It is widely planted as an ornamental tree. It is adapted to moist, high pH soil and full sun, but has been able to grow almost anywhere in North America. In the UK it has gained the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit (confirmed 2017).
The wood is soft, like white pine, and light, weighing only 26 pounds per cubic foot when dry. It also does not rot easily; in earlier years it was used for fence posts and less than successfully as railroad ties. More modern uses that highlight the wood's beautiful grain include furniture, interior trim and cabinetry. Catalpa has one of the lowest shrinkage/expansion rates of any U.S. hardwood. Only northern white cedar and redwood have lower shrinkage/expansion rates, and not by much. The wood's unique properties make it excellent for carving and boat-building. Often regarded as a weed tree, its wood is under-appreciated and underused. The tree's tendency to grow crooked does not help its reputation as a source of usable lumber.
Northern catalpa has been extensively cultivated in Ohio for over 200 years, and is now naturalized in urban and rural areas. Farmers introduced the rapidly growing northern catalpa to Ohio to produce large amounts of timber for fenceposts.
Three liabilities exist in urban areas where it is found as both a shade and an ornamental tree. Northern catalpa rains down fragments of its long fruits and fringed seeds from winter through spring, creating a cleanup chore. In addition, it often gets far too big for its allocated space in the landscape, and crowds out or casts too much shade on other desirable plants. Finally, its brittle wood, coupled with tree height, makes its branches at times subject to wind or ice damage.
The tree is often sought out by fishing enthusiasts, not for the plant itself, but for a common parasite that is used as bait. The catalpa moth caterpillar, Ceratomia catalpae, is widely regarded as one of the best live baits, and the tree may be planted strictly for this purpose, and has earned the tree common names of worm tree, or bait tree.


Although northern catalpa can have several diseases and pests, most are usually minor and pose no serious threat. The exception is the caterpillar of Ceratomia catalpae, which can on occasion defoliate the tree, although without causing the tree much harm.


Catharanthus roseus, commonly known as bright eyes, Cape periwinkle, graveyard plant, Madagascar periwinkle, old maid, pink periwinkle, rose periwinkle, is a species of flowering plant in the family Apocynaceae. It is native and endemic to Madagascar, but grown elsewhere as an ornamental and medicinal plant. It is a source of the drugs vincristine and vinblastine, used to treat cancer. It was formerly included in the genus Vinca as Vinca rosea.


Catharanthus roseus is an evergreen subshrub or herbaceous plant growing 1 m (39 in) tall. The leaves are oval to oblong, 2.5–9 cm (1.0–3.5 in) long and 1–3.5 cm (0.4–1.4 in) wide, glossy green, hairless, with a pale midrib and a short petiole 1–1.8 cm (0.4–0.7 in) long; they are arranged in opposite pairs. The flowers are white to dark pink with a darker red centre, with a basal tube 2.5–3 cm (1.0–1.2 in) long and a corolla 2–5 cm (0.8–2.0 in) diameter with five petal-like lobes. The fruit is a pair of follicles 2–4 cm (0.8–1.6 in) long and 3 mm (0.1 in) wide.


In the wild, C. roseus is an endangered plant; the main cause of decline is habitat destruction by slash and burn agriculture. It is also, however, widely cultivated and is naturalized in subtropical and tropical areas of the world like Australia, Malaysia, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.  It is so well adapted to growth in Australia that it is listed as a noxious weed in Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory, and also in parts of eastern Queensland.


As an ornamental plant, it is appreciated for its hardiness in dry and nutritionally deficient conditions, popular in subtropical gardens where temperatures never fall below 5–7 °C (41–45 °F), and as a warm-season bedding plant in temperate gardens. It is noted for its long flowering period, throughout the year in tropical conditions, and from spring to late autumn, in warm temperate climates. Full sun and well-drained soil are preferred. Numerous cultivars have been selected, for variation in flower colour (white, mauve, peach, scarlet and reddish-orange), and also for tolerance of cooler growing conditions in temperate regions. Notable cultivars include 'Albus' (white flowers), 'Grape Cooler' (rose-pink; cool-tolerant), the Ocellatus Group (various colours), and 'Peppermint Cooler' (white with a red centre; cool-tolerant). In the U.S. it often remains identified as "Vinca" although botanists have shifted its identification and it often can be seen growing along roadsides in the south.
In the UK it has gained the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit (confirmed 2017).


The species has long been cultivated for herbal medicine, as it can be traced back to 2600 B.C.E. Mesopotamia. In Ayurveda (Indian traditional medicine) the extracts of its roots and shoots, though poisonous, are used against several diseases. In traditional Chinese medicine, extracts from it have been used against numerous diseases, including diabetes, malaria, and Hodgkin's lymphoma. In the 1950s, vinca alkaloids, including vinblastine and vincristine, were isolated from Catharanthus roseus while screening for anti-diabetic drugs. This chance discovery led to increased research into the chemotherapeutic effects of vinblastine and vincristine. Conflict between historical indigenous use, and recent patents on C. roseus-derived drugs by western pharmaceutical companies, without compensation, has led to accusations of biopiracy.


Despite the medical importance and wide use, the desired alkaloids (vinblastine and vincristine) are naturally produced at very low yields. Additionally, it is complex and costly to synthesize the desired products in a lab, resulting in difficulty satisfying the demand and a need for overproduction. Treatment of the plant with phytohormones, such as salicylic acid and methyl jasmonate, have been shown to trigger defense mechanisms and overproduce downstream alkaloids. Studies utilizing this technique vary in growth conditions, choice of phytohormone, and location of treatment. Concurrently, there are various efforts to map the biosynthetic pathway producing the alkaloids to find a direct path to overproduction via genetic engineering.
C. roseus is used in plant pathology as an experimental host for phytoplasmas. This is because it is easy to infect with a large majority of phytoplasmas, and also often has very distinctive symptoms such as phyllody and significantly reduced leaf size.


C. roseus can be extremely toxic if consumed orally by humans, and is cited (under its synonym Vinca rosea) in the Louisiana State Act 159. All parts of the plant are poisonous. On consumption, symptoms consist of mild stomach cramps, cardiac complications, hypotension, systematic paralysis eventually leading to death.


The turkey vulture (Cathartes aura), also known in some North American regions as the turkey buzzard (or just buzzard), and in some areas of the Caribbean as the John crow or carrion crow, is the most widespread of the New World vultures. One of three species in the genus Cathartes of the family Cathartidae, the turkey vulture ranges from southern Canada to the southernmost tip of South America. It inhabits a variety of open and semi-open areas, including subtropical forests, shrublands, pastures, and deserts.
Like all New World vultures, it is not closely related to the Old World vultures of Europe, Africa, and Asia. The two groups strongly resemble each other because of convergent evolution; natural selection often leads to similar body plans in animals that adapt independently to the same conditions.
The turkey vulture is a scavenger and feeds almost exclusively on carrion. It finds its food using its keen eyes and sense of smell, flying low enough to detect the gasses produced by the beginnings of the process of decay in dead animals. In flight, it uses thermals to move through the air, flapping its wings infrequently. It roosts in large community groups. Lacking a syrinx—the vocal organ of birds—its only vocalizations are grunts or low hisses. It nests in caves, hollow trees, or thickets. Each year it generally raises two chicks, which it feeds by regurgitation. It has very few natural predators. In the United States, the vulture receives legal protection under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.


The turkey vulture received its common name from the resemblance of the adult's bald red head and its dark plumage to that of the male wild turkey, while the name "vulture" is derived from the Latin word vulturus, meaning "tearer", and is a reference to its feeding habits. The word buzzard is used by North Americans to refer to this bird, yet in the Old World that term refers to members of the genus Buteo. The turkey vulture was first formally described by Carl Linnaeus as Vultur aura in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae, and characterised as "V. fuscogriseus, remigibus nigris, rostro albo" ("brown-gray vulture, with black wing flight feathers and a white beak"). It is a member of the family Cathartidae, along with the other six species of New World vultures, and included in the genus Cathartes, along with the greater yellow-headed vulture and the lesser yellow-headed vulture. Like other New World vultures, the turkey vulture has a diploid chromosome number of 80.
The taxonomic placement of the turkey vulture and the remaining six species of New World vultures has been in flux. Though both are similar in appearance and have similar ecological roles, the New World and Old World vultures evolved from different ancestors in different parts of the world. Some earlier authorities suggested that the New World vultures were more closely related to storks. More recent authorities maintained their overall position in the order Falconiformes along with the Old World vultures or place them in their own order, Cathartiformes.
However, recent genetic studies indicate that neither New World nor Old World vultures are close to falcons, nor are New World vultures close to storks. Both are basal members of the clade Afroaves, with Old World vultures comprising several groups within the family Accipitridae, also containing eagles, kites, and hawks, while New World vultures in Cathartiformes are a sister group to Accipitriformes (containing the osprey and secretarybird along with Accipitridae).
There are five subspecies of turkey vulture:
C. a. aura is the nominate subspecies. It is found from Mexico south through South America and the Greater Antilles. This subspecies occasionally overlaps its range with other subspecies. It is the smallest of the subspecies, but is nearly indistinguishable from C. a. meridionalis in color.
C. a. jota, the Chilean turkey vulture, is larger, browner, and slightly paler than C. a. ruficollis. The secondary feathers and wing coverts may have gray margins.
C. a. meridionalis, the western turkey vulture, is a synonym for C. a. teter. C. a. teter was identified as a subspecies by Friedman in 1933, but in 1964 Alexander Wetmore separated the western birds, which took the name meridionalis, which was applied earlier to a migrant from South America. It breeds from southern Manitoba, southern British Columbia, central Alberta and Saskatchewan south to Baja California, south-central Arizona, southeastern New Mexico, and south-central Texas. It is the most migratory subspecies, migrating as far as South America, where it overlaps the range of the smaller C. a. aura. It differs from the eastern turkey vulture in color, as the edges of the lesser wing coverts are darker brown and narrower.
C. a. ruficollis, the tropical turkey vulture, is found in Panama south through Uruguay and Argentina. It is also found on the island of Trinidad. It is darker and more black than C. a. aura, with brown wing edgings which are narrower or absent altogether. The head and neck are dull red with yellow-white or green-white markings. Adults generally have a pale yellow patch on the crown of the head.
C. a. septentrionalis is known as the eastern turkey vulture. The eastern and western turkey vultures differ in tail and wing proportions. It ranges from southeastern Canada south through the eastern United States. It is less migratory than C. a. meridionalis and rarely migrates to areas south of the United States.


