Birds, bears, and small mammals eat the berries. Deer and some livestock forage the foliage.


The species is cultivated in the specialty horticulture trade with limited availability as an ornamental plant: for natural landscaping, native plant, and habitat gardens; wildlife gardens; and restoration projects.  Another cultivated species of similar size and habitats is the evergreen Vaccinium ovatum (evergreen huckleberry).
As a crop plant (along with the other huckleberries of the genus in western North America), it is not currently grown on a large commercial agriculture scale, despite efforts to make this possible.  It requires acidic soil (pH of 4.5 to 6) and does not tolerate root disturbance.


Indigenous peoples of North America—including the Bear River Band, Karok, and Pomo tribes—found the plant and its fruit very useful. The bright red, acidic berries were used extensively for food throughout the year. Fresh berries were eaten in large quantities, or used for fish bait because of the slight resemblance to salmon eggs. Berries were also dried for later use. Dried berries were stewed and made into sauces, or mixed with salmon roe and oil to eat at winter feasts.
The bark or leaves of the plant were brewed for a bitter cold remedy, made as tea or smoked. The branches were used as brooms, and the twigs were used to fasten western skunk cabbage leaves into berry baskets.
Huckleberries can be eaten fresh or dried or prepared as a tea or jelly.


Vaccinium stamineum, commonly known as deerberry, tall deerberry, squaw huckleberry, highbush huckleberry, buckberry, and southern gooseberry, is a species of flowering plant in the heath family. It is native to North America, including Ontario, the eastern and central United States, and parts of Mexico. It is most common in the southeastern United States.


This species is quite variable in morphology. It is a shrub usually growing up to 1.5 meters (60 inches or 5 feet) tall, but reaching up to 3 meters (10 feet) at times. It has multiple twisted trunks covered in peeling reddish bark and is highly branched, tapering into thin twigs, some just a millimeter wide. It is deciduous, with alternately arranged leaves. The thin leaf blades are yellow-green, sometimes hairy or waxy in texture, especially on the undersides, and oval in shape with pointed tips and smooth edges. They are up to 7 centimeters (2.8 inches) long by 2.5 cm (1 inch) wide. The flowers are borne in hanging inflorescences from the leaf axils. Each flower has five green sepals and a bell-shaped corolla of five fused white petals about half a centimeter (0.2 inches) long. The long, yellow stamens protrude, bearing long, tubular anthers. The style is longer than the stamens. The fruit is a spherical berry about a centimeter wide. It is greenish or yellowish, often with a purple tinge.


This plant usually grows in dry, rocky habitat types in forests and fields, but it sometimes occurs in moist areas such as bogs and swamps. It grows in acidic, well-drained soils. It is wildfire-adapted and associated with fire-tolerant vegetation.
It establishes via seed, and commonly spreads via woody rhizomes, with a single plant forming what appears to be a thicket with many trunks. Because most of the mass of the plant is underground, it easily survives fire and the above-ground parts grow back.
The fruits are large for a Vaccinium species. They are an important food source for many kinds of wildlife. They are eagerly consumed by deer along with the twigs and foliage, the inspiration for the common names deerberry and buckberry. Smaller animals gather fallen fruits from the ground. They are food for many songbirds, ruffed grouse, bobwhite quail, wild turkey, foxes, raccoons, black bears, chipmunks, and squirrels.
The plant is pollinated by bees, the primary pollinator being Melitta americana. Bees dislodge, accumulate, and disperse pollen with buzz pollination while foraging nectar from the bell-shaped flowers. This species is a host to the blueberry maggot (Rhagoletis mendax) a pest of blueberry crops.


The fruit is edible for humans, and the taste has been described as tart, sour, bitter, or "sweet-spicy tasting, a little reminiscent of lady's perfume". The skin is often bitter, but some localized populations of plants yield more palatable fruit. It has long been collected in the southern United States for preserves and pie filling.


Vaccinium vitis-idaea, the lingonberry, partridgeberry, mountain cranberry or cowberry, is a small evergreen shrub in the heath family Ericaceae, that bears edible fruit. It is native to boreal forest and Arctic tundra throughout the Northern Hemisphere, from Europe and Asia to North America. Lingonberries are picked in the wild and used to accompany a variety of dishes in Northern Baltoscandia, Russia, Canada and Alaska. Commercial cultivation is undertaken in the U.S. Pacific Northwest and in many other regions of the world.


Vaccinium vitis-idaea is most commonly known in English as 'lingonberry' or 'cowberry'. The name 'lingonberry' originates from the Swedish name lingon for the species, and is derived from the Norse lyngr, or heather.
The genus name Vaccinium is a classical Latin name for a plant, possibly the bilberry or hyacinth, and may be derived from the Latin bacca, 'berry'. The specific name is derived from Latin vitis ('vine') and idaea, the feminine form of idaeus (literally 'from Mount Ida', used in reference to raspberries Rubus idaeus).
There are at least 25 other common English names of Vaccinium vitis-idaea worldwide, including:
foxberry
quailberry
bearberry
beaverberry
mountain cranberry
red whortleberry
lowbush cranberry
cougarberry
mountain bilberry
partridgeberry (in Newfoundland and Cape Breton Island)
redberry (in Labrador and the Lower North Shore of Quebec)


Vaccinium vitis-idaea spreads by underground stems to form dense clonal colonies. Slender and brittle roots grow from the underground stems. The stems are rounded in cross-section and grow from 10 to 40 cm (4 to 16 in) in height. Leaves grow alternately and are oval, 5–30 mm (1⁄4–1+1⁄8 in) long, with a slightly wavy margin, and sometimes with a notched tip.
The flowers are bell-shaped, white to pale pink, 3–8 mm (1⁄8–3⁄8 in) long, and produced in the early summer.
The fruit is a red berry 6–10 mm (1⁄4–3⁄8 in) across, with an acidic taste, ripening in late summer to autumn. While bitter early in the season, they sweeten if left on the branch through winter.


The plant is endangered in Michigan. The minus subspecies is listed as a species of special concern and believed extirpated in Connecticut.


Vaccinium vitis-idaea keeps its leaves all winter even in the coldest years, unusual for a broad-leaved plant, though in its natural habitat it is usually protected from severe cold by snow cover. It is extremely hardy, tolerating temperatures as low as −40 °C (−40 °F) or lower, but grows poorly where summers are hot. It prefers some shade (as from a forest canopy) and constantly moist, acidic soil. Nutrient-poor soils are tolerated but not alkaline soils.


There are two regional varieties or subspecies of V. vitis-idaea, one in Eurasia and one in North America, differing in leaf size:
V. vitis-idaea var. vitis-idaea L. — syn. V. vitis-idaea subsp. vitis-idaea.
Cowberry. Eurasia. Leaves 10–30 mm (1⁄2–1+1⁄4 in) long.
V. vitis-idaea var. minus Lodd. — syn. V. vitis-idaea subsp. minus (Lodd.) Hultén.
Lingonberry. North America. Leaves 5–18 mm (1⁄4–3⁄4 in) long.


Lingonberry has been commercially cultivated in the Netherlands and other countries since the 1960s. Empress Elizabeth ordered lingonberry to be planted all over Peterhof in 1745.
Some cultivars are grown for their ornamental rather than culinary value. In the United Kingdom, the Koralle Group has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.


The berries collected in the wild are a popular fruit in northern, central and eastern Europe, notably in Nordic countries, the Baltic states, central and northern Europe. In some areas, they can be picked legally on both public and private lands in accordance with the freedom to roam.
The berries are quite tart, so they are often cooked and sweetened before eating in the form of lingonberry jam, compote, juice, smoothie or syrup. The raw fruits are also frequently simply mashed with sugar, which preserves most of their nutrients and taste. This mix can be stored at room temperature in closed but not necessarily sealed containers, but in this condition, they are best preserved frozen. Fruit served this way or as compote often accompanies game and liver dishes.
In Sweden, Finland and Norway, reindeer and elk steaks are traditionally served with gravy and lingonberry sauce. Preserved fruit is commonly eaten with meatballs, as well as potato pancakes. A traditional Swedish dessert is lingonpäron (literally 'lingonberry pears'), consisting of fresh pears which are peeled, boiled and preserved in lingondricka (lingonberry juice) and is commonly eaten during Christmas. This was very common in old times, because it was an easy and tasty way to preserve pears. In Sweden and Russia, when sugar was still a luxury item, the berries were usually preserved simply by putting them whole into bottles of water. This was known as vattlingon (watered lingonberries); the procedure preserved them until next season. This was also a home remedy against scurvy.
This traditional Russian soft drink, known as "lingonberry water", is mentioned by Alexander Pushkin in Eugene Onegin. In Russian folk medicine, lingonberry water was used as a mild laxative. A traditional Finnish dish is sautéed reindeer (poronkäristys) with mashed potatoes and lingonberries on the side, either raw, thawed or as a jam. In Finland, whipped semolina pudding flavored with lingonberry (puolukkapuuro) is also popular. In Poland, the berries are often mixed with pears to create a sauce served with poultry or game. The berries can also be used to replace redcurrants when creating Cumberland sauce.
The berries are also popular as a wild picked fruit in Eastern Canada, for example in Newfoundland and Labrador and Cape Breton, where they are locally known as partridgeberries or redberries, and on the mainland of Nova Scotia, where they are known as foxberries. In this region they are incorporated into jams, syrups, and baked goods, such as pies, scones, and muffins.
In Sweden lingonberries are often sold as jam and juice, and as a key ingredient in dishes. They are used to make Lillehammer berry liqueur; and, in East European countries, lingonberry vodka is sold, and vodka with lingonberry juice or mors is a popular cocktail.
The berries are an important food for bears and foxes, and many fruit-eating birds. Caterpillars of the case-bearer moths Coleophora glitzella, Coleophora idaeella and Coleophora vitisella are obligate feeders on V. vitis-idaea leaves.


The berries contain plentiful organic acids, vitamin C, vitamin A (as beta carotene), B vitamins (B₁, B₂, B₃), and the elements potassium, calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus.


In traditional medicine, V. vitis-idaea was used as an apéritif and astringent. The Upper Tanana ate the berries or used their juice to treat minor respiratory disorders.


