are also restoring the watershed and those of neighbors, helping to sequester carbon, and reviving this high-desert ecosystem…. an opportunity to begin developing localized food economies.

Megadiverse flowering plant family on isolated islands – A high number of evolutionary events -- occurred in the aster family (daisies, sunflowers, and asters) within relatively short time periods on many islands worldwide.

Why is Mount Everest so big? New research highlights a rogue river – but deeper forces are at work - Everest is around 250m taller than the other great peaks of the Himalayas. It is also growing by about 2mm each year – roughly twice as fast as it has been growing on average over the long term. The Arun river’s course changed around 90,000 years ago, eroding away rock that was weighing Everest down – and the mountain has bounced up in response, by somewhere between 15 and 50m. However, the “fundamental cause” of the peak’s size is the tectonic processes that create mountains.

Researchers Grow an Extinct Plant From a 1,000-Year-Old Seed - Israeli researchers have grown the seed of a previously unknown species of flowering plant into a mature tree. In the late 1980s, archaeologists excavating caves in the northern Judean desert discovered a well-preserved but mysterious seed that had likely been carried there by animals. The seed could be dated to between 993 C.E. and 1202 C.E. and that it was a unique member of the commiphora family, a flowering plant known for its aromatic resins. Chemical analysis of the leaves shows an abundance of medical properties in the leaves, and its lack of fragrance matches descriptions of the tsori in the Bible.

Rare and Elusive Australian Bird, Once Thought Extinct for 100 Years, Discovered by Indigenous Rangers and Scientists – Night parrots are generally difficult to detect—a fact that has been long recorded in Indigenous culture. The elusive species creates tunnels and nests in dense spinifex bushes and emerges at night to forage for seeds.

5 things to know from this week’s big report on cannabis - A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine finds the disconnect between the states and the federal government is leading to fragmented policies, and risks to the public. 5 takeaways:

  1. People consume cannabis more regularly than alcohol in the U.S.

  2. Weed and vapes can be super potent and that’s not always disclosed

  3. You can get psychoactive hemp products even in states where cannabis is illegal

  4. Research on cannabis is stifled

  5. Cannabis can be dangerous, but people hear more about its benefits than risks

Biodiversity Becoming a Top Priority - A survey of 300 landscape architects, designers, and landscape architecture educators in the U.S. found that 96 percent of landscape architects are familiar with the impacts of the biodiversity crisis. 45 percent have made biodiversity conservation a top priority of their practice and another 41 percent consider biodiversity as part of their organization’s environmental ethos.

Medical imaging breakthrough could transform cancer and arthritis diagnosis - A new hand-held scanner developed by University College London researchers can generate highly detailed 3D photoacoustic images in just seconds, paving the way for their use in a clinical setting for the first time and offering the potential for earlier disease diagnosis (cancer, cardiovascular disease, and arthritis). What a boon if this could become the new standard…avoiding waiting for an imaging appointment, having to sit still for a long time, and higher cost of current technology!

Incredible Winners of the 2024 Natural Landscape Photography Awards – Couldn’t resist this collection of beautiful images to finish off the gleanings for this week.

Meadow at Lake Springfield Boathouse

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I opted to drive myself the Lake Springfield boathouse last week so I could photograph the meadow/prairie and the other plantings near the boathouse before the rest of the Identifying Woody Plants class arrived. The beautyberry was spectacular! I am so glad I planted some in my yard recently and hope it makes it through the winter to be a great plant next year.

The common milkweed had already been cut down but there were several pods spilling their seeds where the plants once stood.

The asters seemed to be hosting the most insects in the meadow/prairie area. I was thrilled to see Monarch butterflies; they were large ones…the ones that go all the way to Mexico for the winter. The thistles were releasing their seeds and the golden rods were the second most popular nectar plant for insects.

It was a great day to see the meadow in fall glory!

Our Missouri Yard – September/October 2024

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The chives have flowered and the seeds are almost mature. I savor these plants at the edges of some of my back yard beds since they are descendants of my mother’s plants; I harvested the seeds from her garden several years ago and will be enjoying them in my garden and in meals for as long as I live in this house.