A large bird, it has a wingspan of 160–183 cm (63–72 in), a length of 62–81 cm (24–32 in), and weight of 0.8 to 2.41 kg (1.8 to 5.3 lb). Birds in the northern limit of the species' range average larger in size than the vulture from the neotropics. 124 birds from Florida averaged 2 kg (4.4 lb) while 65 and 130 birds from Venezuela were found to average 1.22 and 1.45 kg (2.7 and 3.2 lb), respectively. It displays minimal sexual dimorphism; sexes are identical in plumage and in coloration, and are similar in size. The body feathers are mostly brownish-black, but the flight feathers on the wings appear to be silvery-gray beneath, contrasting with the darker wing linings. The adult's head is small in proportion to its body and is red in color with few to no feathers. It also has a relatively short, hooked, ivory-colored beak. The irises of the eyes are gray-brown; legs and feet are pink-skinned, although typically stained white. The eye has a single incomplete row of eyelashes on the upper lid and two rows on the lower lid.
The two front toes of the foot are long and have small webs at their bases. Tracks are large, between 9.5 and 14 cm (3.7 and 5.5 in) in length and 8.2 and 10.2 cm (3.2 and 4.0 in) in width, both measurements including claw marks. Toes are arranged in the classic, anisodactyl pattern. The feet are flat, relatively weak, and poorly adapted to grasping; the talons are also not designed for grasping, as they are relatively blunt. In flight, the tail is long and slim. The black vulture is relatively shorter-tailed and shorter-winged, which makes it appear rather smaller in flight than the turkey vulture, although the body masses of the two species are roughly the same. The nostrils are not divided by a septum, but rather are perforate; from the side one can see through the beak. It undergoes a molt in late winter to early spring. It is a gradual molt, which lasts until early autumn. The immature bird has a gray head with a black beak tip; the colors change to those of the adult as the bird matures. Captive longevity is not well known. As of 2020 there are two captive birds over 45 years old: the Gabbert Raptor Center on the University of Minnesota campus is home to a turkey vulture named Nero with a confirmed hatch-year of 1974, and another male bird, named Lord Richard, lives at the Lindsay Wildlife Experience in Walnut Creek, CA. Lord Richard hatched in 1974 and arrived at the museum later that year. The oldest wild captured banded bird was 16 years old.
Leucistic (sometimes mistakenly called "albino") turkey vultures are sometimes seen.
Like most other vultures, the turkey vulture has very few vocalization capabilities. Because it lacks a syrinx, it can only utter hisses and grunts.


The turkey vulture has a large range, with an estimated global occurrence of 28,000,000 km² (11,000,000 sq mi). It is the most widely distributed vulture in the Americas and rivals its cousin the black vulture as the most abundant raptorial bird worldwide. Its global population is estimated to be  18,000,000 individuals. It is found in open and semi-open areas throughout the Americas from southern Canada to Cape Horn. It is a permanent resident in the southern United States, though northern birds may migrate as far south as South America. The turkey vulture is widespread over nearly all American habitats but they tend to show particular habitat preferences. It is most commonly found in relatively open areas which juxtapose with woodland, which are important both for nesting and roosting. Furthermore, turkey vultures in North America generally avoid enclosed forested areas that may hamper their ability to take flight and tend to often favor hill or low mountainous areas that make catching flight easier with less effort. This species can be seen over open country, including grasslands but are often absent from completely treeless areas such as some parts of the prairies or Great Plains. Additionally, they may adapt to tropical and subtropical forests, shrublands, deserts and semi-desert, wetlands and foothills.  Evidence indicates agricultural land is key habitat for turkey vultures, mainly pastureland or other low-input farmland for foraging and roosting but they tend to only occur ephemerally as flyovers around row-crop type agriculture. Other manmade habitats can be used, with the species regularly seen over urban areas throughout its range, though they tend to use them more when not breeding, being unable to nest without appropriate habitats, and do not occur as an urban bird nearly as routinely as do black vultures in the tropics and subtropics.
This bird with its crow-like aspect gave foot to the naming of the Quebrada de los Cuervos (Crows Ravine) in Uruguay, where they dwell together with the lesser yellow-headed vulture and the black vulture.


The turkey vulture is gregarious and roosts in large community groups, breaking away to forage independently during the day. Several hundred vultures may roost communally in groups, which sometimes even include black vultures. It roosts often on dead, leafless trees as well as low-density conifers, and will also roost on man-made structures such as water or microwave towers. Though it nests in caves, it does not enter them except during the breeding season. The turkey vulture lowers its night-time body temperature by about 6 degrees Celsius to 34 °C (93 °F), becoming slightly hypothermic.
This vulture is often seen standing in a spread-winged or horaltic stance. The stance is believed to serve multiple functions: drying the wings, warming the body, and baking off bacteria. It is practiced more often following damp or rainy nights. This same behavior is displayed by other New World vultures, by Old World vultures, and by storks. Like storks, the turkey vulture often defecates on its own legs, using the evaporation of the water in the feces and/or urine to cool itself, a process known as urohidrosis. It cools the blood vessels in the unfeathered tarsi and feet, and causes white uric acid to streak the legs.
The turkey vulture has few natural predators and the few recorded predators appear to take them quite infrequently. Fledging, immature and adult vultures, in descending likelihood of predation, may fall prey to great horned owls, golden eagles, bald eagles and potentially red-tailed hawks, while eggs and nestlings may be preyed on by mammals such as raccoons and opossums. Foxes can occasionally ambush an adult but species that can climb are more likely to breach and predate nests than adults, while dogs may sometimes rarely kill a turkey vulture as well. Its primary form of defense is regurgitating semi-digested meat, a foul-smelling substance, which deters most creatures intent on raiding a vulture nest. It will also sting if the predator is close enough to get the vomit in its face or eyes. In some cases, the vulture must rid its crop of a heavy, undigested meal to take flight to flee from a potential predator. Its life expectancy in the wild ranges upward of 16 years, with a captive life span of over 45 years being possible.
The turkey vulture is awkward on the ground with an ungainly, hopping walk. It requires a great deal of effort to take flight, flapping its wings while pushing off the ground and hopping with its feet. While soaring, the turkey vulture holds its wings in a shallow V-shape and often tips from side to side, frequently causing the gray flight feathers to appear silvery as they catch the light. The flight of the turkey vulture is an example of static soaring flight, in which it flaps its wings very infrequently, and takes advantage of rising thermals to stay soaring.


The breeding season of the turkey vulture varies according to latitude. In the southern United States, it commences in March, peaks in April to May, and continues into June. In more northerly latitudes, the season starts later and extends into August. Courtship rituals of the turkey vulture involve several individuals gathering in a circle, where they perform hopping movements around the perimeter of the circle with wings partially spread. In the air, one bird closely follows another while flapping and diving.
Eggs are generally laid in the nesting site in a protected location such as a cliff, a cave, a rock crevice, a burrow, inside a hollow tree, or in a thicket. There is little or no construction of a nest; eggs are laid on a bare surface. Females generally lay two eggs, but sometimes one and rarely three. The eggs are cream-colored, with brown or lavender spots around their larger end. Both parents incubate, and the young hatch after 30 to 40 days. Chicks are altricial, or helpless at birth. Both adults feed the chicks by regurgitating food for them, and care for them for 10 to 11 weeks. When adults are threatened while nesting, they may flee, or they may regurgitate on the intruder or feign death. If the chicks are threatened in the nest, they defend themselves by hissing and regurgitating. The young fledge at about nine to ten weeks. Family groups remain together until fall.


The turkey vulture feeds primarily on a wide variety of carrion, from small mammals to large grazers, preferring those recently dead, and avoiding carcasses that have reached the point of putrefaction. They may rarely feed on plant matter, shoreline vegetation, pumpkin, coconut and other crops, live insects and other invertebrates. In South America, turkey vultures have been photographed feeding on the fruits of the introduced oil palm. They rarely, if ever, kill prey themselves; when they do it tends to comprise small weak offspring or very sick individuals of various animals, such as bird nestlings, as well as reptiles. Turkey vultures have also been observed eating coyote and domestic animal dung. The turkey vulture can often be seen along roadsides feeding on roadkill, or near bodies of water, feeding on washed-up fish. They also will feed on fish or insects that have become stranded in shallow water. Like other vultures, it plays an important role in the ecosystem by disposing of carrion, which would otherwise be a breeding ground for disease.
The turkey vulture forages by smell, an ability that is uncommon in the avian world, often flying low to the ground to pick up the scent of ethyl mercaptan, a gas produced by the beginnings of decay in dead animals. The olfactory lobe of its brain, responsible for processing smells, is particularly large compared to that of other animals. This heightened ability to detect odors allows it to search for carrion below the forest canopy. King vultures, black vultures, and condors, which lack the ability to smell carrion, follow the turkey vulture to carcasses. The turkey vulture arrives first at the carcass, or with greater yellow-headed vultures or lesser yellow-headed vultures, which also share the ability to smell carrion. It displaces the yellow-headed vultures from carcasses due to its larger size, but is displaced in turn by the king vulture and both types of condor, which make the first cut into the skin of the dead animal. This allows the smaller, weaker-billed turkey vulture access to food, because it cannot tear the tough hides of larger animals on its own. This is an example of mutual dependence between species. Black vultures tend to be more aggressive and often displace turkey vultures which appear to be intimidated especially by the feeding frenzy engaged in by the black vultures when they come in numbers (a behavior turkey vultures are apparently incapable of even when at a carcass in numbers), however pairs or individuals often seem to be able to peaceably share carrion with turkey vultures. However, in the tropics such as Peru, turkey vultures appeared to prevail regularly over black vultures, in 56% of cases, perhaps due to the smaller size of the region's black vultures. It is further subservient to large hawks such as red-tailed hawks, Harris's hawks and Buteogallus black hawks, as well as to large falcons like peregrine falcons and crested caracaras, despite most of these birds being rather smaller in body size than a turkey vulture. Often these raptors tend to engage in dive-bombing or other intimidation displays towards the vulture(s) to displace them from carrion or from perch sites. Presumably all sympatric eagles are also dominant, with bald eagles  confirmed to easily dominate turkey vultures in Florida. However, in the tropics Swainson's hawks and yellow-headed caracara (as well as lesser yellow-headed vultures) appear to be subservient to turkey vultures. Furthermore, turkey vultures are dominant over crows at carrion, but not over common ravens.