Vaccinium vitis-idaea differs from the related cranberries in having white flowers with petals partially enclosing the stamens and stigma, rather than pink flowers with petals reflexed backwards, and rounder, less pear-shaped berries.
Hybrids between Vaccinium vitis-idaea and Vaccinium myrtillus, named Vaccinium × intermedium Ruthe, are occasionally found in Europe.


Vachellia cornigera, commonly known as bullhorn acacia (family Fabaceae), is a swollen-thorn tree native to Mexico and Central America. The common name of "bullhorn" refers to the enlarged, hollowed-out, swollen thorns (technically called stipular spines) that occur in pairs at the base of leaves, and resemble the horns of a steer. In Yucatán (one region where the bullhorn acacia thrives) it is called "subín", in Panamá the locals call them "cachito" (little horn). The trees are commonly found in wet lowlands


Bullhorn acacias are often found as 10 meter (33 ft.) trees. Their bark is gray to brown in color and has small furrows.  The new growth of the branches is a reddish brown color and is covered in a pubescence, or a covering of small hairs. The leaves are alternate with a pair of stipular spines where the leaf connects to the branch. The spines can vary widely in color from brown, red, and yellow. The spines are home to ants that protect the plant from herbivory. Beltian bodies can be found at the tips of the leaves.  They are full of fats and sugars that feed the ants.  The tree also produces carbohydrate-rich nectar from glands on its leaf stalk. This type of relationship is called myrmecophily.


Bullhorn acacia is best known for its symbiotic relationship with Pseudomyrmex ferruginea, an ant that lives in its hollowed-out thorns. Unlike other acacias, bullhorn acacias are deficient in the bitter alkaloids usually located in the leaves that defend against ravaging insects and animals. Bullhorn acacia ants fulfill that role.
The ants act as a defense mechanism for the tree, protecting it against harmful insects, animals or humans that may come into contact with it. The ants live in the thorns. In return, the tree supplies the ants with Beltian bodies, or protein-lipid nodules, and nectar. These Beltian bodies have no known function other than to provide food for the ants. The aggressive ants release an alarm pheromone and rush out of their thorn "barracks" in great numbers.
According to Daniel Janzen, livestock can apparently smell the pheromone and avoid these acacias day and night. Getting stung in the mouth and tongue is an effective deterrent to browsing on the tender foliage. In addition to protecting V. conigera from leaf-cutting ants and other unwanted herbivores, the ants also clear away invasive seedlings around the base of the tree that might overgrow it and block out vital sunlight.


The physiology of bullhorn acacia (vachellia cornigera) and P. ferrugineus ant's chemical signalling uses the typical herbivore response signaling pathways expressed in plants.  However, the bullhorn acacia extends the function of this signaling to recruit ants to help protect against herbivores.  This results in the acacia having an obligate relationship with the P. ferrugineus ants. In this relationship, the plants provide ants with shelter, in the form of swollen stipular spines, food (in the form of protein-lipid-rich beltian bodies) and sugar-secreting extrafloral nectaries. The beltian bodies, small detachable tips on the pinnules of the bullhorn acacia, have evolved into multicellular structures to provide food for protective ant colonies. The P. ferrugineus ants cut small holes in the thorns of the acacia where they lay eggs and care for larvae. These thorns are waterproof and hold in moisture which protects the ants.
The communication between the bullhorn acacia and the ants is mediated by volatiles which arise from damaged vegetation. The major volatile released from crushed leaves was identified via gas chromatography to be trans-2-hexenal.  In an experiment by William F. Wood and Brenda J. Wood, solutions of trans-2-hexenal and dichloromethane were placed on bull horn acacia to see if the ants would respond.  The results of this were that a statistically significant number of ants displayed more aggravated behavior and swarmed the area with trans-2-hexenal than dichloromethane, proving trans-2-hexenal was the main volatile used by the bullhorn acacia to signal its distress to the ants.  Thus, the initial signal of the damage response pathway is the physical damage of the leaf.  This leads to a flux in Ca²⁺ levels in the leaf cells, generating a variation potential. The result of the variation potential is the damaged leaves releasing the volatile trans-2-hexena, which the ants sense and respond to by swarming the damaged area to drive off herbivores.
However, the volatile release in response to damage has a secondary function.  A study by Hernández-Zepeda et al. revealed that the release of volatiles corresponded with the activation of the jasmonic acid pathway in plants: a common pathway in plants that activates in response to damage.  Furthermore, the application of jasmonic acid to leaves resulted in an increase in extrafloral nectar production by CWIN (an invertase regulator of nectar secretion found in the cell wall). Thus, it can be understood that when damaged, the Bullhorn acacia creates a signal to the ants to defend it while also increasing the production of the ants' food source.
The extrafloral nectaries, which are nectar secreting plant glands, are located on the acacia's petioles and are the location of the food source for the ants. The secreted nectar plays an important role as plant indirect defense through the attraction of defending ants. As long as the plants are inhabited by mutualistic ants, the extrafloral nectar will get secreted with a sharp diurnal peak (between 8-10am). The nectary is the site of nectar synthesis, and the components that get synthesized include sugar, amino acids, and nectarines. The metabolic machinery for the extrafloral nectar production is synthesized and active during secretion then degraded after. Invertase is an enzyme that was found by Orona-Tamayo et al. to play an important role in nectar secretion, as it collects in the nectaries right before secretion, then declines quickly after the secretion.
The nectar secretion from nectaries and food bodies on leaves and shelter (hollow stipular spines at the base of a leaf) is known as swollen plant syndrome. This syndrome is vital to the acacia plant's survival because it facilitates the animal-plant mutualism with the P. ferrugineus ants. However, this syndrome does not develop until several weeks after germination.
It has been reported that swollen thorn syndrome (production of specialized traits in the form of hollow stipular spines, beltian bodies, and extrafloral nectaries) was absent in the early development of the bullhorn acacia. Leichty and Poethig linked the expression of swollen thorn syndrome to a change in the expression of genes in the miR156/miR157 and their corresponding increase in their target SPL transcription factors. Specifically, they found that gradual decline in miRNA156/157 was correlated with gradual increase in length of extrafloral nectaries and an increase in the number of beltian bodies. Furthermore, stipule swelling occurred at the nodes with the lowest levels of these miRNAs. Their results highlight that these traits are controlled by the miR156/miRNA157-SPL pathway, suggesting that this syndrome is an age-dependent (temporally regulated) consequence of genetic regulation and not of passive constraints on development.
In a study by Heil et al. in 2014, the research team found that acacia hosts manipulate their ant inhabitants (pseudomyrmex) by inhibiting their sucrose invertase. This enzyme breaks down sucrose in the ants. The invertase in the ants is inhibited by an extra floral nectar (EFN) protein chitinase that is in the nectar provided for the ants by the acacia. By binding to the sucrose invertase enzymes in the ants, the chitinase prevents the ants from breaking down sucrose containing sugars. The acacia tree EFN does not contain sucrose so the ants can digest the EFN provided by the acacia but no other sucrose containing nectars. Unknown to the ants, this very source (the EFN) contains the inhibiting chitinase. This manipulation of the ants physiology by acacia ensures the continuation of defense behavior of the ants.
The symbiotic relationship between the bullhorn acacia and P. ferrugineus ants is of a mutualistic nature for both species. This relationship has many physiological factors in both the acacia and ants.  The behaviors that arise from these factors are currently known to include: Acacia defense by ants and nectar secretion by acacia resulting in partner manipulation of the ants by the acacia.


The thorns of V. cornigera, are often strung into unusual necklaces and belts. In El Salvador the horn-shaped thorns provide the legs for small ballerina seed dolls which are worn as decorative pins.


The thorns of V. cornigera are also used in traditional Maya acupuncture.


Vachellia karroo, commonly known as the sweet thorn, common acacia, Karoo thorn, Cape gum or cockspur thorn, is a species of Vachellia, native to southern Africa from southern Angola east to Mozambique, and south to South Africa.
It is a shrub or small to medium-sized tree which grows to height of 12m. It is difficult to tell apart from Vachellia nilotica subsp. adstringens without examining the seed pods.  The Botanical Society of South Africa has accepted a name change to Vachellia karroo.
Common names in various languages include doringboom, soetdoring, cassie, piquants blancs, cassie piquants blancs, deo-babool, doorn boom, kaludai, kikar, mormati, pahari kikar, umga and udai vel.


It is a shrub or small to medium-sized tree which grows to height of 12m. Vachellia karroo has a rounded crown, branching fairly low down on the trunk. It is variable in shape and size, reaching a maximum of about 12m where there is good water. The bark is red on young branches, darkening and becoming rough with age. Sometimes an attractive reddish colour can be seen in the deep bark fissures The leaves are finely textured and dark green. The abundant yellow flowers appear in early summer, or after good rains. The seed pods are narrow, flat and crescent shaped. They are green when young becoming brown and dry. The pods split open allowing the seeds to fall to the ground. The thorns are paired, greyish to white and are long and straight.


It is a tree of open woodland and wooded grassland. It grows to its greatest size when rainfall of 800-900mm is received but can grow and even thrive in very dry conditions such as the Karoo region of western South Africa. The requirement here is for deep soils that allow its roots to spread. Everywhere in its range, however, the tree is easily recognised by its distinctive long white paired thorns and coffee coloured bark, both of which are very attractive. In the tropics it shows little variation but at the southern end of its range it becomes more variable in appearance.


Vachellia karroo has a life span of 30–40 years and is an adaptable pioneer, able to establish itself without shade, shelter or protection from grass fires. Once over a year old, seedlings can resprout after fire. Several fungi are associated with this tree and the crown of mature trees may be parasitized by various mistletoes, leading to the tree's decline. This tree has a long taproot which enables it to use water and nutrients from deep underground, this and its ability to fix nitrogen, lead to grasses and other plants thriving in its shade.
The tree has been noted to occur in the Torre del Mar area, near Malaga, Spain. Here it grows freely as a large shrub on waste ground. It has been used as hedging to keep out goats from vegetable plots. Flowers during July.