The poke weed that I didn’t pull up is being eating by something. Maybe I should leave more of it for the insects.

There is a plant blooming in one of the areas I’ve not been mowing…letting the violets grow into the grass. I think it is sweet everlasting – which is native. Maybe I’ll collect the seeds and plant it elsewhere too.

I’ve harvested some of the American Spikenard seeds and planted them in a shady area where they might grow next spring. I would like to establish more of this plant in my yard. It dies back each winter but comes back from the root the following year getting bigger each year.

The shortleaf pine has dropped most of its mature cones but there are still a few in the tree and the terminal buds are a great color contrast to the needles….good photo opportunities!

I bought 4 native shrubs and small trees

And got them planted in my back yard the day after I bought them:

Spicebush – Lindera benzoi

Ozark Witch Hazel – Hamamelis vernalis

Buttonbush – Cephalanthus occidentalis

American Beautyberry – Callicarpa American

Digging the holes for these small plants was harder than I expected – a lot of small rocks and some plastic mesh that is a few inches under the soil surface (the previous owner had the yard sodded and they must have put the mesh down before they put the sod…I am chagrined that there is a plastic pollutant under most of my yard but can’t do anything about it).  

I’ll save the fall foliage pictures for another post!

Missouri Master Naturalist Training – Week 5

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There were 2 training evenings and a Saturday field trip in week 5 of my Missouri Master Naturalist Training.

The first evening was about Lions (mountain lions), Tigers (tiger swallowtail butterflies), and bears (black bears) native to Missouri. The tigers and bears have established populations in the state whereas the lions are wandering males from other states (so far). The bears segment included a pelt, skull…and some videos of black bears enjoying a good back scratch (using a tree trunk) and a slides about how the research on the Missouri bear population is done/what has been learned. The largest concentration of black bears in Missouri is close to Springfield!

The second evening was about prairies, which was a good follow up to our field trip to La Petite Gemme a few weeks ago, and animal skulls. The animal skulls session was probably the one with the most new-to-me content; there as a collection of skulls that we were told to organize in a continuum from herbivore to omnivore to carnivore…what a great hands on experience. The most unusual skull was the one from the armadillo!

The field trip was to the Springfield Botanical Gardens. It was in two segments:

  • Focusing on the Roston Native Butterfly House and Caterpillar Buffet garden next to it…with the butterfly garden nearby where there were quite a few migrating Monarch butterflies (one of them that we watched being tagged).

  • Then a general walk around the garden with some commentary on the features of the garden, the challenge of vandalism, and lots of evidence of fall. I picked up a few leaves and a black walnut to add to my tree educational trunk. The sky was clear…so an excellent day for looking up at trees!

The day also included a presentation about the value of dark sky (also learning that St. Louis’ Stacy Park is an Urban Dark Sky Place) and dissection of a Barn Owl pellet. I found a complete mouse skull and backbone in my pellet (and pieces of an insect’s exoskeleton) along with a lot of smaller bones; I was one of the last students to leave because I was finding so many bones in my pellet!

Lake Springfield with Identifying Woody Plants Class

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This past week the field class I am taking through Missouri State University added new woody plants to our list from a walk near the  Lake Springfield boathouse. I tried to take pictures of most of the new woody plants for this week…and a few from previous weeks:

Marshmallow – Hibiscus – Malvaceae (seed pods)

Green ash – Fraxinus pennsylvanica – Oleaceae (leaves and diamond shapes in the bark)

Black willow – Salix nigra – Salicaceae (leaves/twig)

Osage orange - Maclura pomifera – Moraceae (fruit…and I now have a fruit I am attempting to dry)

Honey locust - Gledistia tricanthos – Fabaceae (tree with drying seed pods)

Privet (non-native) - Ligustrum – Oleaceae (leave with blue fruit)

American hophornbeam – Ostrya virginiana – Betulaceae (leaves with thin, strong twigs)

Post oak – Quercus stellata – Fagaceae (rounded lobed leaves)

Bur oak - Quercus macrocarpa – Fagaceae (leaves…in the red oak group…I also picked up an acorn!)