The turkey vulture is sometimes accused of carrying anthrax or hog cholera, both livestock diseases, on its feet or bill by cattle ranchers and is therefore occasionally perceived as a threat. However, the virus that causes hog cholera is destroyed when it passes through the turkey vulture's digestive tract. This species also may be perceived as a threat by farmers due to the similar black vulture's tendency to attack and kill newborn cattle. The turkey vulture does not kill live animals but will mix with flocks of black vultures and will scavenge what they leave behind. Nonetheless, its appearance at a location where a calf has been killed gives the incorrect impression that the turkey vulture represents a danger to calves. The droppings produced by turkey vultures and other vultures can harm or kill trees and other vegetation. The turkey vulture can be held in captivity, though the Migratory Bird Treaty Act prevents this in the case of uninjured animals or animals capable of returning to the wild. In captivity, it can be fed fresh meat, and younger birds will gorge themselves if given the opportunity.
The turkey vulture species receives special legal protections under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 in the United States, by the Convention for the Protection of Migratory Birds in Canada, and by the Convention for the Protection of Migratory Birds and Game Mammals in Mexico. In the US it is illegal to take, kill, or possess turkey vultures, their eggs, and any body parts including but not limited to their feathers; violation of the law is punishable by a fine of up to $100,000 for individuals or $200,000 for organizations, and/or a prison term of 1 year. It is listed as a species of least concern by the IUCN Red List. Populations appear to remain stable, and it has not reached the threshold of inclusion as a threatened species, which requires a decline of more than 30 percent in 10 years or three generations.


The lesser yellow-headed vulture (Cathartes burrovianus) also known as the savannah vulture, is a species of bird in the New World vulture family Cathartidae. It was considered to be the same species as the greater yellow-headed vulture until they were split in 1964. It is found in Mexico, Central America, and South America in seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland, swamps, and heavily degraded former forest. It is a large bird, with a wingspan of 150–165 cm (59–65 in). The body plumage is black, and the head and neck, which are featherless, are pale orange with red or blue areas. It lacks a syrinx, so therefore its vocalizations are limited to grunts or low hisses.
The lesser yellow-headed vulture feeds on carrion and locates carcasses by sight and by smell, an ability which is rare in birds. It is dependent on larger vultures, such as the king vulture, to open the hides of larger animal carcasses as its bill is not strong enough to do this. Like other New World vultures, the lesser yellow-headed vulture utilizes thermals to stay aloft with minimal effort. It lays its eggs on flat surfaces, such as the floors of caves, or in the hollows of stumps. It feeds its young by regurgitation.


The lesser yellow-headed vulture was first described in 1845 by John Cassin. It is sometimes recognized as having two subspecies. The first, Cathartes burrovianus urubitinga, described by Austrian ornithologist August von Pelzeln in 1851, is the larger of the two and is found from Argentina north to Colombia, while the nominate subspecies, Cathartes burrovianus burrovianus, is smaller and found from northwestern South America through Central America to Mexico. The lesser yellow-headed vulture's genus, Cathartes, means "purifier" and is from the Latinized form of the Greek kathartēs/καθαρτης. The common name, vulture, is derived from the Latin word vulturus, which means "tearer" and is a reference to its feeding habits.
The exact taxonomic placement of the lesser yellow-headed vulture and the remaining six species of New World vultures remains unclear. Although both are similar in appearance and have similar ecological roles, the New World and Old World vultures evolved from different ancestors in different parts of the world. Just how different the two are is currently under debate, with some earlier authorities suggesting that the New World vultures are more closely related to storks. More recent authorities maintain their overall position in the order Falconiformes along with the Old World vultures or place them in their own order, Cathartiformes. The South American Classification Committee has removed the New World vultures from Ciconiiformes and instead placed them in Incertae sedis, but notes that a move to Falconiformes or Cathartiformes is possible. Like other New World vultures, the lesser yellow-headed vulture has a diploid chromosome number of 80.


This is the lightest and smallest of the extant New World vultures despite sometimes measuring at least as long and longer winged than black vultures. The lesser yellow-headed vulture is 53–66 cm (21–26 in) in length, with a wingspan of 150–165 cm (59–65 in) and a tail length of 19–24 cm (7.5–9.4 in). Its weight ranges from 0.95 to 1.55 kg (2.1 to 3.4 lb). Its plumage is black with a green sheen. The throat and the sides of the head are featherless. The head and neck are bare of feathers, and the skin is yellow, with a reddish forehead and nape and a gray-blue crown. The irises of its eyes are red, its legs are white, and its beak is flesh-colored. The eye has a single incomplete row of eyelashes on the upper lid and two rows on the lower lid.
The tail is rounded and relatively short for a vulture; the tip of the closed wing extends beyond the tail. Immature lesser yellow-headed vultures have browner plumage, a dusky head, and a white nape.
The beak is thick, rounded, and hooked at the tip.
The front toes are long with small webs at their bases and are not adapted to grasping. The opening of the nostril is longitudinal, and the nostrils lack a septum. Like all New World vultures, the lesser yellow-headed vulture lacks a syrinx, and is therefore unable to make any sound other than a low hiss.
It differs in appearance from the similar greater yellow-headed vulture in several ways. It is smaller and is less heavily built than the greater yellow-headed vulture and has a shorter, thinner tail. The plumage is browner than the greater yellow-headed vulture's dark, glossy black plumage. Its legs are lighter in color, and its head is more orange-tinged than the more yellow head of the greater yellow-headed vulture. Its flight is also less steady than that of the greater yellow-headed vulture. The lesser yellow-headed vulture also prefers to live in savannas, as opposed to the preferred forest habitat of the greater yellow-headed vulture.
Besides the greater yellow-headed vulture, it is similar to the turkey vulture.


It is found in Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland, swamps, mangroves, and heavily degraded former forest. It may wander over dry fields and clearings. It is not generally found in high-altitude regions.
This bird with its somehow crow-like aspect gave foot to the naming of the Quebrada de los Cuervos (Crows Ravine) in Uruguay, where they dwell together with the black vulture and the turkey vulture.


The lesser yellow-headed vulture flies solitarily, with wings held in a dihedral position. It glides at a low altitude over wetlands while locating food, and perches on fence posts or on other low perches. When flying, it travels alone and is rarely found in groups. The flight of the lesser yellow-headed is an example of static soaring flight, which uses thermals to maintain altitude without the need to flap its wings. This vulture rarely soars high in the air, preferring low altitudes. This bird is believed to be somewhat migratory in response to the changes in water level where it lives. The lesser yellow-headed vulture, like other New World vultures, has the unusual habit of urohidrosis, in which it urinates or defecates on its legs to cool them by evaporation.


Lesser yellow-headed vultures do not build nests, but rather lay eggs on the ground, cliff ledges, the floors of caves, or in the hollow of a tree. Eggs are cream colored and heavily blotched with brown and gray spots, particularly around the larger end. Two eggs are generally laid. The chicks are altricial—they are blind, naked and relatively immobile upon hatching. The chicks do not grow their down feathers until later. The parents feed their young by regurgitating pre-digested food into their beak, where the chicks then drink it. The young fledge after two to three months.


The lesser yellow-headed vulture is a scavenger and subsists almost entirely on carrion. It will eat roadkill or the carcass of any animal, but is also known to hunt for food, especially small aquatic animals in marshes. It prefers fresh meat, but often cannot make the first cut into the carcass of a larger animal because its beak is not strong enough to tear into the tough hide. The lesser yellow-headed vulture will no longer feed on a piece of carrion once the meat is in a state of extreme decay, as it becomes contaminated with microbial toxins. Like other vultures, it plays an important role in its ecosystem by disposing of carrion which would otherwise be a breeding ground for disease.
The lesser yellow-headed vulture forages using its keen eyesight to locate carrion on the ground, but also uses its sense of smell, an ability which is uncommon in the avian world. It locates carrion by detecting the scent of ethyl mercaptan, a gas produced by the beginnings of decay in dead animals.
The olfactory lobe of its brain responsible for processing smells is particularly large compared to other animals. This characteristic of New World vultures has been used by humans: ethyl mercaptan is injected into pipelines, and engineers looking for leaks then follow the foraging vultures.
King vultures, which lack the ability to smell carrion, follow the lesser yellow-headed vultures to carcasses, where the king vulture tears open the skin of the dead animal. This allows the smaller lesser yellow-headed vulture access to food, as it does not have a bill strong enough to tear the hide of larger animals. This is an example of mutual dependence between species. It is generally displaced from carcasses by both turkey vultures and king vultures, due to their larger size.


The lesser yellow-headed vulture is a bird of Least Concern according to the IUCN, with an estimated global range of 7,800,000 km² (3,000,000 sq mi) and a population of between 100,000 and 1,000,000 individuals. Its population trend appears to be stable.


The veery (Catharus fuscescens) is a small North American thrush species, a member of a group of closely related and similar species in the genus Catharus, also including the gray-cheeked thrush (C. minimus), Bicknell's thrush (C. bicknelli), Swainson's thrush (C. ustulatus), and hermit thrush (C. guttatus). Alternate names for this species include Wilson's thrush (named so after Alexander Wilson) and tawny thrush. Up to six subspecies exist, which are grouped into the eastern veery (C. fuscescens fuscescens), the western veery or willow thrush (C. fuscescens salicicolus), and the Newfoundland veery (C. fuscescens fuliginosus).
The specific name fuscescens is New Latin for "blackish", from  Latin fuscus, "dark". The English name may imitate the call.


This species measures 16–19.5 cm (6.3–7.7 in) in length. Its mass is 26–39 g (0.92–1.38 oz), exceptionally up to 54 g (1.9 oz). The wingspan averages 28.5 cm (11.2 in). Each wing measures 8.9–10.4 cm (3.5–4.1 in), the bill measures 1.2–1.9 cm (0.47–0.75 in) and the tarsus is 2.7–3.25 cm (1.06–1.28 in). The veery shows the characteristic under-wing stripe of Catharus thrushes. Adults are mainly light brown on the upperparts. The underparts are white; the breast is light tawny with faint brownish spots. Veeries have pink legs and a poorly defined eye ring. Birds in the eastern portions of the species' breeding range are more cinnamon on the upper parts; western birds are more olive-brown. In the east, the veery is distinguished easily by its coloration; distinguishing western veeries from other Catharus thrushes is more difficult.
This bird has a breezy, downward-spiraling, flute-like song, often given from a low and concealed perch. The most common call is a harsh, descending vee-er, which gave the bird its name. Other calls include a chuckle, a sharp and low "wuck", and a slow wee-u. Veeries have been shown to decrease the rate and duration of singing when exposed to barred owl playback, possibly to decrease the chance of predation.