V. karroo is used for chemical products, forage, domestic uses, environmental management, fibre, food, drink, and wood. The tough wood is white to slightly yellowish in colour, rarely producing dark brown heartwood. It is widely cultivated in Asia, Australia, the Mediterranean region, India and the Indian Ocean area. The large thorns mean that the tree must be approached, and the branches handled, carefully.


As is common in acacias, edible gum seeps from cracks in the tree's bark, and is an important part of the bushbaby's winter diet. The gum can be used to manufacture candy (see Gum arabic) and used to have economic importance as "Cape Gum". In dry areas, the tree's presence is a sign of water, both above and underground.


The tree is especially useful as forage and fodder for domestic and wild animals.  Apparently, there is no risk of poisoning from it. Goats seem to like V. karroo better than cattle. The small pom-pom shaped yellow flowers are attractive in mid-summer. The flowers make it a very good source of forage for honey bees; honey from it has a pleasant taste.


V. karroo is an excellent source of firewood and charcoal. The wood is also used for fencing posts for cattle byres or kraals. The heartwood has a density of about 800 kg/m³. A tough rope can be made from the inside bark of the tree.


The gum, bark and leaves have been used as a soothing agent and astringent for colds, conjunctivitis and hemorrhage in other regions of Southern Africa. The thorns were used by early naturalists to pin the insects they collected. It is very widespread throughout southern Africa and there are different forms in some places, which can be confusing. Vachellia karroo may be found from the Western Cape through to Zambia and Angola. In tropical Africa it is replaced by Vachellia seyal. The name acacia is derived from Greek "akis" a point or barb. Karroo is one of the old spellings of karoo which cannot be corrected because of the laws governing botanical nomenclature (giving of names).


Notifiable in NSW, Australia. It is illegal to not notify the NSW government of the existence of this plant.


Vachellia schaffneri, the twisted acacia or Schaffner's acacia, is a tree native to Mexico and the United States (Texas).


This is a thorny tree growing up to 25 feet in height. It has alternate, compound leaves that are generally similar to those of other Vachellia species. The plant flowers in spring, with yellow mimosoid flowers. The seedpods are long, fuzzy, ripen in late summer, and are consumed by livestock. They contain many hard, black seeds.


Vachellia schaffneri wood is used for fuel and fences. The wood makes very good firewood. It is used for cooking.
Vachellia schaffneri trees serve as food for animals. Goats and sheep browse leaves from the tree and eat the fuzzy beans when available late in the summer.  Livestock use the trees for shade and shelter.


Some chemical compounds found in Vachellia schaffneri are:
Phenethylamine
Beta-methyl-phenethylamine
Tyramine
Hordenine
The foliage and seeds of Vachellia schaffneri have a protein content of about 11.6%.


"Acacia schaffneri - ILDIS LegumeWeb". www.ildis.org. Archived from the original on 13 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-30.
Chemistry of Acacias from South Texas Archived May 15, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
Range Shrubs Archived 2007-12-15 at the Wayback Machine


Valanga nigricornis, the Javanese grasshopper (also known as the Javanese bird grasshopper), is a species of grasshopper in the subfamily Cyrtacanthacridinae of the family Acrididae. It is found in southeastern Asia, the type location being Singapore. It was first described by the German zoologist Hermann Burmeister in 1838.  There are more than twenty subspecies, most of which are endemic to different island groups; the subspecies V. nigricornis nigricornis is the type for the genus Valanga.


There is considerable sexual dimorphism in this species with the males measuring 45 to 55 millimetres (1+3⁄4 to 2+1⁄8 in) in length and the females 15 to 75 mm (5⁄8 to 3 in). The adults are yellowish-brown, yellowish or green with bluish-black markings. The hind wings, which are visible in flight, are rose red. The nymphs are pale green with dark markings.


The Javanese grasshopper is native to Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, the Solomon Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam. It is mainly a woodland species and is found in forest clearings, on trees and shrubs. It can be a serious pest in oil palm and rubber plantations, which are commonly found throughout its native range.
The species has also been recorded in Australia (Christmas Island only, it being 430 kilometres (267 mi) south of Java), Guam, India, Micronesia, and Palau.


The life cycle of the Javanese grasshopper varies in different parts of its range, but in general, there is a single generation of insects each year. Up to four egg pods are laid in moist soil in forest clearings. When the eggs hatch, the nymphs pass through six or seven instar stages before becoming winged adults. Both nymphs and adults are diurnal and like to bask in the sun. They feed on tree foliage.
In Java the eggs remain dormant throughout the dry season and take six to eight months to hatch. After the nymphal stages they become immature adults which soon mature and start breeding. In Thailand, the eggs hatch after about two months, the nymphs grow during the wet season and remain as immature adults during the dry season. In west Malaysia there are two peak egg-laying periods, December/January and June/July, which suggests there are two physiological races present.


The Javanese grasshopper is not gregarious and is not known to form swarms. Nevertheless, it is much more locally common in some years than others and outbreaks occur particularly in dry years; heavy rain causes high levels of mortality among eggs and nymphs. In Java, an outbreak in 1915 was thought to be caused by a succession of dry years which encouraged synchronization of breeding in concentrated areas. Clearing of forests for cultivation may also promote breeding.


Trap cropping may help to control V. nigrocornis. Atim et al 1987 demonstrates the use of Pueraria phaseoloides in the protection of Hevea brasiliensis.


Known compounds detected in valerian include:
Alkaloids: actinidine, chatinine, shyanthine, valerianine, and valerine
Isovaleramide may be created in the extraction process.
Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)
Isovaleric acid
Iridoids, including valepotriates: isovaltrate and valtrate
Sesquiterpenes (contained in the volatile oil): valerenic acid, hydroxyvalerenic acid and acetoxyvalerenic acid
Flavanones: hesperidin, 6-methylapigenin, and linarin


The chief constituent of valerian is a yellowish-green to brownish-yellow oil present in the dried root, varying in content from 0.5 to 2.0%. This variation in quantity may be determined by location; a dry, stony soil yields a root richer in oil than moist, fertile soil.


Oral forms are available in both standardized and unstandardized forms. Standardized products may be preferable considering the wide variation of the chemicals in the dried root, as noted above. When standardized, it is done so as a percentage of valerenic acid or valeric acid. In commonly used doses, valerian is recognized as GRAS in the United States.


Valerian is unusual in having flowers with "handedness", that is, having neither radial nor bilateral symmetry.


Although many sources list "catinine" as an alkaloid present in extracts from the root of Valeriana officinalis, those sources are incorrect. The correct spelling is "chatinine". It was discovered by S. Waliszewski in 1891. See: S. Waliszewski (15 March 1891) L'Union pharmaceutique, page 109. Abstracts of this article appeared in: "Chatinine, alcaloïde de la racine de valériane" Répertoire de pharmacie, series 3, vol. 3, pp. 166–167 Archived 2013-06-19 at the Wayback Machine (April 10, 1891); American Journal of Pharmacy, vol. 66, p. 285 Archived 2013-06-19 at the Wayback Machine (June 1891).
Isovaleramide does not appear to be a naturally occurring component of valerian plants; rather, it seems to be an artifact of the extraction process; specifically, it is produced by treating aqueous extracts of valerian with ammonia.
Isovaleric acid does not appear to be a natural constituent of V. officinalis; rather, it is a breakdown product that is created during the extraction process or by enzymatic hydrolysis during (improper) storage.


Valeriana sitchensis is a species of valerian known by the common name Sitka valerian. It is native to northwestern North America from Alaska and northern Canada to Montana to northern California, where it grows in many types of habitat, including moist mountain forests. In moist subalpine meadows, it is often one of the most common plants. This is a rhizomatous perennial herb producing a stout, erect stem to about 70 centimeters in maximum height, but known to exceed one meter at times. The leaves vary in size and shape, often having deep lobes or being composed of several leaflets. The inflorescence is a cyme of many white or pink-tinged flowers, each under a centimeter wide. The flower has five corolla lobes and three whiskery stamens protruding from the center.
Native Americans cooked and ate the roots, which have a poor scent. Some tribes also pounded the roots to make a poultice.


Valerianella locusta, called mâche or mache; common cornsalad; or lamb's lettuce, is a small, herbaceous, annual flowering plant in the honeysuckle family Caprifoliaceae. It is native to Europe, western Asia and north Africa, where it is eaten as a leaf vegetable.


Cornsalad grows wild in parts of Europe, northern Africa and western Asia. In Europe and Asia it is a common weed in cultivated land and waste spaces. In North America it has escaped cultivation and become naturalized on both the eastern and western seaboards.
As a cultivated crop, it is a specialty of the region around Nantes, France, which is the primary producer of mâche in Europe.


Cornsalad was originally foraged by European peasants. Jean-Baptiste de La Quintinie, royal gardener of King Louis XIV, introduced it to kitchen gardening. It has been eaten in Britain for centuries and appears in John Gerard's Herbal of 1597. It was grown commercially in London from the late 18th or early 19th century and appeared on markets as a winter vegetable, but it only became available in modern supermarkets there in the 1980s. American president Thomas Jefferson cultivated mâche at his home, Monticello, in Virginia in the early 1800s.


Common names include lamb's lettuce, common cornsalad, or simply cornsalad, mâche (/mɑːʃ/), fetticus, feldsalat, nut lettuce, field salad. The common name 'cornsalad' refers to the fact that it often grows as a weed in cornfields, ('corn' is used in the sense of 'cereal', not the US meaning of maize).
In German-speaking Switzerland it is known as Nüsslisalat or Nüssler, terms that have been borrowed by the area's many English speakers. In some areas of Germany it is known as rapunzel, and is the origin of the long-haired maiden's name in the eponymous fairy tale, but see Campanula rapunculus. In restaurants that feature French cuisine, it may be called doucette or raiponce, as an alternative to mâche, by which it is best known.


This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Ward, Artemas (1911). "[no title cited]". The Grocer's Encyclopedia.


Vancouveria hexandra, the white inside-out flower, is a perennial herb in the barberry family Berberidaceae. It is found in southwestern British Columbia, western Washington and Oregon and northwestern California and is a common understory herb in moist, shady Douglas fir forests.
This plant grows 20–40 centimetres (8–16 in) high with compound leaves in triplets and is usually found in dense patches.  It gets its name from the small delicate white flowers with petal-like sepals that are swept back abruptly as if in the process of turning inside out.  The genus honors George Vancouver, the 18th-century explorer of the Pacific Northwest.