It was an interesting afternoon…but I was tired afterward.

Gleanings of the Week Ending October 5, 2024

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Ten Striking Images from the Bird Photographer of the Year Awards – Great images…and the titles/descriptions add to their impact.

From wastelands to wetlands: The fight to save Sri Lanka's natural flood buffers – Transforming garbage patches into biodiverse wetlands in Colombo. About 15 years ago, these ecosystems were degraded and filled with rubbish. Residents organize weekly collection runs, piling up sorted waste at a small collection unit which the municipality sends off for recycling. School kids volunteer, kayaking through the lake to dig up invasive water hyacinth. Ancient kingdoms thrived in a well-managed wetland system where people used them for transport and to grow food. Today, Colombo is home to four wetland parks and several other recreational spaces linked by wetlands.

Eye on the Fertile Crescent: Life Along the Mideast’s Fabled Rivers - The Tigris and Euphrates, the fabled waterways that pour through the heartlands of Eurasian civilization, through the Fertile Crescent, from their chilly headwaters in the mountains of Turkey through vast watersheds in Syria, Kuwait, and Iran, to finally empty into the Persian Gulf at the sweltering marshland shores of Iraq. A series of pictures along the rivers today.

Deaths From Antibiotic-Resistant Infections Could Reach 39 million by 2050 - In 1990, 1.06 million deaths were attributable to antimicrobial resistance. For kids ages 5 and younger, deaths attributable to antibiotic resistance declined by more than 50 percent between 1990 and 2021, mostly due to vaccination, water and sanitation programs, some treatment programs, and the success of those. For patients ages 70 and older, the number of deaths increased by more than 80 percent during the same period. The team estimates that deaths among children will be cut in half by 2050, but deaths among seniors will double. New superbugs can emerge or disappear at a moment’s notice, and scientists still don’t have a good understanding of what causes these unpredictable swings. We urgently need new strategies to decrease the risk of severe infections through vaccines, new drugs, improved health care, better access to existing antibiotics and guidance on how to use them most effectively

Why Are Black Bears Thriving? - Their adaptability has made them one of the world’s most abundant bear species, and also the one faring the best in an increasingly human-dominated landscape.

These Ancient Egyptian Barracks Paint a Vivid Picture of Military Life During the Reign of Ramses II – Mudbrick rooms… evidence of soldiers’ daily provisions, accessories and toiletries, like ivory applicators for kohl eyeliner, necklaces of carnelian and faience beads shaped like pomegranate blossoms, and scarabs engraved with deities’ names. Weaponry demonstrates the place was well armed and may even have been able to produce some weapons on site.

People aren't volunteering as much these days: What gives? - In recent years, giving back to their community hasn't played as big a role in many Americans' lives. The 2008 recession had the biggest dampening effect on volunteering in areas with the most economic growth and above average income equality. When we talk about economic development for communities, we shouldn't divorce that from the civic development of communities. (I was surprised that the study did not find an impact on volunteering from the COVID-19 pandemic…maybe it is too early to see the impact?)

The Largest Prehistoric Structure South of the Sahara - Long after the Kingdom of Zimbabwe’s demise in the 15th century, Great Zimbabwe’s legacy endures. Shona people conducted rites here through the 19th century, and one of the stolen stone eagles that formerly adorned the city graces Zimbabwe’s flag. There are 10 million Shona people around the world today—and there is much to learn about their Bantu-speaking ancestors, who first settled Great Zimbabwe in the 4th century C.E. They farmed, mined iron, and kept cattle, a culinary staple that also denoted social class.

See an Ancient Egyptian Temple’s Brilliant Colors, Newly Revealed Beneath Layers of Dust and Soot - Restoring parts of the 2,000-year-old Temple of Edfu—and shedding new light on what the richly decorated house of worship looked like in its prime: paint and traces of gold leaf.

Brain vasculature changes important for predicting cognitive impairment - A study showing that several measurements of the brain, including blood flow and the brain's ability to compensate for the lack of it, are better predictors of mild cognitive impairment than risk factors like hypertension and high cholesterol. The researcher and its participants are in Oklahoma.