They make a cup nest on the ground or near the base of a shrub. The nest consists of three structural layers, including outer, inner, and nest lining layers. The outer layer consists of leaves and supporting branches, while the inner layer consists of material woven together. Nest lining consists of flexible material such as bark, roots, and seeds. The use of different parts of 27 plant species, including invasive/alien plants, has been documented. Nests contain three to five greenish-blue eggs that may or may not have brown spots. The eggs are incubated for 10 to 14 days by the female, while both parents feed nestlings. Young Veeries can leave the nest between 10 and 12 days after they hatch.
This bird has been displaced in some parts of its range by the related wood thrush (Hylocichla mustelina). However, a case of interspecific parental care of a veery nest by a wood thrush has been documented in which a wood thrush provided more parental care to the veery nestlings than did the parents, possibly due to sexual solicitation by the female veery. Veeries are occasional hosts for the eggs of brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater). Veery males have been found to engage in behaviors similar to the polygynandrous Bicknell's thrush in that males may feed nestlings at more than one nest and there may be multiple male feeders at nests.


Threats to the veery include nest parasitism by brown-headed cowbirds, climate change, and alteration of Amazonian lowland forests. It is suggested that veeries are in decline, and breeding bird survey trend results indicate that veery populations declined across most of its range from 1966 to 2013. There have been concerns that the use of invasive/alien plant parts may decrease nesting success, but negative impacts have not been documented. Other potential threats include the loss of woodland habitat, squirrels, chipmunks, and raptors.


The hermit thrush (Catharus guttatus) is a medium-sized North American thrush. It is not very closely related to the other North American migrant species of Catharus, but rather to the Mexican russet nightingale-thrush. The specific name guttatus is Latin for "spotted".


This species measures 15 to 18 cm (5.9 to 7.1 in) in length, spans 25 to 30 cm (9.8 to 11.8 in) across the wings and weighs 18 to 37 g (0.63 to 1.31 oz). Among standard measurements, the wing chord is 7.8 to 11.1 cm (3.1 to 4.4 in), the bill is 1.6 to 1.9 cm (0.63 to 0.75 in) and the tarsus is 2.7 to 3.3 cm (1.1 to 1.3 in). It is more compact and stockier than other North American Catharus thrushes, with relatively longer wings. The hermit thrush has the white-dark-white underwing pattern characteristic of Catharus thrushes. Adults are mainly brown on the upperparts, with reddish tails. The underparts are white with dark spots on the breast and grey or brownish flanks. They have pink legs and a white eye ring. Birds in the east are more olive-brown on the upperparts; western birds are more grey-brown.


Hermit thrushes breed in coniferous or mixed woods across Canada, southern Alaska, and the northeastern and western United States. They make a cup nest on the ground or relatively low in a tree.
While most hermit thrushes migrate to wintering grounds in the southern United States and south to Central America, some remain in northern coastal US states and southern Ontario. Identification of spotted thrushes is simplified by the fact that hermit thrush is the only spotted thrush normally found in North America during winter. They usually breed in forests, but will sometimes winter in parks and wooded suburban neighborhoods.
They are very rare vagrants to western Europe and northeast Asia.
They forage on the forest floor, also in trees or shrubs, mainly eating insects and berries.


The hermit thrush's song has been described as "the finest sound in nature" and is ethereal and flute-like, consisting of a beginning note, then several descending musical phrases in a minor key, repeated at different pitches. It often sings from a high open location. Analysis of the notes of its song indicates that they are related by harmonic simple integer pitch ratios, like many kinds of human music and unlike the songs of other birds that have been similarly examined.


The hermit thrush is the state bird of Vermont.
Walt Whitman construes the hermit thrush as a symbol of the American voice, poetic and otherwise, in his elegy for Abraham Lincoln, "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd," one of the fundamental texts in the American literary canon. "A Hermit Thrush" is the name of a poem by the American poet Amy Clampitt. A hermit thrush appears in the fifth section ("What the Thunder Said") of the T. S. Eliot poem The Waste Land.
Former Canadian indie-rock band Thrush Hermit took their name from a reversal of the bird's name. It is also shared by the American bands Hermit Thrushes and Hermit Thrush.


Catocala cara, the darling underwing, is an moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Achille Guenée in 1852. It can be found in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains; it occurs west at least to Oklahoma and north at least to Illinois. It also ranges into southern Canada, but only barely so.


The wingspan is 70–85 mm. The forewings are dark purplish brown above, and light cream below. The hindwings have a deep scarlet-pink ground color with a pattern of two clean concentric blackish bands per wing, one through the midwing and one along the pale outer margin. The hindwing base is heavily covered in dark hairs; at a casual glance it may thus appear as if at the center of the dark bands there is a black spot or streak. As in many relatives, the foreleg tibia of this species possess no spines, while the tarsi carry three rows of spines.
The adult moths flies from June to October depending on the location. The caterpillars feed on Populus (poplar and cottonwood) and Salix (willow) species, especially black willow (S. nigra).


This moth is placed in the subfamily Catocalinae, either of the owlet moth family, Noctuidae, or – if the Noctuidae are circumscribed more strictly – of family Erebidae. Within the Catocalinae, it belongs to tribe Catocalini and – if the Noctuidae are circumscribed widely – subtribe Catocalina.
The former subspecies C. c. carissima, which occurs to the south of the darling underwing, is now again considered to be a valid species Catocala carissima (carissima underwing); this also includes the supposed species C. silvia, which actually is merely a form with no formal taxonomic standing.


Catocala ilia, the Ilia underwing, beloved underwing or wife underwing, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Pieter Cramer in 1776. It can be found in the eastern part of the United States as well as southern Canada. Subspecies Catocala ilia zoe can be found in California and Arizona.
The wingspan is 65–82 mm. A spot on its forewing with a distinct white circle which encompasses it distinguishes this moth from others in the same family. Otherwise, the forewing can be extremely variable. The underwing that it is named for can range in color from light orange to a deep red. The moths flies from June to September depending on the location.
The larvae feed on oak, including black, burr, red, and white oaks.


Catocala ilia ilia
Catocala ilia zoe Behr, 1870 (California, Arizona)


Catocala maestosa, the sad underwing, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by George Duryea Hulst in 1884. It is found in the United States from New York south to Florida and Alabama, west to Texas and eastern Oklahoma and north to Illinois, Indiana and Minnesota.
The wingspan is 78–98 mm. Adults are on wing from July to October depending on the location. There is probably one generation per year.
The larvae feed on Carya aquatica, Carya illinoinensis and Juglans nigra.


Catocala micronympha, the little nymph underwing or little bride underwing, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Achille Guenée in 1852. It is found in North America from southern Ontario, Quebec, and Manitoba through New Hampshire, Connecticut, and New Jersey to Florida, west to Texas and then north through Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa, to Wisconsin and Minnesota and then east to Michigan.
The wingspan is 35–50 mm. Adults are on wing from April to September depending on the location. There is probably one generation per year.
The larvae feed on Quercus macrocarpa, Quercus stellata, and Quercus virginiana


Catocala neogama, the bride, is an moth in the family Erebidae first described by James Edward Smith in 1797. It is found in North America east of the Rocky Mountains, from Maine and Quebec south to northern Florida and west to South Dakota, New Mexico, and into Arizona and Texas. Its westernmost population from the semiarid Colorado Plateau region is rather distinct and was once considered a separate species, but is now regarded as a well-marked subspecies C. n. euphemia.


The wingspan is 70–85 mm; C. n. euphemia is distinctly larger (around 90 mm). The forewings are brownish gray above, evenly dark from base to tip or with the center somewhat darker, and varying geographically between somewhat paler and browner in the aridland population and darker gray marked with brown in the eastern individuals (see Gloger's rule). The hindwings are conspicuously colored in various hues of orange with roughly concentric black markings above. Their basal area carries a dense covering of thin dark hairs which stretches along the dorsum, making this area appear more brownish or reddish. Through the hindwing center runs a black band from the leading almost to the trailing edge; a similar but wider band runs close to and parallel with the termen from apex to tornus. The border of the black bands with the fairly narrow area of orange between them is not even, but has some deep and irregular scallops. The outer rim of the hindwing is lighter yellow than the rest; along the wing veins the outer black band extends to the termen as faint blackish stripes. The undersides are pale yellowish orange with black bands. As is typical for the hickory/walnut-feeding Catocala of North America, both foreleg and hindleg tibiae of this species are spiny, and the tarsi carry four rows of irregular rows of spines each.
The old wife underwing (C. palaeogama, see below) is most easily distinguished by the thickly hairy hindwing bases – below as well as above, forming a fuzzy black patch on the upperwings – and the less scalloped, more angular orange/black border on the hindwing upperside. It is also distinctly smaller, with little or no overlap in wingspan.
Adults of the nominate subspecies are found from June to October; C. n. euphemia adults are on the wing from July to August. The caterpillars feed on Juglandeae trees of the genera Juglans (walnut trees) – such as the butternut tree (J. cinerea) – and Carya (hickories). The westernmost population apparently does not feed on Carya (which is rare or absent in their range), and seems effectively to be limited to Arizona black walnut (J. major), and perhaps Texas black walnut (J. microcarpa) and their hybrids.


This moth is placed in the subfamily Catocalinae, either of the owlet moth family, Noctuidae, or – if the Noctuidae are circumscribed more strictly – of family Erebidae. Within the Catocalinae, it belongs to tribe Catocalini and – if the Noctuidae are circumscribed widely – subtribe Catocalina.
The supposed C. euphemia was described surprisingly recently, over 100 years after the nominate C. neogama. This population, occurring in Arizona and New Mexico, differs visually from bride moths as originally described, and was for many decades held to be a distinct species. However, its range is altogether parapatric with that of the eastern bride moths, and the ecological differences are slight. Consequently, pending data to the contrary these two are held to be subspecies of one species now, with C. n. euphemia representing a range expansion (and perhaps even a post-Pleistocene one) outside the range of Carya.
On the other hand, similar moths from Texas were described as subspecies C. n. loretta. They often are paler than C. n. euphemia if anything; however, except in lightness they resemble C. n. neogama even more strongly, and they do not form a geographically separate and distinct population. They are thus today treated as a pale local form of the nominate subspecies, with no formal taxonomic standing.
Finally, some authors include the old wife underwing (C. palaeogama) in C. neogama. These two are recognizably distinct in appearance and widely sympatric however, and there is no good indication that they are just one species. In fact, C. neogama occurs at the type locality of C. palaeogama (the area around Baltimore, Maryland), while the southern limit of C. palaeogama (South Carolina) is around the type locality of the supposed C. communis, which was subsequently identified as specimens of C. neogama.


The red underwing (Catocala nupta) is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1767 12th edition of Systema Naturae.
This is a large (80 mm wingspan) nocturnal Palearctic (including Europe species which, like most noctuids, is above and with the wings closed drably coloured to aid concealment during the day. It flies in August and September, and comes freely to both light and sugar.