The red-wattled lapwing (Vanellus indicus) is an Asian lapwing or large plover, a wader in the family Charadriidae. Like other lapwings they are ground birds that are incapable of perching. Their characteristic loud alarm calls are indicators of human or animal movements and the sounds have been variously rendered as did he do it or pity to do it leading to the colloquial name of did-he-do-it bird. Usually seen in pairs or small groups and usually not far from water they sometimes form large aggregations in the non-breeding season (winter). They nest in a ground scrape laying three to four camouflaged eggs. Adults near the nest fly around, diving at potential predators while calling noisily. The cryptically patterned chicks hatch and immediately follow their parents to feed, hiding by lying low on the ground or in the grass when threatened.


Traditionally well known to native hunters, the red-wattled lapwing was first described in a book by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux in 1781. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert used the binomial name Tringa indica in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées. The type locality is Goa in western India. It was subsequently placed in various other genera such as Sarcogrammus and Lobivanellus before being merged into Vanellus which was erected by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760. Vanellus is the Medieval Latin for a "lapwing". It is a diminutive of the Latin vanus meaning "winnowing" or "fan". The specific epithet indicus is the Latin for "India".
Across their wide range there are slight differences in the plumage and there are four recognized subspecies:
V. i. aigneri (Laubmann, 1913) – southeast Turkey to Pakistan
V. i. indicus (Boddaert, 1783) – central Pakistan to Nepal, northeast India and Bangladesh
V. i. lankae (Koelz, 1939) – Sri Lanka
V. i. atronuchalis (Jerdon, 1864) – northeast India to south China, southeast Asia, Malay Peninsula and north Sumatra


Red-wattled lapwings are large waders, about 35 cm (14 in) long. The wings and back are light brown with a purple to green sheen, but the head, a bib on the front and back of the neck are black.  Prominently white patch runs between these two colours, from belly and tail, flanking the neck to the sides of crown.  Short tail is tipped black.  A red fleshy wattle in front of each eye, black-tipped red bill, and the long legs are yellow. In flight, prominent white wing bars formed by the white on the secondary coverts.
Race aigneri is slightly paler and larger than the nominate race and is found in Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and the Indus valley. The nominate race is found all over India. The Sri Lankan race lankae is smaller and dark while atronuchalis the race in north-eastern India and eastern Bangladesh has a white cheek surrounded by black.
Males and females are similar in plumage but males have a 5% longer wing and tend to have a longer carpal spur. The length of the birds is 320–350 mm, wing of 208–247 mm with the nominate averaging 223 mm, Sri Lanka 217 mm. The Bill is 31–36 mm and tarsus of 70–83 mm. Tail length is 104–128 mm.
It usually keeps in pairs or trios in well-watered open country, ploughed fields, grazing land, and margins and dry beds of tanks and puddles. They occasionally form large flocks, ranging from 26 to 200 birds. It is also found in forest clearings around rain-filled depressions. It runs about in short spurts and dips forward obliquely (with unflexed legs) to pick up food in a typical plover manner. They are said to feed at night being especially active around the full moon. Is uncannily and ceaselessly vigilant, day or night, and is the first to detect intrusions and raise an alarm, and was therefore considered a nuisance by hunters. Flight rather slow, with deliberate flaps, but capable of remarkable agility when defending nest or being hunted by a hawk.
Its striking appearance is supplemented by its noisy nature, with a loud and scolding did-he-do-it call, uttered both in the day and night.
Leucistic abnormal plumages have been noted.
The local names are mainly onomatopoeic in origin and include titeeri (Hindi), titawi (Marathi), tittibha (Kannada), tateehar (Sindhi), titodi (Gujarati), hatatut (Kashmiri), balighora (Assamese), yennappa chitawa (Telugu), aal-kaati (Tamil, meaning "human indicator").


The breeding season is mainly March to August. The courtship involves the male puffing its feathers and pointing its beak upwards. The male then shuffles around the female. Several males may display to females and they may be close together. The eggs are laid in a ground scrape or depression sometimes fringed with pebbles, goat or hare droppings. About 3–4 black-blotched buff eggs shaped a bit like a peg-top (pyriform), 42x30 mm on average. Nests are difficult to find since the eggs are cryptically coloured and usually matches the ground pattern. In residential areas, they sometimes take to nesting on roof-tops. They have been recorded nesting on the stones between the rails of a railway track, the adult leaving the nest when trains passed. Nests that have been threatened by agricultural operations have been manually translocated by gradually shifting the eggs. When nesting they will attempt to dive bomb or distract potential predators. Both the male and female incubate the eggs and divert predators using distraction displays or flash their wings to deter any herbivores that threaten the nest. Males appear to relieve females incubating at the nest particularly towards the hot part of noon. The eggs hatch in 28 to 30 days. The reproductive success is about 40%. Egg mortality is high (~43%) due to predation by mongooses, crows and kites. Chicks have a lower mortality (8.3%) and their survival improves after the first week.
Like other lapwings, they soak their belly feathers to provide water to their chicks as well as to cool the eggs during hot weather.
They bathe in pools of water when available and will often spend time on preening when leaving the nest or after copulation. They sometimes rest on the ground with the tarsi laid flat on the ground and at other times may rest on one leg.
Healthy adult birds have few predators and are capable of rapid and agile flight when pursued by hawks or falcons. Hugh B. Cott claimed that the flesh of the bird was unpalatable based on evidence from an Indian geologist who noted that a hungry tiger cub refused to eat their meat. Some endoparasitic tapeworms, nematodes, and trematodes have been described from the species. Mortality caused by respiratory infection by Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale has been recorded in captive birds in Pakistan.


The diet of the lapwing includes a range of insects, snails and other invertebrates, mostly picked from the ground. They may also feed on some grains. They feed mainly during the day but they may also feed at night. They may sometimes make use of the legs to disturb insect prey from soft soil.


In parts of India, a local belief is that the bird sleeps on its back with the legs upwards and an associated Hindi metaphor Tithiri se asman thama jayega ("can the lapwing support the heavens?") is used to refer to persons undertaking tasks beyond their ability or strength.
In parts of Rajasthan it is believed that the laying of eggs by the lapwing on high ground was an indication of good rains to come. The eggs are known to be collected by practitioners of folk medicine. The Bhils of Malwa believed that the laying of eggs by red-wattled lapwings in the dry beds of streams as forewarnings of delayed rains or droughts. Eggs laid on the banks on the other hand were taken as indications of normal rains.


Anon. (1991) Flocking of Red Wattled Lapwings. Newsletter for Birdwatchers 31(5–6):1.
Dharmakumarsinhji, RS (1965) Small displacement by ground nesting birds. Newsletter for Birdwatchers 5(9):10.
Gay, Thomas (1975). "More about the nesting of the Red-wattled Lapwing". Newsletter for Birdwatchers. 15 (4): 9.
Jamdar, Nitin (1985) Redwattled Lapwing (Vanellus indicus) suffering from cataract. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 82(1):197.
Kalsi, RS; Khera, S (1986) Some observations on breeding and displacement behaviour of the Redwattled Lapwing Vanellus indicus indicus (Aves: Charadriidae). Res. Bull. Panjab Univ. 37:131–141.
Khajuria, H (1972) Nestlings of the redwattled lapwing, Vanellus i. indicus (boddaert). Pavo 8(1&2):82–83.
Koshy, MS (1989) Lapwings on a roof. Newsletter for Birdwatchers 29(7–8):7.
Krishnan, M (1998) Ubiquitous alarmist. Blackbuck. 14(3&4):88–90.
Jackson, P (1976) Redwattled Lapwing. Newsletter for Birdwatchers 16(3):11–12.
Saxena, VS (1973) Unusual nesting by Redwattled Lapwing. Indian Forester 99:33–35.


The masked lapwing (Vanellus miles) is a large, common and conspicuous bird native to Australia, particularly the northern and eastern parts of the continent, New Zealand and New Guinea. It spends most of its time on the ground searching for food such as insects and worms, and has several distinctive calls. It is common in Australian fields and open land, and is known for its defensive swooping behaviour during the nesting season.
Despite the species being also known as the masked plover and often called the spur-winged plover or just plover in its native range, lapwings are classified to their own subfamily, Vanellinae, and not to the closely related plover subfamily, Charadriinae. There are two subspecies: the nominate subspecies and the southern novaehollandiae. The latter has distinctive black markings on the shoulder and side of the chest, and is sometimes recognized as a separate species: the black-shouldered lapwing (Vanellus novaehollandiae).


The masked lapwing was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux in 1781. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle. This was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text.  Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name Tringa miles in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées. The type locality was originally given in error as Louisiana. The locality was re-designated by the Australian ornithologist Gregory Mathews in 1912 as Timor Laut (the Tanimbar Islands). The current genus Vanellus was erected by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760. Vanellus is the Modern Latin for a "lapwing". It is a diminutive of the Latin vanus meaning "winnowing" or "fan". The specific epithet miles is the Latin word for "soldier".
Two subspecies are usually recognised:
V. m. miles (Boddaert, 1783) - Coastal New Guinea, Aru Islands, northern Australia
V. m. novaehollandiae Stephens, 1819 - southern Australia, New Zealand. This taxon was formerly known as the spur-winged plover.
The Handbook of Birds of the World treats V. m. novaehollandiae as a separate species, the black-shouldered lapwing (Vanellus novaehollandiae), even though the two subspecies intergrade in northern Queensland and the Lake Eyre basin.


The masked lapwing is the largest representative of the family Charadriidae. It measures from 30 to 37 cm (12 to 15 in) in length and has a wingspan of 75–85 cm (30–33 in), and has a conspicuous yellow spur on the carpal joint of each wing. The nominate subspecies (V. m. miles) weighs 191–300 g (6.7–10.6 oz), while the southern race (V. m. novaehollandiae) is larger and weighs 296–412 g (10.4–14.5 oz). The subspecies from northern Australia and New Guinea (V. m. miles) has an all-white neck and large yellow wattles with the male having a distinctive mask and larger wattles. The subspecies found in the southern and eastern states of Australia and in New Zealand (V. m. novaehollandiae), and often locally called the spur-winged plover, has a black neck-stripe and smaller wattles. (Note that the northern-hemisphere spur-winged plover is a different bird.)
The birds have a wide range of calls which can be heard at any time of the day or night: the warning call, a loud defending call, courtship calls, calls to its young, and others. Since the bird lives on the ground, it is always alert and, even though it rests, it never sleeps properly.