American Spikenard at Home

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The American Spikenard that was planted a year ago has done well on the eastern side of our house where it gets plenty of shade during the hot parts of the day. By July it was beginning to bloom.

In mid-August the view from my window was full of vegetation that included that the spikenard and it had green fruits.

In early September the fruits were beginning to turn red.

At the end of the month, more fruits were turning red and the leaves were beginning to look battered.

I will probably harvest some of the fruits to plant elsewhere….and am looking forward to the plant coming back even bigger next year. The above ground portion will die but the root keeps growing so the plant gets bigger (not necessarily taller) every year!

Phelps Grove Park

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Last week the Identifying Woody Plants class walked to Phelps Grove Park to add more trees to our list. I used my point-and-shoot (Canon Powershot SX730 HS) to capture some features of the additional trees (plus some trees already on our list). The temperaature was in the 70s…perfect for the hike…but the leaves are beginning to fall on many of the trees. Identification will get harder.

Serviceberry – Amelanchier arborea – Rosaceae: stripped bark, multiple trunks, small trees, two toned pointy buds, leaves simple and alternate

Crabapple – Malus – Rosaceae: pome without grit, twigs hairy, leaves (lobed, simple, entire)

Hawthorne – Crataegus – Rosaceae: thorns, pome, leaves round, bark pealing and patchy, the one we saw was infested with apple cedar rust (i.e. not a healthy tree)

Fig (just for interest…not added to list)

Flowering dogwood (not new) – Cornus florida - Cornaceae

White oak – Quercus alba – Fagaceae: leaves (rounded lobes, smooth, lighter underneath), acorns dark with bumpy cups and often sprout in fall

Hemlock (not new) – Tsuga canadensis - Pinaceae

Black cherry – Prunus serotina – Rosaceae: observed bark…branches too high to see more

Osage orange – Maclura pomifera – Moraceae: bark shaggy and orange in parts, leaves (tapering tip, entire, alternate, simple, size varies), the one we saw was male so no fruit

Red mulberry  - Morus rubra – Moraceae: milky sap, leaves (toothed, shiny, falling)


Shortleaf pine (note new) – Pinus echinate – Pinaceae

Hackberry – Celtis occidentalis – Cannabaceae: drupe that can taste like a dry raisin, leaves (3 veins, asymmetric, rough), the one we saw had galls, bark rough and gray, large tree

Shingle oak – Quercus imbricaria – Fagaceae: acorn small, leaves (no lobes, long and narrow, soft hair underneath), multiple buds at tend of twigs, bark grayish

Previous posts about my experiences in the Identifying Woody Plants class at Missouri State University

Ten Little Celebrations – September 2024

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It seemed liked the heat of summer lingered into September this year…but we are already savoring a few cooler days and looking forward to fall foliage. There was plenty to celebrate this month:

Places to visit

Butterflies at Botanical Garden of the Ozarks (in Fayetteville). Celebrated finally seeing some of the larger butterflies although it was in Arkansas rather than at home.

A few hours at the Lovett Pinetum. The place is not a park…requires some coordination to visit. I visited as part of my Identifying Woody Plants class (Missouri State University) and celebrated the evergreens…but also the native plants that are growing in the unmanaged areas. There is also a lovely spring feed pond and then stream.

Japanese festival at the Springfield Botanical Gardens. Celebrating big drums and the Mizumoto Japanese Stroll Garden full of people enjoying the fall day. We got ice matcha tea just before the booth was scheduled to close!

La Petite Prairie field trip. Celebrating the experience of walking through a prairie with grass almost as tall as me for the first time….and not getting bitten by anything (maybe because of my permethrin treated gaiters and hat…long sleeves and jeans).

Family ties

Finding puzzles for Dad. Finally…found a used books/puzzles sale that had some 300 piece puzzles. Celebrated and took them down to Dallas for my dad a few days later.

Around our yard

A cooler day. September had some hot days…but there are cooler ones where the high stays in the 70s to celebrate too.