C. nupta L.  Forewing pale grey powdered with darker grey, sometimes with dark grey banded suffusion, and in some cases yellowish-tinged; sometimes the cellspace before reniform coalescent with the spot below reniform, and a space along outer line, before it above middle and beyond it below, are all whitish: inner and outer lines double, black and grey; the outer line less oblique below middle and forming two more conspicuous angles on each side of vein 2, the lower one double, then deeply indented along vein 1 median shade generally clear and produced squarely outwards beyond the reniform, which has a thick black central lunule, a curved black inner edge, and a tridentate outer one; subterminal line pale and dark grey, the paler inner portion sometimes whitish; hindwing crimson with a central black band bent on vein 5, and a thick black terminal border, the inner edge of which is waved towards abdominal margin; — in the form concubina Hbn.  the red of the hindwing is brighter and the black median band more developed, being broader throughout and continued to inner margin; the lines of forewing blacker and the pale areas generally more developed; the subsp. nuptialis Stgr., from Tibet (Ili, Issyk-kul, Ala Tau) and the Altai Mts., has the forewing paler, more gaily marked, the submarginal line white, sharply edged with black; — the subsp. obscurata Oberth., from Amurland and Askold Island, is a much blacker form than the average European examples, though specimens from several localities in Europe are also dark: — ab. coerulescens Cockerell, named from a single example taken in Essex, has the hindwing blue instead of red; — ab. brunnescens ab. nov. represented by 3 rather small males captured in the neighbourhood of London, has the hindwing dark olive brown; in the ab. languescens ab. nov. the hindwing is yellowish white with a faint pink flush; a line example of this, but without locality label, exists in the Felder Collection, and a similar one is recorded by Mr. Tutt in British Noctuae, Vol. IV, p. 50; like other species with red hindwings nupta has an aberration in which that colour is supplanted by yellow, ab. flava Schultz, to which intermediate forms occur with the red only partially changed to yellow, or yellow only in one hindwing; - in ab. mutilata Schultz the black central band of hindwing is abbreviated and becomes obsolete a little below costa; — ab. fida Schultz differs from typical examples in having between the subterminal line and the termen a conspicuous dentated white line strongly edged with black; this example was from Silesia; — in the ab. dilutior Schultz the ground colour is generally paler, either brownish yellow with the dark markings slightly darker, or whitish grey with a faint yellowish intermixture; — ab. alterata ab. nov. (=ab. 6 Hmps.) has the black bands of  hindwing altered to grey. — ab. rubridens ab. nov. shows the red ground colour of the hindwing running out along veins 2 and 1 in the shape of sharp wedge-shaped teeth, almost interrupting the black median band which is swollen between them into a large horseshoe-shaped blotch; the single example in the Tring Museum is unfortunately without locality; — a strange, probably accidental, aberration from Munich, figured as ab. confusa Oberth., has the whole forewing blurred dark grey, with the inner and outer lines and reniform stigma darker but diffuse on a slightly paler median area; the median band of hindwing strongly curved, its outer edge diffuse, and its lower extremity running up. narrowly to inner margin towards base; the black terminal border projecting basewards as long narrow teeth along the veins with the red ground colour running up between them. Larva pale or dark grey ; only distinguishable from that of Catocala elocata by the absence of the dark dorsal and lateral bands, which are represented by lines.


Catocala nupta nupta Europe
Catocala nupta alticola Mell, 1942 (China: Yunnan)
Catocala nupta centralasiae Kusnezov, 1903
Catocala nupta clara Osthelder, 1933 (Turkey)
Catocala nupta concubia Walker, [1858] (northern Hindostan)
Catocala nupta japonica Mell, 1936
Catocala nupta kansuensis O. Bang-Haas, 1927 (China: Kansu)
Catocala nupta japonica Mell, 1936
Catocala nupta likiangensis Mell, 1936 (China: Yunnan)
Catocala nupta nozawae Matsumura, 1911 (Japan)
Catocala nupta nuptialis Staudinger, 1901 (Altai)
Catocala nupta obscurata Oberthür, 1880 (south-eastern Siberia)


The moths fly from mid-July to early October. At night, they fly to light sources, but they usually land slightly away from the light. The caterpillars are gray with a reddish tint and begin feeding in May and end in June. The adult feeds on nectar, the larva eat willow and poplar leaves. They pupate well hidden between spun leaves. Hibernation is as an egg. This species and other Catocala moths have brightly coloured underwings, in this case orange, red, or pink. These are not visible at rest, being hidden by the dull forewings, but they help the moth avoid predators such as birds if it is disturbed during the day. As the red underwing moth takes off, the sudden flash of colour may confuse the attacker, and when it lands and immediately closes its wings it may seem to disappear as the colour is "switched off". It is also thought that the symmetrical patterned orange sections on the rear wings form the illusion of another smaller creature (butterfly), so the attacker will go for the colourful "small illusive" rear safe region on the main body of this red underwing moth species.


Catocala vidua, the widow underwing, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by James Edward Smith in 1797. It is found in North America from southern Ontario, into Maine, New Hampshire and Connecticut, south at least to Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama, west to Texas and Oklahoma, and north to Wisconsin.
The wingspan is 70–80 mm. Adults are on wing from August to October. There is one generation per year.
The larvae feed on Carya illinoinensis, Carya ovata, Carya pallida, Juglans cinerea, Juglans nigra, Quercus, Robinia pseudoacacia, and Salix.


Catopsilia pyranthe, the mottled emigrant, is a medium-sized butterfly of the family Pieridae found in south Asia, southeast Asia, and parts of Australia.


The upperside is chalky white, slightly tinted in some specimens with green. The forewing is with or without a discocellular black spot, that varies in size; costa and termen sometimes without a black margin; occasionally the costa has its apical third narrowly black, broadened slightly at the apex with black spots between the anterior veins; or again, the costa may be narrowly black, the apex very broadly so, and this colour continued down the termen but narrowed posteriorly. The hindwing is sometimes immaculate, but generally with narrow terminal black spots at the apices of the veins, these often reduced to mere dots, or again so broadened as to coalesce into a narrow terminal black margin.
The underside's ground colour is similar, suffused on the anterior half of the forewing and over the whole surface of the hindwing with a greenish tint that varies to an ochraceous yellow, and, except in the very palest specimens, is evenly irrorated (sprinkled) over the greenish or ochraceous-tinted areas with transverse, short, reddish-brown strigae; both forewings and hindwings with generally an obscure discocellular reddish-brown spot or indication thereof.


The upperside is as in the male, but sometimes with a suffusion of pale greenish yellow on the terminal third or fourth only of both forewings and hindwings, rarely of that tint throughout. The forewing is always with a discocellular black spot that varies very much in size; costa sometimes narrowly black with the basal half pinkish, in other specimens narrowly black throughout, the black broadened at the apex and continued along the anterior half of the termen in a series of inwardly-pointed black spots; or again, the costa may be more broadly black, that colour widened considerably at the apex and continued broadly down the termen to vein 3, then suddenly narrowed to a slender line at the tornus. In most specimens there is an anterior postdiscal short black macular baud; in the dark forms this coalesce with the black on apex and termen. The hindwing is sometimes immaculate, sometimes with a series of terminal spots at the apices of the veins, sometimes with a narrow dusky-black terminal band broadest near the apex, narrowed posteriorly to a slender line at the tornus. In the very dark specimens there is in addition an ill-defined, short anterior postdiscal macular black band.
The underside is as in the male, with similar variations, but in addition in most specimens the discocellular spots are well defined with an outer red ring that encircles a silvery spot; on the hindwing one or two similar spots on each side of the discocellulars; generally also both wings are crossed by a transverse postdiscal line of minute red spots, which on the forewing is confined to the anterior portion, on the hindwing is nearly complete. In both sexes: antennae reddish, head and thorax anteriorly brown, thorax clothed posteriorly with long white hairs, abdomen white: beneath: the palpi, thorax, and abdomen white.


The host plants of the species include Cassia species (e.g., C. fistula; C. javanica or C. roxburghii; C. bakeriana), Gnidia glauca, Senna occidentalis Senna species (e.g. S. alata; S. auriculata; S. garrettiana), Crotalaria species, Ormocarpum cochinchinense, Sesbania species and Colocasia.
The development period from egg to adult is 22 to 29 days allowing up to 11-12 generations a year.
Larva: "Long, somewhat depressed, rough, green, with a white lateral line and above it a black line more or less conspicuous, formed by minute black shining tubercles. In short, this larva in very like a big specimen of a Eurema hecabe".
Pupa: "Much stouter (i.e. than that of Eurema hecabe, and the keel formed by the wing-cases much less pronounced. The normal colour is pale green with a yellow lateral line. We have never found it on any plant except Senna occidentalis. It habitually rests on the upperside along the midrib, like almost all Pierine larvae." Davidson and Aitken, quoted in Bingham.


India, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Malaya and New Guinea.


Caulophyllum thalictroides, the blue cohosh, a species of Caulophyllum (family Berberidaceae) is a flowering plant in the Berberidaceae (barberry) family. It is a medium-tall perennial with blue berry-like fruits and bluish-green foliage. The name cohosh is probably from an Algonquian word meaning "rough".


From the single stalk rising from the ground, there is a single, large, three-branched leaf plus a fruiting stalk. The bluish-green leaflets are tulip-shaped, entire at the base, but serrate at the tip. Its species name, thalictroides, comes from the similarity between the large highly divided, multiple-compound leaves of meadow-rue (Thalictrum) and those of blue cohosh.
It is found in hardwood forests and favors moist coves and hillsides, generally in shady locations, in rich soil. It grows in eastern North America, from Manitoba and Oklahoma east to the Atlantic Ocean.
Some bees visit the petals' nectar glands early in the season.


The plant has been used as a medicinal herb by American Indians. Many Native American tribes, and later European herbologists and mid-wives, would use this herb in conjunction with other herbs and fluids for abortive and contraceptive purposes.
The seeds have also reportedly been used a coffee substitute.


Ceanothus americanus is a shrub growing between 18 and 42 in (0.5 and 1 m) high, having many thin branches. Its root system is thick with fibrous root hairs close to the surface, but with stout, burlish, woody roots that reach deep into the earth—root systems may grow very large in the wild, to compensate after repeated exposures to wildfires. White flowers grow in clumpy inflorescences on lengthy, axillary
peduncles. Fruits are dry, dehiscent, seed capsules.


Ceanothus americanus is common on dry plains, prairies, or similar untreed areas, on soils that are sandy or rocky. It can often be located in forest clearings or verges, on banks or lakeshores, and on gentle slopes.