Masked lapwings are most common around the edges of wetlands and in other moist, open environments, but are adaptable and can often be found in surprisingly arid areas. They can also be found on beaches and coastlines. Vanellus miles novaehollandiae spread naturally to Southland, New Zealand in the 1930s and has now spread throughout New Zealand, where it is recognised as a self-introduced native and known as the spur-winged plover.


Masked lapwings are shy and harmless in summer and autumn but are best known for their bold nesting habits, being quite prepared to make a nest on almost any stretch of open ground, including suburban parks and gardens, school ovals, and even supermarket carparks and flat rooftops. They can be particularly dangerous at airports where their reluctance to move from their nesting area, even for large aircraft, has resulted in several bird strikes.  Breeding usually happens after winter solstice (June 21), but sometimes before. The nesting pair defends their territory against all intruders by calling loudly, spreading their wings, and then swooping fast and low, striking at interlopers, if necessary, with their feet, and attacking animals on the ground with the conspicuous yellow spur on the carpal joint of the wing.
The bird may also use diversion tactics against potential predators, such as fiercely protecting a non-existent nest, or a distraction display of hopping on a single leg, to attract attention to itself and away from its real nest, or from its chicks after they have commenced foraging. There seems to be some significant use of language to guide chicks during a situation perceived to be dangerous. Long calls appear to tell the chicks to come closer to the calling bird, and a single chirp every few seconds instructs them to move away.
There is a widely-believed myth that the spur can inject venom. That may have been based on fear of the masked lapwing's territorial behaviour. Attacks are most vicious on other birds, such as ravens, and also on cats and dogs, but once the chicks reach 60% of full size after two or three months, the chances of that happening decrease. Strikes are much rarer on humans because they are more aware. Sometimes the bird can damage its wing in a strike but usually survives, although it is flightless while the wing heals. Some masked lapwings, especially those living in residential suburban areas, may never successfully breed, due to increased disturbance from domestic pets, people on footpaths, and cars. Commonly, two birds are seen together, a male and a female which are almost identical. They can be seen in groups at times, especially while feeding on coastlines. The chick reaches full growth after four or five months and will often stay with the parents for from one to two years, resulting in family groups of three to five birds nesting in one location over the summer. Their lifespan is approximately 16 years.
The birds spend much of the time on the ground, searching for worms and insects to feed on.


Vanessa atalanta, the red admiral or, previously, the red admirable, is a well-characterized, medium-sized butterfly with black wings, red bands, and white spots. It has a wingspan of about 2 inches (5 cm). It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. The red admiral is widely distributed across temperate regions of North Africa, the Americas, Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean. It resides in warmer areas, but migrates north in spring and sometimes again in autumn. Typically found in moist woodlands, the red admiral caterpillar's primary host plant is the stinging nettle (Urtica dioica); it can also be found on the false nettle (Boehmeria cylindrica). The adult butterfly drinks from flowering plants like Buddleia and overripe fruit. Red admirals are territorial; females will only mate with males that hold territory. Males with superior flight abilities are more likely to successfully court females. It is known as an unusually calm butterfly, often allowing observation at a very close distance before flying away, also landing on and using humans as perches.


The red admiral is found in temperate regions of North Africa, North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and island regions of Hawaii, and the Caribbean.


The forewing of this butterfly bears on a black ground an oblique vermilion band
and a group of white subapical spots. On the hindwing the larger portion of the distal margin is red, with a row of small black spots and at the anal angle an elongate blue spot. The underside is partly variegated with blue; the forewing is on the whole similar in markings to the upper, while the hindwing is brightly variegated and clouded, bearing black markings, of which those in the cell resemble a figure (on the left wing 18 or 98, on the right 81 or 89); in the middle of the costal area there is a pale patch and in the distal marginal area a row of ocellus-like spots. Sometimes, especially in the female, the red band of the forewing bears
a small white spot in the middle.


In northern Europe, it is one of the last butterflies to be seen before winter sets in, often feeding on the flowers of ivy on sunny days. The red admiral is also known to hibernate, re-emerging individuals showing prominently darker colors than the first brood. The butterfly also flies on sunny winter days, especially in southern Europe.
In North America, the red admiral generally has two broods from March through October. Most of North America must be recolonized each spring by southern migrants, but the species overwinters in south Texas.


Red admiral larvae measure approximately 1 inch (2.5 cm) in length. Their coloration is variable, but they are usually black with white spots and spines. These spines persist into the pupal phase.
In laboratory tests where larvae were reared at various constant temperatures, a difference in pupal period and coloration was found. At higher temperatures, around 32 degrees Celsius (90 °F), the pupal period of the red admiral is 6 days. At 11 to 18 degrees Celsius (51 to 64 °F) this period increases to 18 to 50 days. At even lower temperatures around 7 degrees Celsius (45 °F), the pupal period lasts between 47 and 82 days. The pupae are bright scarlet at high temperatures and black with a smaller scarlet area at low temperatures. This differential coloration at various temperatures may explain why the summer form of the red admiral is brighter and more heavily pigmented than the winter form.
The primary host plant for the red admiral is the stinging nettle (Urtica dioica), but it can also be found on the false nettle (Boehmeria cylindrica), Pennsylvania pellitory (Parietaria) and other species within Urticaceae. Certain plants of the families Compositae and Cannabaceae may also be used as hosts.


The red admiral is identified by its striking black, orange, and white wing pattern. On the dorsal side, its dark wings possess orange bands on the middle of the forewings and the outer edge of the hindwings. The distal ends of the forewings contain white spots. The ventral side of the wings are brown with patches of red, white, and black. The hindwings have a brown marbled pattern. The red admiral has summer and winter morphs. Summer red admirals are larger and more pigmented than winter morphs. The wingspan ranges from 1.75 to 2.50 inches (4.4 to 6.4 cm).


Male red admirals are territorial and perch during the afternoon until sunset. Larger territories are optimal and subject to intrusion by other males more frequently than smaller territories. Territories tend to be oval, 8–24 feet (2.4–7.3 m) long and 13–42 feet (4.0–12.8 m) wide. Males patrol their territory by flying around the perimeter between 7 and 30 times per hour. On average, territory holders interact with intruders 10 to 15 times per hour.
When another male encroaches on a red admiral's territory, the resident chases away the intruder, often in a vertical, helical path to disorient or tire out the intruder while minimizing the horizontal distance it travels from its perch. The red admiral immediately returns to its territory after chasing off encroaching males. Time spent patrolling increases as number of the intruder interactions increases.
Patrolling behavior is correlated with warmer air temperatures, so males begin patrolling early and continue later on warmer days. Overcast skies usually led to patrolling later in the day. It is not clear whether this later start time is due to lower air temperature or a direct effect of decreased solar radiation. Another theory is that males believe it is earlier in the morning on cloudy days because of the reduced solar radiation.


Male red admirals court females for several hours before they begin mating. Because of female choice, only males with territory have the opportunity to mate. Females select males with traits that will increase the mating success of their offspring. In order to maintain their territory, males fly around and patrol the area 7 to 30 times per hour. Only males of exceptional flying ability are able to chase off intruding males and successfully court females.


Mating usually occurs in late fall or early winter following collective migration to southern regions with a warmer climate. The red admiral's main host plant, stinging nettle, is most abundant during this migration. Larval development proceeds through winter and adults are first sighted in early spring. The new generation of adults migrates north before mating, because food is usually diminished by late spring. During migration, the red admiral flies at high altitudes where high-speed winds carry the butterfly, requiring less energy.


Red admirals have color vision in the 440–590 nm range of the visible spectrum which includes indigo, blue, green, and yellow. They have compound eyes with a transparent, crystalline structure called a rhabdom which is similar in function to a human retina. These butterflies do not have the specific lateral filtering pigments coating their rhabdom found in some other nymphalid butterflies that likely evolved later. A consequence of this lack of pigment is that the red admiral cannot differentiate between colors in the 590–640 nm range, which includes orange and red. In species such as the monarch butterfly that express these lateral filtering pigments, higher wavelengths of light are altered, so they can excite the sensory photopigments. This physiological difference between butterfly species provides insight into the evolutionary adaptation of color vision.


Spring temperatures in central England between 1976 and 1998 increased by 1.5 degrees Celsius and summer temperatures increased by 1 degree Celsius. Following this 22-year period of warming, the red admiral appeared six weeks earlier in the year. Of 35 species of butterflies studied in central England, the change in the duration of flight period was most significant in the red admiral, exhibiting a 39.8 day increase. These changes in migration time and length could result in an increased abundance of red admirals and a northward range expansion. Warmer climates could lead to an increase in time spent finding mates, laying eggs, and collecting nectar. Conversely, more frequent droughts associated with climate change would decrease egg survival and lead to habitat and host plant destruction.


The red admiral features in several works of Vladimir Nabokov: Speak, Memory (1951), Pale Fire (1962), and King, Queen, Knave (1968).


Vanessa braziliensis, the Brazilian painted lady, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae found in
Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela, Paraguay, Uruguay and northern Argentina.


Vanessa cardui is the most widespread of all butterfly species. It is commonly called the painted lady, or formerly in North America the cosmopolitan.