Getting the yard mowed and the brush burning in the chiminea. I celebrated that I got so much yard work done on one of the cooler days…mowed the whole yard and burned a pile of brush that had accumulated during the summer.

Collecting pin oak acorns to sprout. Celebrating finding a video about sprouting acrons in water and starting the process with some carefully selected acorns from my neighbor’s tree that fell in my yard.

Planting pawpaw seeds. So many seeds from 2 pawpaws I got from an earlier master naturalist class! This time I stratified them before planting. I am celebrating that I got them in the ground…and hopefully will celebrate some of them coming up next spring/summer.

American Spikenard seeds turning red. Celebrating that the American Spikenard I planted a year ago has survived and is producing red seeds this September.

Some Gene Stratton-Porter eBooks

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I browsed 4 Gene Stratton-Porter books recently; I had read several of her books before eBooks existed but had only recently looked at the list of her books on Internet Archive…and realized I’d missed the 4 that are this week’s eBook picks. They are all well illustrated…worth browsing for the illustrations as well as reading. They still have relevance with natural places even more challenged than when she wrote. Hopefully the appreciation of nature in our lives is still strong enough to prompt increased conservation although even in her lifetime the Limberlost Swamp was gone, drained so that the land could be used for agriculture.

 Homing with the birds: the history of a lifetime of personal experience with the birds in1920

Moths of the Limberlost: With Water Color and Photographic Illustrations from Life in 1912

Music of the wild, with reproductions of the performers, their instruments and festival halls in 1910

What I have done with birds in 1907

Zooming – September 2024

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Lots of photography done since my last Zooming post. There was travel to Arkansas and Texas…and then the classes (Missouri Master Naturalist and Identifying Woody Plants at a local university). I’ve used all three of my cameras this month: Canon Powershot SX70 HS (bridge), Canon Powershot SX730 HS (point and shot) and iPhone 15 Pro Max.

September has been a busy month, and I am still trying to settle into the higher level of activity away from home! Enjoy the slide show for September 2024….

Identifying Woody Plants (Month 1)

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The Identifying Woody Plants field class I am taking at Missouri State University has met 5 times. There have been two off-campus field trips that I’ve posted about previously: Springfield Botanical Gardens and Lovett Pinetum. The other sessions have included walks around the MSU campus identifying trees. Just as in the off-campus field trips, I’ve tried to get good pictures of the trees so that I can include them in my PowerPoint based ‘flashcards’ to help me learn all the woody plants presented in the class (even though I am not taking the class for credit).

In the first class, I tried using my cell phone…juggling it with my small notebook for note taking. It did not work so well; I only got reasonable pictures for three of the trees we encountered.

Black gum – Nyssaceae – Nyssa sylvatica

Buckeye – Sapindaceae – Aesculus

For the next campus walk – I used my small point-and-shoot camera and managed more pictures. I had front pockets for both the small notebook and the camera. It was a very hot/sunny day; I wore my fingerless gloves to keep my small notebook dry. I did not feel well during the later parts of the walk even though I was drinking plenty of water.

American Sycamore – Platanaceae – Platanus occidentalis

Yew – Taxaceae - Taxus

Flowering dogwood – Cornaceae – Cornus florida

Bald cypress – Cupressaceae – Taxodium distichum

Shortleaf pine – Pinaceae – Pinus echinata

American basswood – Malvaceae – Tilia americana

The third walk around campus was easier; I had my system for juggling the notebook and camera…and it wasn’t quite as hot. I also wore my hiking boots, so my feet did not hurt like they did on one previous campus walk. I am still not managing to photograph everything during the walk; for the ones I miss (i.e. not listed in this post) I glean photos from the class charts and/or web searches to populate my study Powerpoint.

Red Maple – Sapindaceae – Acer rubrum

Burning bush – Celastraceae – Euonymous alatus

Northern red oak – Fagaceae – Quercus rubra

Northern catalpa – Bignoniaceae – Catalpa speciosa

Yellow poplar – Magnoliaceae – Liriodendron tulipifera

True cedar – Pinaceae - Cedrus

Siberian elm – Ulmaceae – Ulmus pumila

Sweet gum – Altingaceae – Liquidambar styraciflua

Pin oak – Fagaceae – Quercus palustris

Honeylocust – Fabaceae – Gleditsia triacanthos

There is some memorization involved…but I am beginning to find that I remember the scientific names as well as the common names as I continue to study…adding new woody plants to the list each week. The class is living up to my expectations in helping me expand my identification skill of woody plants of Missouri.