Ceanothus americanus is found in Canada, in Ontario and Quebec. In the U.S., it is found in Alabama; Arkansas; Connecticut; Delaware; northern and central Florida; Georgia; Illinois; Indiana; Iowa; Kansas; Louisiana; Maine (in Oxford and Penobscot counties); Maryland; Massachusetts; Michigan; Minnesota; Mississippi; Missouri; Nebraska; New Hampshire; New Jersey; New York; North and South Carolina; Ohio; Oklahoma; Pennsylvania; Rhode Island; eastern and central Texas; Vermont; West Virginia; Wisconsin; and Virginia


During winter in the Ozarks of Missouri, its twigs are sought as food by the local deer; and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), in particular, will browse C. americanus year round.
The flowers of C. americanus are used as food by (and the shoots host the larvae of) butterflies in the genus Celastrina, including spring azure, and summer azure; and by Erynnis martialis (mottled duskywing) and Erynnis icelus (dreamy duskywing).
Ceanothus americanus seeds are consumed by wild turkeys and quail.


The red roots and root bark of New Jersey tea are used by Native Americans in North America for infections of the upper respiratory tract. The leaves have a fresh scent of wintergreen and were later utilized by the European colonizers as a tea substitute and stimulating caffeine-free beverage.  The root bark of the plant is used by herbalists today, and are used notably in remedies for problems of the lymph system. The root contains astringent tannins and a number of peptide alkaloids, including ceanothine A-E, pandamine, zizyphine, scutianine, and the adouetines. They have a mild hypotensive effect. Root and flower extracts can also be used as dyes.


Ceanothus cordulatus is a species of shrub in the family Rhamnaceae known by the common names mountain whitethorn and whitethorn ceanothus. It is native to California and adjacent sections of Oregon, Nevada, and Baja California, where it grows on mountain ridges and other forested areas. This is a spreading shrub growing usually wider than tall and up to about 1.5 meters. The stems are gray, with the twigs yellow-green in color and fuzzy in texture when new. The evergreen leaves are alternately arranged and up to 3 centimeters long. Each is oval in shape with three ribs and generally not toothed. The leaves may be hairy or not. The inflorescence is panicle-shaped, up to about 4 centimeters long. The flowers are white to off-white with five sepals and five petals. The fruit is a rough, ridged capsule up to half a centimeter long. It has three valves inside, each containing a seed. It is a nitrogen-fixing plant, that is uniquely abundant in old-growth forest conditions when compared to similar types of nitrogen-fixing plants. In addition, Ceanothus cordulatus is known to be an important source of nitrogen patches for significantly longer times than other similar post-disturbance successional shrubs, following disturbance events such as forest fires.


Ceanothus crassifolius is a species of flowering shrub known by the common name hoaryleaf ceanothus. This Ceanothus is found throughout the coastal mountain ranges of the southern half of California, and its range extends into Baja California.


Ceanothus crassifolius typically occurs in coastal and montane California chaparral habitat associations. Common flora associates are Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia) and Hollyleaf cherry (Prunus ilicifolia). The mountain range systems it is found in include the Southern California Coast Ranges, the Transverse Ranges, and the Peninsular Ranges.


Ceanothus crassifolius is an erect, spreading shrub which can exceed 3 metres (9.8 ft) in height. The branches become long and the younger twigs are fuzzy with white or light brown hairs. The small evergreen leaves have widely spaced teeth along the edges and the undersides are lighter in color and coated with hairs.
The inflorescences are borne on short stalks less than three centimeters long and are small and rounded with tiny white flowers. They can be quite dense and can cover branches thickly, or they may be sparse. The flowers are white, though may have a yellowish or pink tint.
The fruit is a horned capsule less than a centimeter wide.


Ceanothus herbaceus, also known as Jersey tea, is a species of shrub in the family Rhamnaceae and is similar to Ceanothus americanus and Ceanothus sanguineus.  It is a perennial shrub which is native to North America.


As for its binomial name, C. herbaceus has several vernacular names: narrow-leaved New Jersey tea, inland ceanothus, inland Jersey tea, prairie root, and smaller redroot.


Ceanothus herbaceus naturally occurs throughout North America.  It can be found in Canada from southeastern Manitoba to Quebec.  Within the United States, the plant can be found from Montana east to Massachusetts and Virginia.  They range south from Rocky Mountains to New Mexico, east to Arkansas and Louisiana.


The Jersey tea is a drought-tolerant species with roots that can develop up to 15 feet.  It grows in well-drained soils and in full sun. The basal shoots grows faster following a fire.
It is one of the host plants of the mottled duskywing (Erynnis martialis) in its Eastern-North American distribution.


Ceanothus herbaceus  is an erect shrub, ranging between 0.5 and 1 meter in height.  The shrub is mainly hemispheric in shape with its branches varying from ascending to spreading.  The distal branchlets, which grows from the main stem are flexible and have internodes between 12–31 mm long.  They are usually smooth in texture and green in color.  The bark of the stem is grayish brown, and the stipules, which are outgrowths on either side of the base of a leaf stalk, are thin and deciduous.
The leaves of the shrub are alternate and deciduous.  The petiole, which attaches the leaf blade to the stem, is approximately 3–5 mm long.  The leaf blades vary between 35–74 mm longitudinally and 10-32 mm laterally and come in a diverse shapes, including wide, narrowly elliptic to lanceolate, eventually narrowing to acute to obtuse point at the apex.  Three veins arise unevenly just above the leaf base. The leaves are serrated with rounded teeth around the margin; about 37-71 per leaf.  The upper surface of the leaf is dull green and nearly glabrous.  The lower surface is dull green with long, soft unmatted hair, often drying rusty brown.  The shrub has a terminal inflorescence which is approximately 15–30 mm long.  It is panicle-like and maintains a hemispheric shape.  Holding the inflorescence and providing it support is a long stem, known as peduncle.  It is typically 26–48 mm in length, usually with a few reduced leaves near the base.  Rachis, which is the main axis of the inflorescence, and peduncles are puberulent to somewhat tomentulose.  Pedicel, a stem that attaches single flower the main stem of the inflorescence, is about 5–11 mm long and often glabrous.


The small, white flowers of C. herbaceus in a dense, rounded cluster are about 0.5 to 0.75 inch wide.  It has its disk either dull white or greenish.  It has calyces with 5 incurved lobes and 5 petals and sepals.  The flower is spoon-shaped and clawed, that consists of 5 stamens.  The plant bears a fruit that is 3-4.5 mm wide.  The fruit is a three-lobed capsule about 3⁄16 inches in diameter that opens at maturity to release seeds. The seeds are usually brown and 2-2.5 mm long, and come in variety of shapes ranging from subglobose to ovoid.  The flowering occurs between March and August and fruiting between July and September. The flower attracts insects, which aid in pollination.  The fruit attracts birds, including bobwhite quail, that feed on the seeds.  It also serves as a host plant to the azure blue butterfly.


The Ojibwe take a decoction of the root as a cough remedy. The Brulé Lakota brew the leaves into a tea.  The plant is grown as an ornament, and has a symbiotic relationship with a nitrogen-fixing bacteria. In current day, the properties of the roots, help treat asthma, bronchitis and coughs.  The flowers are rich in saponins and can be used to produce soap.


Ceanothus herbaceus is an endangered species in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, New York, Ohio, and Vermont.


Ceanothus leucodermis, with the common names chaparral whitethorn or chaparral white thorn, is a species of shrub in the family Rhamnaceae. This Ceanothus is an importance browse for several types of ungulate, such as the mule deer and bighorn sheep, who prefer the new growth and shoots to the older, spiny parts.


It is native to California and Baja California, where it grows in coastal and inland mountain habitat, such as chaparral, coniferous forest, and oak woodland.


Ceanothus leucodermis is a thorny shrub growing erect to heights approaching 4 meters. The bark is gray-white, waxy, and somewhat hairy, especially when new. The twigs harden into sharp-tipped thorns as they age. The evergreen leaves are alternately arranged, oval in shape and up to about 4 centimeters long. The edges are smooth or lined with tiny glandular teeth. Leaves are covered with a delicate, white powdery coating that can be rubbed off. Stipules, the small leaf-like structures on the stem at the base of the stem of the leaf (petiole), are thin and fall off early, compared to other members of the genus.
The inflorescence is a long, stalked cluster of flowers in shades of blue, lavender, or white. The fruit is a sticky, three-lobed capsule about half a centimeter long. Fruits do not have horns, as do some other members of this genus.


Ceanothus prostratus is a decumbent (or "mat-forming") shrub, generally less than 0.3 meters tall and spreading laterally to up to 3 meters. Its evergreen leaves are oppositely arranged and generally oval in shape with 3-9 sharp teeth along the margins. The inflorescence is umbel-like, with flowers of blue, purple, or lavender that bloom between April and June. Its fruit is small and rounded with horned lobes.


Ceanothus prostratus grows in the understory of mixed conifer forests, from foothills to subalpine areas. It also inhabits open flats and ridges in areas of low chaparral as well as dry interior forest ecosystems. It can be found from elevations ranging between 270–2700 meters above sea level.


Ceanothus prostratus is found throughout the Pacific Northwest, ranging through Washington, Oregon, western Idaho, western Nevada, and south into northern California. The southern extent of its natural range is the central Sierra Nevada mountains. Given its elevational range, this plant is also native to many of the other mountain ranges of the Pacific Northwest, including the Klamaths, Siskiyous, Cascades, and Warner Mountains.


Ceanothus prostratus is part of the subgenus Cerastes, a clade of Ceanothus that is generally characterized by traits like opposite leaves, persistent corky stipules, and horned fruits (hence the name "Cerastes" which comes from the Greek for "having horns"). This subgenus likely began diversifying at the beginning of the Pliocene roughly 6 million years ago, when cool, dry conditions combined with the uplift of the Coast Ranges to create new and diverse habitats. The closest relatives of C. prostratus within the subgenus Cerastes are Ceanothus pinetorum and Ceanothus purpureus, based on a phylogeny produced in a 2011 paper.
Ceanothus prostratus is a common nitrogen-fixing shrub, often found with Purshia tridentata. Together, their combined nitrogen additions to the soil of their habitats may account for 10-60% of annual nitrogen input in those ecosystems. It is also one of only two plants (along with Ceanothus diversifolius) known to be a host for the parasitic plant Cuscuta jepsonii, a dodder which until recently was thought to be extinct but could still be surviving and parasitizing C. prostratus in northern California.
Ceanothus prostratus is one of many plants in the region that colonize logged areas, forming brushfields in the wake of timber harvests when more light reaches the ground.
Ceanothus prostratus is present in plant communities alongside species such as Abies magnifica, Arctostaphylos patula, Arctostaphylos nevadensis, Pinus albicaulis, Pinus contorta, Pinus Jeffreyi, Pinus ponderosa, Quercus vaccinifolia, and Tsuga mertensiana.