Male and female. Upperside. Ground-colour reddish-ochreous, basal areas olivescent-ochreous-brown; cilia black, alternated with white, Forewing with an outwardly-oblique black irregular-shaped broken band crossing from middle of the cell to the disc above the submedian vein; the apical area from end of cell and the exterior border also black; before the apex is a short white outwardly-oblique streak and a curved row of four round spots, the second and third being small; a marginal pale lunular line with its upper portion most defined and whitish. Hind-wing with a blackish patch from the costal vein across end of cell, a partly confluent recurved discal band, a submarginal row of lunules, and then a marginal row of somewhat scutiform spots; between the discal band and submarginal lunules is a row of five round black spots, which in some examples show a pale and dark outer ring. Underside. Forewing brighter reddish-ochreous, the apical area and outer margin much paler, the apex being olivescent ochreous-brown; discal irregular band as above, subapical white streak, row of spots and marginal lunules distinct; base of wing and interspace before end of cell white. Hindwing transversely-marbled with olivescent ochreous-brown and speckled with black scales; crossed by basal and discal sinuous whitish or pale fascia and intersected by white veins; an outer-discal row of five ocelli, the upper one smallest and usually imperfect, the second and fifth the largest, the fourth with black centre speckled with blue and ringed with yellow, and the second and fifth also with an outer black ring; submarginal lunules purpurescent-grey, bordered by a whitish fascia; outer margin ochreous. Body olivescent ochreous-brown, abdomen with ochreous bands; palpi blackish above, white beneath; body beneath and legs greyish-white; antennae black above, tip and beneath reddish.
— Frederic Moore, Lepidoptera Indica. Vol. IV


V. cardui is one of the most widespread of all butterflies, found on every continent except Antarctica and South America. In Australia, V. cardui has a limited range around Bunbury, Fremantle, and Rottnest Island. However, its close relative, the Australian painted lady (V. kershawi, sometimes considered a subspecies) ranges over half the continent. Other closely related species are the American painted lady (V. virginiensis) and the West Coast lady (V. annabella).


V. cardui occurs in any temperate zone, including mountains in the tropics. The species is resident only in warmer areas, but migrates in spring, and sometimes again in autumn. It migrates from North Africa and the Mediterranean to Britain and Europe in May and June, and from the Red Sea basin, via Israel and Cyprus, to Turkey in March and April. The occasional autumn migration made by V. cardui is likely for the inspection of resource changes; it consists of a round trip from Europe to Africa.
For decades, naturalists have debated whether the offspring of these immigrants ever make a southwards return migration. Research suggests that British painted ladies do undertake an autumn migration, making 14,500 km (9,000 mi) round trip from tropical Africa to the Arctic Circle in a series of steps by up to six successive generations. The Radar Entomology Unit at Rothamsted Research provided evidence that autumn migrations take place at high altitude, which explains why these migrations are seldom witnessed. In recent years, thanks to the activity of The Worldwide Painted Lady Migration citizen science project, led by the Barcelona-based Institute of Evolutionary Biology (Catalan: Institut de Biologia Evolutiva), the huge range of migration has begun to be revealed. For example, some butterflies migrated from Iceland to the Sahara desert, and even further south.
V. cardui is known for its distinct migratory behaviour. In California, they are usually seen flying from north to north-west. These migrations appear to be partially initiated by heavy winter rains in the desert where rainfall controls the growth of larval food plants. In March 2019, after heavy rain produced an abundance of vegetation in the deserts, Southern California saw these butterflies migrating by the millions across the state.
Similarly, heavier than usual rain during the 2018-2019 winter seems to have been the cause of the extraordinarily large migration observed in Israel at the end of March, estimated at a billion individual butterflies. Painted lady migration patterns are highly erratic and they do not migrate every year. Some evidence suggests that global climatic events, such as el Niño, may affect the migratory behaviour of the painted lady butterflies, causing large-scale migrations.
The first noticeable wave of migration in eastern Ukraine was noted in the 20s of April 2019. From May 15, numbers began to grow and it was possible to observe hundreds of this species in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine, including in the city streets of Kharkiv.
Based on experimental data, the painted lady's migration pattern in northern Europe apparently does not follow a strict north-west heading. The range of headings suggests that migrating butterflies may adjust their migration patterns in response to local topographical features and weather, such as strong wind patterns. Laboratory-raised autumn-generation painted lady butterflies were able to distinguish a southern orientation for a return migration path. According to the same laboratory-based study, when butterflies were isolated from the sun, they were unable to orient themselves in a specific direction, opposed to those that did have access to the sun. This suggests that V. cardui requires a direct view of the sky, implying the use of a solar compass to orient its migratory direction and maintain a straight flight path.


V. cardui displays a unique system of continuous mating, throughout all seasons, including the winter. This may be attributed to its migratory patterns, thus significantly affecting its mating behaviour. During European migrations, the butterflies immediately begin to mate and lay eggs upon arrival in the Mediterranean in the spring, starting in late May. In the United States, painted lady butterflies migrating towards the north experience poor mating conditions, and many butterflies have limited breeding capabilities. The "local adult generation" develops during this time, roughly from the middle of May through early June in conjunction with the butterfly progression throughout their flight.
During its migratory process, these painted lady butterflies start breeding, and reproduce entirely throughout their migration. Scientists have not been able to find evidence of their overwintering; this may be because they migrate to warmer locations to survive and reproduce. Female painted lady butterflies may suspend their flight temporarily when they are "ready to oviposit"; this allows them the opportunity to continually reproduce throughout their migrations. Because these butterflies are constantly migrating, male butterflies are thought to lack consistent territory. Instead of requiring territory to mate with females and developing evolutionary behaviour to defend this territory, the mating butterflies appear to establish a particular "time and place" in certain locations that they find to be suitable for reproduction. More specifically, they locate certain perches, hilltops, forest-meadow edges, or other landmarks where they will stay until, presumably, a female arrives to mate.
Equally important for the reproduction of the painted lady butterflies is the males' exhibition of polygynous mating behaviour, in which they often mate with more than one female. This is important for painted lady butterflies because the benefits may supersede the costs of polygyny since no permanent breeding ground is used. Upon mating, which typically occurs in the afternoon, female painted lady butterflies lay eggs one by one in their desired breeding locations. The variety of eclosion locations ultimately dictates the male painted lady behaviour.
Female painted lady butterflies have been observed to have a relatively "high biotic potential", meaning they each produce large numbers of offspring. This perpetual influx of reproduction may be a reason why these painted lady butterflies have propagated so successfully. One interesting aspect that scientists have observed is that these butterflies like to fly towards rain. Further studies have suggested that the large amounts of rainfall may somehow "activate more eggs or induce better larval development".
Inhabited locations begin to observe a large influx of new generations of painted lady butterflies in the fall, particularly in September and October. Their reproductive success declines relatively throughout the winter, primarily through November. However, they still continue to reproduce—an aspect of butterfly behaviour that is quite unique. Scientists hypothesize that these extensive migratory patterns help the painted lady butterflies find suitable conditions for breeding, thus offering a possible reason as to why these butterflies mate continuously.


Adult butterflies feed on flower nectar and aphid honeydew. Females oviposit on plants with nectar immediately available for the adults even if it leads to high mortality of the larvae. This lack of discrimination indicates they do not take into account volatile chemicals released from potential host plants when searching for oviposition choices.
The availability of adult resources dictates a preference for specific areas of flowers. Flowers with more available nectar result in a larger number of eggs deposited on the plants. This reinforces the idea that the painted lady butterfly does not discriminate host plants and chooses mainly on the availability of adult food sources even if it increases the mortality rate of the offspring. The data also suggest that the painted lady butterfly favors quantity of offspring over quality.


Painted lady butterflies have a visual system that resembles that of a honey bee. Adult V. cardui eyes contain ultraviolet, blue, and green photoreceptors. Unlike other butterflies, such as the monarch or red postman butterflies, painted ladies lack red receptors, which means that they are not sensitive to red light. Behavioral studies on the related species, Vanessa atalanta, have demonstrated that V. atalanta cannot discriminate yellow light from orange light or orange light from red light.


Groups of two to eight painted lady butterflies have been observed to fly in circles around each other for about one to five seconds before separating, symbolizing courtship. Groups of butterflies usually will not fly more than 4.5 m away from the starting point. To establish and defend their territories, adult males perch in the late afternoon in areas where females are most likely to appear. Once the male spots a female of the same species, he begins pursuit of her. If the foreign butterfly is a male, the original male will give chase, flying vertically for a few feet before returning to his perch.
V. cardui establishes territories within areas sheltered by hedgerows. Vanessa cardui tend to inhabit sunny, brightly lit, open environments and are often attracted to open areas of flowers and clovers. Adults spend time in small depressions in the ground on overcast days.


Larvae feed on Asteraceae species, including Cirsium, Carduus, Centaurea, Arctium, Onopordum, Helianthus, and Artemisia.
The painted lady uses over 300 recorded host plants according to the HOSTS database.


The main defence mechanisms of painted lady butterflies include flight and camouflage. The caterpillars hide in small silk nests on top of leaves from their main predators that include wasps, spiders, ants, and birds.


Vanessa cardui and other painted lady species are bred in schools for educational purposes and used for butterfly releases at hospices, memorial events, and weddings.


Vanessa indica, called the Indian red admiral or the Asian admiral in the United States, is a butterfly found in the higher altitude regions of India, primarily the Himalayas and the Nilgiri Hills. It is also found in Sri Lanka and Myanmar, China, Korea, SE Russia, Japan. It is a close relative of the painted lady.


This species resembles Vanessa cardui but the ground colour is darker both on the uppersides and undersides, and the orange markings are deeper and richer in tint. It also differs as follows: underside forewing: the ochraceous orange-red on disc, and across cell proportionately of less extent, and uniform, not getting paler towards the apex of the cell; the upper four spots of the preapical transverse series on the black apical area minute. It is about 5 inches (13 cm) in length. Hindwing: the postdiscal transverse band much narrower and shorter, not extending below vein 1, margined inwardly by a series of broad black subcrescentic marks; the tornal angle with a small patch of violet scales bordered inwardly by a short black transverse line. Underside very much darker than in V. cardui, the orange red on the disc and in the cell on the forewing restricted as on the upperside; three small transversely placed blue spots beyond the cell. Hindwing: the mottling comparatively very dark, purplish blade, with slender white margins, shaded on disc with rich dark olive-brown; the postdiscal series of ocelli dark and somewhat obscure; an inner subterminal transverse series of blue, and an outer very much slenderer transverse series of black lunules. Cilia of both forewings and hindwings white, alternated with brown. Antenna black, tipped with pale ochraceous; head, thorax and abdomen with dark olive-brown pubescence; beneath, the palpi, thorax and abdomen pale ochraceous brown.
The Vanessa indica is not reported as a pest on any crop but on ramie it causes considerable damage by feeding on young tender leaves which affect the growth of the plant. The larvae of this insect feed on tender young leaves as shown in the picture. The adults lay the eggs on tender leaves in which larvae emerge and feeds on young tender leaves preferably at neck region of the leaves, due to this leaves look like the hanging like position and latter get dry. The caterpillar feeds on young leaves and later fold the leaves in such a way that both the margins are attached by a silky web and pupation takes place inside the folded leaf. Later the adult emerges as a butterfly.