Previous posts about my experiences in the Identifying Woody Plants class at Missouri State University

Celestron Origin (2)

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My husband is continuing backyard photography with his Celestron Origin Intelligent Home Observatory. He is well along his learning curve with this new telescope, and I am sharing photos he has made since my last post back in August. He’ll be heading to the Okie-Tex Star Party later this week where he’ll go into the mode of staying up all night…getting the most out of the dark skies for photography and interacting with other amateur astronomers. I’ll stay home to care for our 3 cats.

Objects featured in the slide show below are Pacman Nebula, Eastern Veil Nebula, Western Veil Nebula, Owl Nebula, Iris Nebula, Cocoon Nebula, Fireworks Galaxy, and Cave Nebula. Use the arrows to move through the images at your own speed.

Road trip to Texas – September 2024

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I made a 2-day road trip to Texas to visit my father. It was the usual 7 hours on the road each direction. It was dark when I left my house. The moon was close to the horizon and looking very large. I should have stopped for a picture when a few clouds drifted over part of it – missed the opportunity. More clouds and fog blinked out the moon before I got to my first rest stop and gave the day an eerie start. I was more than halfway to Texas before the temperature was in the mid70s, but Dallas was in the 90s when I got to my dad’s assisted living home. We finished a puzzle and watered plants around the back patio, but it was too hot to take him for a walk around the block.

I had forgotten that there was a partial lunar eclipse…didn’t venture out of my hotel room. My husband sent a picture the next morning that he took from our front yard.

The next morning I visited my father right after breakfast…a great time for a walk. He is moving more slowly but walks often enough that other walkers in the neighborhood recognize him! There is a lot of home maintenance/improvement going on in the neighborhood. One family had enclosed more of their yard and made rock gardens in the parts that are too shady for much to grow; a small branch had fallen from the tree and was leaning on one of the larger rocks….photo-op.

There was an interesting leaf in the middle of the street…..not the usual fall foliage. It might have been from a Bradford Pear. My dad was so focused on walking that he didn’t seem interested in the leaf, but I took it back to his room as a memento to share with his next visitor.

Getting out of Dallas was a bit challenging. There seemed to be more-than-the-usual stalled cars/trucks (in traffic lanes on US 75 rather than off to the side) and there was some construction. I made a stop to relax a bit close to the border with Oklahoma…and am glad that the rest of the drive back to Missouri was uneventful.

Lovett Pinetum

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The Identifying Woody Plants class I am taking made a field trip to Lovett Pinetum last week. It was about 30 minutes in traffic getting there and 30 minutes back. 8 more woody plants were added to our list to recognize in the field…plus we saw some plants not required but interesting…and walked around a new-to-me place. I took my camera along.

Here are some of the plants I photographed at Lovett Pinetum. I share the scientific name and family for those that are added to the list of plants we are to recognize for the class…only the common names for those that were easily visible and pointed out to us in passing at the Pinetum.

Eastern wahoo…with lots of aphids on the stems.

Poison ivy - Toxicodendron radicans – Anacardiaceae: “leaves of three,” leaves are oval, but margins vary considerably

Black walnut – Juglans niger – Juglandaceae: with chambered pith. This is a tree I was very familiar with from Maryland…nuts on the ground in the fall are always very noticeable!

Joint fir (Ephedra): not native to Missouri but an interesting plant.

True cedar – Cedrus – Pinaceae: needles on short shoots, evergreen, cones upright, does not grow very well in Missouri.

Ozark witch hazel – Hamamelis vernalis – Hamamelidaceae: Woody seed capsule from flowering last January still not open; hairy twigs; shrub; leaves already changing. Flowers, when they appear, will have ribbon-like petals

American hazel – Corylus americana – Betulaceae – nuts will turn brown as they ripen; shrub; leaves wide oval and doubly serrate

Longleaf pines – Along Atlantic coast and Florida; white bud at ends of branches

Jewelweed (not a woody plant) was blooming in several places…particularly around the spring area.