There are two varieties of Ceanothus prostratus.
C. prostratus var. occidentalis (McMinn) occurs in the Coast Ranges and Klamath Mountains of northern California, ranging in elevation from 270–1400 m. It forms as more of a low mound than a mat, exhibits a leaf blade folded lengthwise, and has fruit with spreading horns.
C. prostratus var. prostratus is the more widespread of the two subspecies, covering the majority of the range of C. prostratus. It ranges in elevation from 800–2700 m throughout the Klamath Mountains, Coast Ranges, High Cascades, High Sierra Nevada, and the Modoc Plateau. C. prostratus var. prostratus forms as a mat, has a generally unfolded leaf, and produces fruit with erect horns.


Ceanothus spinosus, with the common names greenbark and redheart, is a species of Ceanothus. It is native to southern California and northern Baja California, where it grows in the scrub and chaparral of the coastal mountain ranges.


Ceanothus spinosus is a large treelike shrub approaching 6 metres (20 ft) in maximum height.


Leaves have a single main vein rising from the leaf base. The thick, firm evergreen leaves are hairless, oval, and up to an inch wide, with smooth margins.
The bark is smooth and olive green, giving rise to its common name. The stem is a rough-barked trunk near the base. Branches are stiff and sharp, or spiny, at the tips. "Ceanothus" means "spiny plant" in Greek, and the species name, "spinosus", means that it is even more spiny.
The stipules (small leaf-like structures at the base of the leaf stem) are thin and fall off early.


The shrub blooms in inflorescences up to 15 centimeters long filled with clusters of white to pale blue flowers. The fruit is a smooth, round capsule about half a centimeter wide containing three lobes.
Fruits do not have horns, as do some other members of the genus.
It blooms from February to May.


Ceanothus thyrsiflorus, known as blueblossom or blue blossom ceanothus, is an evergreen shrub in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae that is endemic to Oregon and California in the US. The term 'Californian lilac' is also applied to this and other varieties of ceanothus, though it is not closely related to Syringa, the true lilac.


Ceanothus thyrsiflorus can grow more than 6 metres (20 feet) tall and broad in its native chaparral habitat, with glossy green leaves. The clusters of tiny flowers, borne in spring, vary from different shades of blue to close to white. The evergreen leaves are shiny and about 4 centimetres (1+1⁄2 inches) long.


It is popular with birds, butterflies, and other pollinators. It is often visited by honeybees for its pollen.


Ceanothus thyrsiflorus has been used in gardens extensively. It prefers a warm, sheltered position in full sun. Several cultivars have been selected, including:
'Blue Mound' which can grow to 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) tall
'Cascade' which may reach 8 m (26 ft) of height
'El Dorado', a variegated cultivar with gold edge foliage and powder blue flowers
'Repens' which stays as a shrub around 1–3 m (3 ft 3 in – 9 ft 10 in) tall
'Repens Victoria', forming a sturdy evergreen mound and most useful groundcover with powder blue flowers
'Skylark', a tall type with blue flowers (this cultivar has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit)
'Snow Flurry', with white flowers


Ceanothus velutinus, with the common names snowbrush ceanothus, red root, and tobacco brush, is a species of shrub in the family Rhamnaceae. It is native to western North America from British Columbia to California to Colorado, where it grows in several habitat types including coniferous forest, chaparral, and various types of woodland.


Ceanothus velutinus grows up to 4 meters tall but generally remains under three, and forms colonies of individuals which tangle together to form nearly impenetrable thickets. The aromatic evergreen leaves are alternately arranged, each up to 8 centimeters long. The leaves are oval in shape with minute glandular teeth along the edges, and shiny green and hairless on the top surface.
The plentiful inflorescences are long clusters of white flowers. The fruit is a three-lobed capsule a few millimeters long which snaps open explosively to expel the three seeds onto the soil, where they may remain in a buried seed bank for well over 200 years before sprouting. The seed is coated in a very hard outer layer that must be scarified, generally by wildfire, before it can germinate. Like most other ceanothus, this species fixes nitrogen via actinomycetes in its root nodules.


Deer and elk browse the plant during winter.
Some Plateau Indian tribes drank a boil of this plant to induce sweating as a treatment for colds, fevers, and influenza. Leaves were also used when rinsing to help prevent dandruff.
Ceanothus velutinus was known as "red root" by many Native American tribes due to the color of the inner root bark, and was used as a medicine for treating lymphatic disorders, ovarian cysts, fibroid tumors, and tonsillitis.  Clinical studies of the alkaloid compounds in C. velutinus has verified its effectiveness in treating high blood pressure and lymphatic blockages.


The lesser striped swallow (Cecropis abyssinica) is a large swallow. It breeds in Sub-Saharan Africa from Sierra Leone and southern Sudan south into eastern South Africa. It is partially migratory with South African birds wintering further north. West African birds leave the north of the breeding range in the dry season.


This is a bird of wooded, mainly lowland habitats. The lesser striped swallow prefers less open habitats, and is replaced in montane grassland by the greater striped swallow, Hirundo cucullata. It is common and often found around human habitation.


It feeds mainly on flying insects, but has been known to eat small fruits. The flight is erratic, and the call is a nasal zeh zeh zeh zeh zeh.


The red-rumped swallow (Cecropis daurica) is a small passerine bird in the swallow family. It breeds in open hilly country of temperate southern Europe and Asia from Portugal and Spain to Japan, India, Sri Lanka and tropical Africa. The Indian and African birds are resident, but European and other Asian birds are migratory. They winter in Africa or India and are vagrants to Christmas Island and northern Australia.
Red-rumped swallows are somewhat similar in habits and appearance to the other aerial insectivores, such as the related swallows and the unrelated swifts (order Apodiformes). They have blue upperparts and dusky underparts.
They resemble barn swallows, but are darker below and have pale or reddish rumps, face and neck collar. They lack a breast band, but have black undertails. They are fast fliers and they swoop on insects while airborne. They have broad but pointed wings.
Red-rumped swallows build quarter-sphere nests with a tunnel entrance lined with mud collected in their beaks, and lay 3 to 6 eggs. They normally nest under cliff overhangs in their mountain homes, but will readily adapt to buildings such as mosques and bridges.
They do not normally form large breeding colonies, but are gregarious outside the breeding season. Many hundreds can be seen at a time on the plains of India.


The red-rumped swallow was formally described by Finnish-Swedish clergyman, explorer and natural scientist Erik Laxmann in 1769 as Hirundo daurica, using a specimen from Mount Schlangen, near Zmeinogorsk, Russia. It is now usually placed in the genus Cecropis created by German scientist Friedrich Boie in 1826, although it is arguable how distinct this genus is from Hirundo, and some authorities retain it in that genus. Boie's genus name Cecropis is from the Ancient Greek for an Athenian woman.  The specific daurica is derived from Dauria, a mountainous region to the east of Lake Baikal in Russia. The alternative genus Hirundo is the Latin word for "swallow". Some authorities consider the West African swallow to be a subspecies of the red-rumped swallow.
This species is believed to form a superspecies complex with Cecropis striolata. The widely distributed population shows a lot of variation and several have been named as subspecies.  Many of these are migratory and overlap in their wintering ranges and field identification of these forms is not reliable. The Sri Lankan breeding population hyperythra is a resident, and are now usually considered a distinct species, the Sri Lanka swallow. The underparts are deep chestnut and the nuchal collar is not well marked.
The population in mainland India, C. d. erythropygia, has the rump patch uniform dark chestnut without any dark shaft-streaks. The tail fork is shallow and the white patch on the inner web of the outer-tail feathers is indistinct. C. d. japonica breeds in eastern Asia and winters in Thailand, Burma, India and northern Australia. They are heavily streaked on the underside and have faint streaks on the rump. The population along the Himalayas, C. d. nipalensis, migrates to peninsular India in winter and breeds from Kulu in the west to Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh in the east. This population has the rump paler with dark shaft streaks. Subspecies C. d. rufula of Southern Europe, the Iberian Peninsula east to Baluchistan and Kashmir is resident and winters further south. The chestnut of rump fades to white towards the tail base. The nominate population breeds in Mongolia and Trans-Baikailia wintering in South and Southeast Asia. Subspecies C. d. gephyra of inner Mongolia is considered indistinguishable from the nominate subspecies. The African populations include C. d. kumboensis from the highlands of Sierra Leone and Cameroon; C. d. melanocrissus of the Ethiopian highlands and C. d. emini of Sudan, Uganda, Kenya and Zambia. Many of the variations are separable only on tail and wing lengths and these vary with overlap across populations.


The red-rumped swallow breeds across southern Europe and Asia east to southern Siberia and Japan. These populations, along with Moroccan birds,  are migratory, wintering in sub-Saharan Africa or south Asia. There are resident races in Africa in a broad belt from West Africa east to Ethiopia and then south to Tanzania, and most Indian and Sri Lanka breeders are also year-round residents. The African and Asian subspecies may undertake local seasonal movements. This species is a regular vagrant outside its breeding range.


These swallows are usually found over grassland where they hawk insects. They may sometimes take advantage of grass fires and grazing cattle that flush insects into the air.


It is thought that the sequence "open-nest" to "closed nest" to "retort nest" represents the evolutionary development in the mud-building swallows, and individual species follow this order of construction. A retort builder like red-rumped swallow starts with an open cup, closes it, and then builds the entrance tunnel. It has been proposed that the development of closed nests reduced competition between males for copulations with the females. Since mating occurs inside the nest, the difficulty of access means other males are excluded. This reduction in competition permits the dense breeding colonies typical of the Delichon and Petrochelidon genera, but colonial breeding is not inevitable; most Cecropis species are solitary nesters.


The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is the organisation responsible for assessing the conservation status of species. A species is assessed as subject to varying levels of threat if it has a small, fragmented or declining range, or if the total population is less than 10,000 mature individuals, or numbers have dropped by more than 10% in ten years or with a continuing decline over generations. The red-rumped swallow has a huge range and a population numbered in millions. It is not known to be seriously declining in range or numbers, so it is classed as Least Concern.
The red-rumped swallow is extending its range northward in Europe, colonising France and Romania in recent decades. The European population is estimated at 100,000 to 430,000 breeding pairs or 300,000 to 1,290,000 individuals.