V. indica is found in the higher altitude regions (above 2,000 feet (610 m)) of India including the Nilgiri Hills in southern India. It also occurs on smaller hill ranges in Peninsular India such as the Nandi Hills near Bangalore.


These are fast flying butterflies. Mainly found in open areas near the river in the mountainous jungle, they are also often seen on grass near roads or in the soil around the plant flowers sucking, honey, or they sitting on the ground basking in the sun.
Both male and female Indian red admiral can be seen around the hill nettle plant species. The male Indian red admiral encircles the female while the female goes around to lay eggs on leaves that are suitable. The male butterflies are territorial and they choose the places best suitable for mating. After selecting they fly around the place keeping a watch on the movements of the female. The males are generally aggressive and often seen fighting with other males. They show acrobatic techniques to attract the female's attention.
Sometimes adult butterflies extract food from ripe fruit, juices of a variety of flowers and fermented plants. Very few are seen sitting on bird droppings. During summers and dry weather, the males sit on the ground and drink water.
At higher altitudes due to strong winds the morning temperatures are low. Consequently, in order to gain the strength needed to perform body and wings activities they require to bask in the warmth of the sun.


The larvae of V. indica are known to feed on:
Urtica (nettles)
Urtica thunbergiana
Girardinia diversifolia (Himalayan nettle)
Boehmeria densiflora
Boehmeria nivea (ramie)


In March 1987 DPR Korea issued a postage stamp depicting Vanessa indica.


The yellow admiral or Australian admiral (Vanessa itea) is a butterfly native to Australia, New Zealand, Lord Howe Island, and Norfolk Islands. The Māori name is kahukowhai, which means "yellow cloak". The yellow admiral is a member of the family Nymphalidae, the subfamily Nymphalinae as well as the tribe Nymphalini.


Yellow admirals are relatively common throughout their range wherever their food plants occur. They prefer open country, wastelands and gardens where the stinging nettles, Urtica incisa and Urtica urens are present. It is found at up to 1000 m above sea level.
It is a strong, fast flier, and is thought to survive wind-blown travel from Australia to New Zealand, across the Tasman Sea.


The eggs are light green, ribbed and barrel shaped. They are usually laid singly, sometimes in pairs, onto the nettle leaves that the larva will eat.


The caterpillars vary from black to grey, yellow-green or brown, with lighter coloured lines and spots running laterally along its back. They are covered in several rows of spiny protrusions. They have six true legs, and ten prolegs.
They prefer to eat nettles and, depending upon availability, feed on Urtica incisa, Urtica urens, Parietaria debilis, Pipturus argenteus, Parietaria australis, Parietaria cardiostegia, Parietaria judaica, and Soleirolia soleirolii. They feed at night; during the day they hide in a curled leaf for protection.
They grow to about 30 mm long before pupating. The pupa is about 20 mm long and is grey or brownish, with sharp bumps and has two white/silver spots on each side.


In New Zealand the yellow admiral pupae have been parasitised by both the self introduced wasp species Echthromorpha intricatoria as well as the introduced wasp Pteromalus puparum.


The American painted lady or American lady (Vanessa virginiensis) is a butterfly found throughout North America.
The larvae feed on various Asteraceae, such as the cudweeds (genus Gnaphalium), the pussytoes (Antennaria), and the everlastings (Anaphalis), which all belong to tribe Gnaphalieae. All stages of the life cycle can be found throughout temperate North America as well as Madeira and the Canary Islands. Occasionally individuals can be found as far as southwest Europe. It has been introduced to Hawaii where it is one of four Vanessa species.


Vanessa virginiensis is most easily distinguishable by its two large eyespots on the ventral side, whereas V. cardui has four small eyespots and V. annabella has none. V. virginiensis also uniquely features a white dot within the forewing subapical field, set in pink on the underside and usually also in the dorsal side's orange field.
The largest spot in the black forewing tips is white in V. cardui, pale orange in this species, and orange in the West Coast species. The latter also has a purer orange background color of the dorsal side, as opposed to the darker and (especially in V. virginiensis) redder hue of the other two.
A less reliable indicator is the row of black eyespots on the dorsal submarginal hindwing. In the American painted lady, those on the opposite ends of the row are often larger and have blue "pupils". In V. annabella, this applies to the inner two spots, while in V. cardui some of the black eyespots may have tiny blue pupils in the summer morph, but usually have none at all, and the eyespots themselves are all roughly the same size. The size of the wings are about 5 cm (2 in) across.


The Japanese burrowing cricket (Velarifictorus micado) is a cricket in the subfamily Gryllinae (family Gryllidae) and tribe Modicogryllini.  It is found throughout South Asia, along with an introduced population in the United States. It was first reported in the US in 1959, likely as overwintering eggs in the soil of imported plants, and has since spread all throughout the eastern half of the country.


Verbascum blattaria, the moth mullein, is a flowering biennial plant belonging to the figwort family Scrophulariaceae. A native of Eurasia and North Africa, it has naturalized in the United States and most of Canada since its introduction and has become an invasive species there. It has been declared a noxious weed by the state of Colorado.


Verbascum blattaria is more commonly referred to as the moth mullein, so named because of the resemblance of its flower's stamens to a moth’s antennae. This is not to be confused with the more popular and widely known common mullein (V. thapsus), a close relative of V. blattaria.


The moth mullein is a biennial plant. In its first year after sowing, its leaves develop as a basal rosette. During this first year, the stem of the plant remains extremely short.  The leaves of the rosette are oblanceolate with deeply toothed edges and are attached to the stem by short petioles. The rosette can grow to a diameter of 16 inches (41 cm) during this first year, with each individual leaf reaching a length up to 8 inches (20 cm). The mullein forms a fibrous root system with a deep taproot.
In the second year of growth, the stem grows slender and erect, and can reach a height of 1+1⁄2 to 3 feet (1⁄2 to 1 m). This length of stem is commonly referred to as the flowering stem. It usually grows unbranched, and leaves grow alternatively directly off the stem. The leaves located on the flowering stem are similar to the leaves of the rosette; however, they tend to be smaller and elliptical with shallow-toothed edges and have sharply pointed tips. These leaves can reach a length of 5 inches (13 cm).  Both the leaves of the rosette and the leaves of the flowering stem are dark green in color and glabrous (hairless).
The flowers are produced during the second year of growth on a loose raceme. Each flower is attached individually to the flowering stem by a pedicel. Each pedicel typically reaches a length  less than 1 inch (2.5 cm). The flowers of the mullein consist of five petals and five anther-bearing stamens, and each flower can reach a diameter of 1 inch (25 mm). The flowers can be either yellow or white and typically have a slight purple tinge. The stamens of the flower are orange in color and are covered in purple hairs, reminiscent to a moth’s antennae. The flowers of the mullein bloom between June and October of the second year.
The moth mullein grows a small, simple fruit that is spherical in shape and has a diameter less than 0.5 inches (13 mm). Each fruit is dark brown in color and contains numerous dark brown seeds. The fruit of the mullein develops, matures, and falls from the plant all in the second year of growth. In certain regions of the world, finches have been known to consume and distribute the seeds.


A native of Europe, Asia, and North Africa, Verbascum blattaria has naturalized in most of North America since its introduction. It was first recorded in Pennsylvania in 1818, and was recorded in Michigan in 1840. It has since been found in almost every one of the continental United States, as well as in southern Canada and even Hawaii. In the United States, it is found most abundantly along the East Coast.
Though having a wide range of habitats, Verbascum blattaria is typically found in open fields such as pastures and meadows. It can also be found in open woods. The moth mullein prefers rich soils, but is tolerant of dry, sandy, and even gravelly soils.


Even in folk medicine, Verbascum blattaria has not been attributed to a wide range of uses. However, a study conducted in 1974 reported that when a number of Aedes aegypti mosquito larvae were exposed to a methanol extract of moth mullein, at least 53% of the larvae were killed. V. blattaria has also long been known to be an effective cockroach repellent, and the name blattaria is actually derived from the Latin word for cockroach, blatta.


In a famous long-term experiment, Dr. William James Beal, then a professor of botany at Michigan Agriculture College, selected seeds of 21 different plant species (including Verbascum blattaria) and placed seeds of each in 20 separate bottles filled with sand. The bottles, left uncorked, were buried mouth down (so as not to allow moisture to reach the seeds) in a sandy knoll in 1879. The purpose of this experiment was to determine how long the seeds could be buried dormant in the soil, and yet germinate in the future when planted. In 2000, one of these bottles was dug up, and 23 seeds of V. blattaria were planted in favorable conditions, yielding a 50% germination rate.


Verbascum thapsus, the great mullein, greater mullein or common mullein is a species of mullein native to Europe, northern Africa, and Asia, and introduced in the Americas and Australia.
It is a hairy biennial plant that can grow to 2 m tall or more. Its small, yellow flowers are densely grouped on a tall stem, which grows from a large rosette of leaves. It grows in a wide variety of habitats, but prefers well-lit, disturbed soils, where it can appear soon after the ground receives light, from long-lived seeds that persist in the soil seed bank. It is a common weedy plant that spreads by prolifically producing seeds, and has become invasive in temperate world regions. It is a minor problem for most agricultural crops, since it is not a competitive species, being intolerant of shade from other plants and unable to survive tilling. It also hosts many insects, some of which can be harmful to other plants. Although individuals are easy to remove by hand, populations are difficult to eliminate permanently.
Although commonly used in traditional medicine, no approved drugs are made from this plant. It has been used to make dyes and torches.