There was large black oak that was pointed out on our trek back to the vans…but oaks must be for another class since it wasn’t added to our ‘must know’ list this time.

While we were at the Pinetum, we noted two animals: a black rat snake parallel to our trail (very sluggish, might have just eaten since it didn’t move while we watched) and a deer that watched us from across an open area then took off when we got a little closer.

It was a good field trip for identification of trees, vines, and shrubs!

Previous posts about my experiences in the Identifying Woody Plants class at Missouri State University

Botanical Garden of the Ozarks

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If I lived in Fayetteville, Arkansas, the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks would be one of my favorite places. Our membership at the Springfield Botanical Gardens got us in as reciprocal members.

Even before we went into the gardens, I saw several swallowtails on the plantings at the edge of the parking lot.

There was also a water feature near the entrance with water lilies.

I spotted a grasshopper that stayed still long enough for a portrait.

We heard the garden’s rooster crowing as we walked into the first garden area - a vegetable garden with a corn shaped fountain and red okra. I had never seen any okra that color previously. It is evidently edible like regular okra but also a colorful plant for the garden. The gardener that was working that morning told me it was her backup plant for things that did not fare as well in the high heat over this summer…and it looked great.

There was a children’s garden with one adult sized entrance and several child size ones with tile mosaic arches.

Just outside the children’s garden here was a train of couches for reading.

And then we came to the screened in butterfly house! Lots of opportunities for butterfly photography!

Continuing through the garden…I noticed some structures. My favorite was a pair of porch swings that were mostly in the shade; we sat for a bit, enjoying the swing, appreciating the little break before we made our way back to the entrance of the garden.

Buckyball and Compton Gardens

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We visited the Buckyball at The Momentary on our only evening in Bentonville. There were not many people around; we enjoyed reclining on the wooden seats and taking pictures/videos….until we realized how many mosquitoes there were!

It was a Sunday evening, so the eating places were closed…we walked around the nearby garden area. The lights were still on the sculptures. If I return the area, I’ll plan to be there on an evening when businesses are open!

The next morning we walked in Compton Gardens. A few weeks previously when my daughter was there, she had seen lots of butterflies and goldfinches. We didn’t see any goldfinches but there were a few skippers (one was a tawny edged skipper) and a great spangled fritillary butterfly around.

The gardens had been damaged by a tornado recently and some trails were still closed. Some critical cleanups had been done. I took a picture of a recently cut stump and counted the rings in the image. The tree was more than 70 years old!

Gleanings of the Week Ending September 14, 2024

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

The Mysterious Turkish Megaliths That Predate the Pyramids - Göbekli Tepe or “Potbelly Hill” in Turkish…it may be the world’s oldest calendar.

Planes, trains and monster diggers: The vehicles pushing the limits of electric power - BBC Future Planet recently went on a hunt for some of the biggest electric vehicles in the world – by size and weight. There is no shortage of impressive examples, from giant mining machines to trains and cargo ships. Often the largest excavators are connected to an electric power source by a cable, rather than using an on-board battery. But in terms of weight, heavy goods vehicles are among the largest EVs you might find yourself sharing the road with. Volvo's FH Electric truck, if you include its double trailer and load, is among contenders for the heaviest battery-powered electric road vehicle. Though research suggests we might one day see electric passenger aircraft capable of carrying as many as 90 people. The biggest electric planes today can accommodate a maximum of around nine passengers. The most powerful electric train in the world is perhaps the Shen24 in China. It is capable of carrying more than 10,000 tons – of coal – at up to 120km/h (75 mph).

Maine! Ghost Flower, the inside view – I’ve seen Ghost flowers a few times…but never the inside of the flower.

Crested Rats & Hairy Porcupines: Meet 7 of the World’s Coolest Rodents – The only one of the 7 I’ve seen is the Capybara (at the Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, MO).