BirdLife International (2017) [amended version of 2016 assessment]. "Cecropis daurica". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017: e.T103812643A111238464. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-1.RLTS.T103812643A111238464.en. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
Laxmann, Erik (July 1769). "Hirundo daurica, area temporali rubica, Uropygio luteo rufescente". Kungliga Vetenskaps Academiens Handlingar (in Swedish). 30 (3): 209, plate 7.
Dickinson, E. C.; Ericson, P. G. P. (2002). "Systematic notes on Asian birds. 32. The type locality of Hirundo daurica Laxmann, 1769". Zoologische Verhandelingen, Leiden. 340: 205–206. ISBN 90-73239-84-2. ISSN 0024-1652.
Prior to the Dickinson paper, the type location had been listed as "the Sung-hua Chiang, Heilungkiang, China near its confluence
with the Amur River" as, for example, in Turner (1989) pp. 201–204
Boie, Heinrich (1826). "Generalübersicht der ornithologischen Ordnungen, Familien und Gattungen". Isis von Oken (in German). 19. column 971
Turner (1989) p. 9
"Red-rumped Swallow Hirundo daurica BirdLife species factsheet". BirdLife International. Retrieved 3 January 2010
Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 96. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
Lewis, Charlton T. (1888). A Latin dictionary for schools. Harper & Brothers. ISBN 0-19-910204-X.
"Cecropis domicella - Avibase". avibase.bsc-eoc.org. Retrieved 2017-05-05.
Ali, S.; Ripley, S. D. (1986). Handbook of the birds of India and Pakistan. Vol. 5 (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 66–72.
Dickinson, E. C.; Dekker, R. W. R. J. (2001). "Systematic notes on Asian birds. 13. A preliminary review of the Hirundinidae". Zool. Verh. Leiden. 335: 127–144. ISSN 0024-1652.
Turner (1989) pp. 201–204
Phillips, W. W. A. (January 1953). "A grass-fire association of the Ceylon Swallow Hirundo daurica hyperythra". Ibis. 95 (1): 142. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919x.1953.tb00674.x.
Winkler, David W.; Sheldon, Frederick H. (June 1993). "Evolution of nest construction in swallows (Hirundinidae): a molecular phylogenetic perspective". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. 90 (12): 5705–5707. Bibcode:1993PNAS...90.5705W. doi:10.1073/pnas.90.12.5705. PMC 46790. PMID 8516319.


The holly blue (Celastrina argiolus) is a butterfly that belongs to the lycaenids or blues family and is native to the Palearctic.
The holly blue has pale silver-blue wings spotted with pale ivory dots. Seitz describes it "Male above shining violet blue, only the apical portion of the costal margin being minutely edged with white. The female has both wings broadly bordered with dark, the margin of the hindwing bearing vestiges of ocelli. Underside silver-white, in the disc a row of black dots, some of which are elongate, and before the margin blackish shadowy dots. Egg very flat, whitish. Larva green or brown, marked with yellowish white, bearing catenulate stripes on the back, on segment 7 a gland to attract ants; head brown. On Ivy, Ilex, Evonymus, Rhamnus, Robinia, Genista, Spartium, Astragalus, Rubus, Erica, Pyrus and many other plants; in Europe visited usually by ants of the genus Lasius; in June and the autumn. Pupa mostly fastened to the underside of a leaf, ochreous with brown spots and markings. The butterflies in the spring and again in July, occasionally a third time at the end of August and in September, everywhere common, particularly at the flowers of ivy and brambles." In Europe, the first generation feeds mainly on the holly species Ilex aquifolium but the second generation uses a range of food plants.
The holly blue is the national butterfly of Finland.


This species was originally described as Papilio argiolus by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, and refers to the examples flying in Europe. In their monograph on the Lycaenopsis group of polyommatine genera, Eliot & Kawazoe, 1983, list 14 taxa as valid subspecies names, plus many further synonyms to which they accord lesser status. According to Eliot & Kawazoe, 1983, these 14 subspecies are divided into four groups as follows:
The argiolus group
Palaearctic & North African
C. a. argiolus
C. a. bieneri
C. a. hypoleuca
=paraleuca Rober
C. a. mauretanica
=algirica Oberthur
The kollari group
South and South-East Asian
C. a. iynteana
=sikkima Moore
=victoria Swinhoe
=herophilus Fruhstorfer
=cition Fruhstorfer
=bothrinoides Chapman
=puspargiolus Chapman
=albocaeruloides Chapman
C. a. kollari
=kasmira Moore
=coelestina Kollar
=trita Swinhoe
The ladonides group
Far Eastern
C. a. caphis
=crimissa Fruhstorfer
C. a. ladonides
=levettii Butler
=sachalinensis Esaki
=heringi Kardakoff
C. a. sugurui


In India, C. argiolus is known as the hill hedge blue.


Celastrina echo, known generally as the echo azure or western azure, is a species of blue in the butterfly family Lycaenidae.
The MONA or Hodges number for Celastrina echo is 4363.2.


These four subspecies belong to the species Celastrina echo:
Celastrina echo cinerea (W. H. Edwards, 1883) (southwestern azure)
Celastrina echo echo (W. H. Edwards, 1864) (Pacific azure)
Celastrina echo nigrescens (J. Fletcher, 1903) (northwestern azure)
Celastrina echo sidara (Clench, 1944) (Rocky Mountain azure)


Celastrina ladon, the spring azure or echo blue, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found in North America from Alaska and Canada south of the tundra, through most of the United States except the Texas coast, southern plain and peninsula Florida; south in the mountains to Colombia. Also on Molokai island, Hawaii.
Since the publication of a monograph on the Lycaenopsis group of lycaenid genera in 1983 by Eliot & Kawazoe, C. ladon has been considered by some taxonomic authorities to be a subspecies of C. argiolus (Linnaeus, 1758). Other authorities still consider C. ladon and related species C. neglecta and C. serotina, to be "full" species.
Its wingspan is 22-35 mm. The metallic blue wings have a black margin in females. Undersides of the wings are white with speckles.


The calico pennant (Celithemis elisa) is a species of dragonfly in the family Libellulidae. It is native to eastern Canada and eastern United States.


This dragonfly is 24 to 34 millimeters long, with a hindwing 25 to 30 millimeters long. It can be identified by the brown spots at the bases and tips of the wings. The pterostigma is yellow in younger individuals, and red in older. The face is yellow, turning red in older male specimens. The thorax is yellow-brown with a large dark stripe and several smaller brown stripes. The abdomen is dark with paler markings.


This species lives near calm water bodies surrounded by vegetation.


Celithemis martha, or Martha's pennant, is a species of skimmer in the dragonfly family Libellulidae. It is found in North America. This species is named in honor of entomologist Martha Wadsworth.
The IUCN conservation status of Celithemis martha is "LC", least concern, with no immediate threat to the species' survival. The population is stable. The IUCN status was reviewed in 2017.


Celmisia spectabilis is one of the more widespread species in the mountainous areas of New Zealand, where it is commonly known as the cotton daisy.  Belonging to the family Asteraceae, this species has leathery leaves that are ovate to lanceolate or narrowly oblong, and can reach 30 cm long. They have a shiny, green upper surface, with prominent parallel grooves, but their undersides are densely covered in soft, whitish or buff-coloured hairs. The leaf bases overlap and compact to form a stout pseudostem. Plants can form mats up to 2 m across.
The flower stems reach 30 cm tall and are densely covered with white hairs. A showy solitary flower head, 3–5 cm across, is borne at the end of each stem. The numerous ray florets are white and the disc florets yellow.


Joseph Hooker described it in 1844, in the first volume of his Flora Antarctica. The specimens he studied were collected by the English botanist John Bidwill in 1839 on Mt Tongariro, on New Zealand's North Island.


Celmisia spectabilis has many pollinators. Some examples include Melangyna novaezelandiae and Leioproctus.


Celosia argentea, commonly known as the plumed cockscomb or silver cock's comb, is a herbaceous plant of tropical origin, and is known for its very bright colors. In India and China it is known as a troublesome weed.


Celosia argentea is a tender annual that is often grown in gardens. It blooms in mid-spring to summer. It is propagated by seeds. The seeds are extremely small, up to 43,000 seeds per ounce. The flowers are hermaphrodites and the plant also exhibits dodecaploidy.


As these plants are of tropical origin, they grow best in full sunlight and should be placed in a well-drained area. Full sunlight means they should get at least 8 hours of direct sunlight. For healthy growth plant them in the area where they get early morning sunlight and afternoon shade. In the afternoon the sunlight are mostly harsh especially in hot summer. Afternoon shade will save the plant from excessive heat. The flowerheads can last up to 8 weeks, and further growth can be promoted by removing dead flowers.


Celosia argentea var. cristata 'Flamingo Feathers' is a cultivar that can grow up to 2 feet in height. The colors are predominantly pink to light violet, and the leaves are a darker green than other cultivars. The Century cultivars are usually taller (1–2 feet), and are bright red, yellow, orange, or pink. The Kimono cultivars are generally smaller (4 inches – 1 foot), and have more muted colors, though similar to the Century cultivars. Other colors, such as white, burgundy, orange-red, etc., can be found. Certain varieties will grow to 3–4 feet in height.Celosia plumosa, also known as Prince of Wales feathers, is a synonym for Celosia argentea. Seeds may be sold as mixtures.
The following strains have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit (confirmed 2017):
C. argentea var. cristata (Plumosa Group) 'Smart Look Red'
C. argentea var. cristata (Plumosa Group) 'Fresh Look Orange' (Fresh Look Group)
C. argentea var. cristata (Plumosa Group) 'Glow Red'
C. argentea var. cristata (Plumosa Group) 'Century Rose' (Century Group)
C. argentea var. cristata (Spicata Group) 'Flamingo Feather'


It is used in Africa to help control growth of the parasitic Striga plant. It can also be used in soaps.


The leaves and flowers are edible and are grown for such use in Africa and Southeast Asia. Celosia argentea var. argentea or "Lagos spinach" is one of the main boiled greens in West Africa, where it is known as soko yòkòtò (Yoruba) or farar áláyyafó (Hausa).


Celtis laevigata is a medium-sized tree native to North America.  Common names include sugarberry, Southern hackberry, or in the southern U.S. sugar hackberry or just hackberry.
Sugarberry is easily confused with common hackberry (C. occidentalis) where the range overlaps.  Sugarberry has narrower leaves with mostly smooth margins, the berries are juicier and sweeter, while the bark is less corky. The species can also be distinguished by habitat: where the ranges overlap, common hackberry occurs primarily in upland areas, whereas sugarberry occurs mainly in bottomland areas.
Sugarberry's range extends from the Eastern United States west to Texas and south to northeastern Mexico. It is also found on the island of Bermuda.