A photographer captures life in America’s last remaining old-growth forests – What a great project photographer David Herasimtschuk had undertaken!

Plankton mark seasons in the sea, just like leaves and flowers on land – The seasonal flux of phytoplankton and zooplankton. The photo of diatoms (algae) in this post was what caught my attention; I’ve always enjoyed finding them in water samples.

14 Extraordinary Highly Commended Photos From the 2024 Wildlife Photographer of the Year Contest – My favorite was “Leaving the Nest” …two tawny owlets.

The Ancient Temple Carved Out of a Single Rock - Kailasa Cave, one of 34 in the Ellora Caves complex that has been cut and dug from the basalt rock of the Deccan plateau. 100 feet high and 300 feet long would make it the world’s largest—with all four sides liberated and sculpted into pavilions, halls, vestibules, towers, and courtyards by 800 hardy monks over 150 years beginning in the 7th century BCE. It was once painted white to mimic the Himalayan peak.

Thracian horseman’s grave unearthed in Bulgaria - The man was buried wearing clothing decorated with gold appliqués. A gold necklace, a gold diadem, a gold ring, and a knife decorated with gold and semiprecious stones were recovered from the burial, in addition to the remains of a horse and full battle gear, including a breastplate, sword, scabbard, and other knives and spears

Microplastics Found in Human Brains - The brains of people who suffered from dementia contained significantly more plastic than the brains of healthy people. Troublingly, the new study found more plastic in brain samples gathered in 2024 than in samples gathered in 2016.

Terra Studios

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We spent a couple of hours at Terra Studios (southeast of Fayetteville, AR and a part of the our road trip that included Crystal Bridges last week). The art displays are outdoors. There were not many people there on the afternoon we visited – surprising since it was a holiday weekend and there is a lot to enjoy here in the woodlands and more open area around the pond. It’s free; donations encouraged. There were a lot of mosaics of tiles and glass – on walls and picnic tables. Some of the ones on picnic tables (i.e. horizonal surfaces) were damaged but the vertical ones were in good shape.

One of the picnic areas had a collection of playhouses!

There were lots of clay figures – in the forest…on the lawn. Some of them were old enough that they had lichen growing on them or were sinking into their environment! I particularly liked the figures riding turtles on a rail in the pond!

There were murals along the path into the forest. The materials must be durable enough to last outdoors for years.

The simple fountain, that incorporated stained class into part of its cover, was in a very shady area – maybe the coolest place during our walk!

We entered the maze – my daughter and I following my husband who opted to ‘take the left-hand turn’ strategy….and it worked!

Back in the gift shop/snack bar – I bought 2 pair of earrings made my artists associated with Terra Studios and my daughter bought a glass Bluebird of Happiness – first created by Leo Ward at Terra Studios in 1982.

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (2)

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There is also a lot to see in the outdoor area of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas.  There were some parts that were closed because of recent storm damage (downed trees…at least one piece of art: R. Buckminster Fuller’s Fly’s Eye Dome).

The first sculpture we saw was near the entrance – a silver tree.

Some areas are relatively wild: horse nettles, thistles, shelf-fungus, mallows and grasses.

I was thrilled to photograph a butterfly since I’ve seen so few larger ones this year.

The design on the upper level of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Bachman-Wilson House was attractive. We got tickets (free) when we first got to the museum, and entered the house less than 2 hours after our arrival (enough time to do a broad look at the art on display inside the museum). Pictures are not allowed on the inside of the house. I liked the main living room but felt the rest of the house was claustrophobic (low ceilings and narrow hallways).

There were two installations of Chihuly glass.

There was a giant spider sculpture. It was a good place to take a little rest.

There were several animal sculptures along the trails. I photographed a bear with a fish, a smiling pig, and arabbit with an itching ear.

Water features are near most of the trails. I appreciated the structures in one of the streams to ‘slow the flow.’

There was a turn out from one trail to view quartz crystals in boulders that often contain imprints organisms from long ago in parts that are not crystals.

We probably spent at least as much time outdoors at Crystal Bridges as we did inside! It would be interesting to go again in a different season…maybe next spring.