For the purpose of botanical nomenclature, Verbascum thapsus was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1753 Species Plantarum. The specific epithet thapsus had been first used by Theophrastus (as Θάψος, Thapsos) for an unspecified herb from the Ancient Greek settlement of Thapsos, near modern Syracuse, Sicily, though it is often assimilated to the ancient Tunisian city of Thapsus.
At the time, no type specimen was specified, as the practice only arose later, in the 19th century. When a lectotype (type selected amongst original material) was designated, it was assigned to specimen 242.1 of Linnaeus' herbarium, the only V. thapsus specimen. The species had previously been designated as type species for Verbascum. European plants exhibit considerable phenotypical variation, which has led to the plant acquiring many synonyms over the years. Introduced American populations show much less variation.
The taxonomy of Verbascum has not undergone any significant revision since Svanve Mürbeck's monographies in the 1930s, with the exception of the work of Arthur Huber-Morath, who used informal grouping in organizing the genus for the florae of Iran and Turkey to account for many intermediate species. Since Huber-Morath's groups are not taxonomical, Mürbeck's treatment is the most current one available, as no study has yet sought to apply genetic or molecular data extensively to the genus. In Mürbeck's classification, V. thapsus is placed in section Bothrospermae subsect. Fasciculata (or sect. Verbascum subsect. Verbascum depending on nomenclatural choices) alongside species such as Verbascum nigrum (black or dark mullein), Verbascum lychnitis (white mullein), and Verbascum sinuatum (wavy-leaved mullein).


The three usually recognized subspecies are:
V. t. thapsus; type, widespread.
V. t. crassifolium (Lam.) Murb.; Mediterranean region and to 2000 metres in southwestern Austria. (syn. subsp. montanum (Scrad.) Bonnier & Layens)
V. t. giganteum (Willk.) Nyman; Spain, endemic.
In all subspecies but the type, the lower stamens are also hairy. In V. t. crassifolium, the hairiness is less dense and often absent from the upper part of the anthers, while lower leaves are hardly decurrent and have longer petioles. In V. t. giganteum, the hairs are densely white tomentose, and lower leaves are strongly decurrent. V. t. crassifolium also differs from the type in having slightly larger flowers, which measure 15–30 mm wide, whereas in the type, they are 12–20 mm in diameter. Both V. t. giganteum and V. t. crassifolium were originally described as species. Due to its morphological variation, V. thapsus has had a great many subspecies described. A recent revision led its author to maintain V. giganteum but sink V. crassifolium into synonymy.
The plant is also parent to several hybrids (see table). Of these, the most common is V. × semialbum Chaub. (× V. nigrum). All occur in Eurasia, and three, V. × kerneri Fritsch, V. × pterocaulon Franch. and V. × thapsi L. (syn. V. × spurium W.D.J.Koch), have also been reported in North America.


V. thapsus is known by a variety of names. European reference books call it "great mullein". In North America, "common mullein" is used while western United States residents commonly refer to mullein as "cowboy toilet paper".
In the 19th century, it had well over 40 different common names in English alone. Some of the more whimsical ones included "hig candlewick", "Indian rag weed", "bullicks lungwort", "Adams-rod", "hare's-beard", and "ice-leaf". Vernacular names include innumerable references to the plant's hairiness: "woolly mullein", "velvet mullein", or "blanket mullein", "beggar's blanket", "Moses' blanket", "poor man's blanket", "Our Lady's blanket", or "old man's blanket", and "feltwort", and so on ("flannel" is another common generic name). "Mullein" itself derives from the French word for "soft".
Some names refer to the plant's size and shape: "shepherd's club(s)" or "staff", "Aaron's rod" (a name it shares with a number of other plants with tall, yellow inflorescences), and a plethora of other "X's staff" and "X's rod". The name "velvet dock" or "mullein dock" is also recorded, where "dock" is a British name applied to any broad-leaved plant.


Seeds of V. thapsus have been recorded from part of the Cromer Forest Bed series and at West Wittering in Sussex from some parts of the Ipswichian interglacial layers.


Because it cannot compete with established plants, great mullein is no longer considered a serious agricultural weed and is easily crowded out in cultivation, except in areas where vegetation is sparse to begin with, such as Californian semidesertic areas of the eastern Sierra Nevada. In such ecological contexts, it crowds out native herbs and grasses; its tendency to appear after forest fires also disturbs the normal ecological succession. Although not an agricultural threat, its presence can be very difficult  to eradicate and is especially problematic in overgrazed pastures. The species is legally listed as a noxious weed in the US state of Colorado (class C) and Hawaii, and the Australian state of Victoria (regionally prohibited in the West Gippsland region, and regionally controlled in several others).
Despite not being an agricultural weed in itself, it hosts a number of insects and diseases, including both pests and beneficial insects. It is also a potential reservoir of the cucumber mosaic virus, Erysiphum cichoraceum (the cucurbit powdery mildew) and Texas root rot. A study found V. thapsus hosts insects from 29 different families. Most of the pests found were western flower thrips (Frankliniella occidentalis), Lygus species such as the tarnished plant bug (L. lineolaris), and various spider mites from the family Tetranychidae. These make the plant a potential reservoir for overwintering pests.
Other insects commonly found on great mullein feed exclusively on Verbascum species in general or V. thapsus in particular. They include mullein thrips (Haplothrips verbasci), Gymnaetron tetrum (whose larva consume the seeds), and the mullein moth (Cucullia verbasci). Useful insects are also hosted by great mullein, including predatory mites of the genera Galendromus, Typhlodromus, and Amblyseius, the minute pirate bug Orius tristicolor, and the mullein plant bug (Campylomma verbasci). The plant's ability to host both pests and beneficials makes it potentially useful to maintain stable populations of insects used for biological control in other cultures, like Campylomma verbasci and Dicyphus hesperus (Miridae), a predator of whiteflies. A number of pest Lepidoptera species, including the stalk borer (Papaipema nebris) and gray hairstreak (Strymon melinus), also use V. thapsus as a host plant.
Control of the plant, when desired, is best managed via mechanical means, such as hand pulling and hoeing, preferably followed by sowing of native plants. Animals rarely graze it because of its irritating hairs, and liquid herbicides require surfactants to be effective, as the hair causes water to roll off the plant, much like the lotus effect. Burning is ineffective, as it only creates new bare areas for seedlings to occupy. G. tetrum and Cucullia verbasci usually have little effect on V. thapsus populations as a whole. Goats and chickens have also been proposed to control mullein. Effective (when used with a surfactant) contact herbicides include glyphosate, triclopyr and sulfurometuron-methyl. Ground herbicides, like tebuthiuron, are also effective, but recreate bare ground and require repeated application to prevent regrowth.


Although long used in herbal medicine,  no drugs are manufactured from its components. Dioscorides first recommended the plant 2000 years ago, considering it useful as a folk medicine for pulmonary diseases. Leaves were smoked to attempt to treat lung ailments, a tradition that in America was rapidly transmitted to Native American peoples. The Zuni people, however, use the plant in poultices of powdered root applied to sores, rashes, and skin infections. An infusion of the root is also used to treat athlete's foot. All preparations meant to be drunk have to be finely filtered to eliminate the irritating hairs.
Oil from the flowers was used against catarrhs, colics, earaches, frostbite, eczema, and other external conditions. Topical application of various V. thapsus-based preparations was recommended for the treatment of warts, boils, carbuncles, hemorrhoids, and chilblains, amongst others. Glycyrrhizin compounds with bactericide effects in vitro were isolated from flowers. The German Commission E describes uses of the plant for respiratory infections. It was also part of the National Formulary in the United States and United Kingdom.
The plant has been used in an attempt to treat colds, croup, sunburn, and other skin irritations.


Roman soldiers are said to have dipped the plant stalks in grease for use as torches. Other cultures use the leaves as wicks. Native Americans and American colonists lined their shoes with leaves from the plant to keep out the cold.
Mullein may be cultivated as an ornamental plant. As for many plants, (Pliny the Elder described it in his Naturalis Historia), great mullein was linked to witches, although the relationship remained generally ambiguous, and the plant was also widely held to ward off curses and evil spirits. The seeds contain several compounds (saponins, glycosides, coumarin, rotenone) that are toxic to fish, and have been widely used as piscicide for fishing.
Due to its weedy capacities, the plant, unlike other species of the genus (such as V. phoeniceum), is not often cultivated.


They are all hairy in subspecies V. crassifolium and V. giganteum.
The lectotypification is usually attributed to Arthur Huber-Morath (1971) Denkschriften der Schweizerischen Naturforschenden Gesellschaft  87:43. Some disagree since Huber-Morath did not specifically cite sheet 242.1, and credit instead L. H. Cramer, in Dassanayake & Fosberg (1981) A Revised Handbook to the Flora of Ceylon 3:389.
The 1630 number in Mitch may be a typo: the beginning of the 18th century is cited in other sources.
Eaton went so far as to write: "When botanists are so infatuated with wild speculation, as to tell us the mullein was introduced, they give our youngest pupils occasion to sneer at their teachers."
In book 25, Pliny describes "two principal kinds [of verbascum]" thought to be V. thapsus and V. sinuatum. The precise attribution of a third kind is unclear.


Verbascum virgatum, commonly known as twiggy mullein and wand mullein, is a plant species in the family Scrophulariaceae.


It is a tall-growing biennial herb reaching a height of between 1 and 2 metres. The flowers are 3 to 4 cm in diameter and are yellow with a purple centre.


The species is native to Great Britain, Italy, France, the Iberian Peninsula, the Canary Islands and the Madeira Islands.
Additionally, it is naturalised in South Africa, North America, South America, Australia, New Zealand, Melanesia, Polynesia and the Azores.


Verbena bonariensis, the purpletop vervain, clustertop vervain, Argentinian vervain, tall verbena  or pretty verbena, is a member of the verbena family cultivated as a flowering annual or herbaceous perennial plant. In USA horticulture, it is also known by the ambiguous names purpletop (also used for the grass Tridens flavus) and South American vervain (which can mean any of the numerous species in the genus Verbena occurring in that continent). For the misapplication "Brazilian verbena" see below.
It is native to tropical South America where it grows throughout most of the warm regions, from Colombia and Brazil to Argentina and Chile.


Verbena bonariensis is a tall and slender-stemmed perennial. It can grow to 6 ft (180 cm) tall and can spread to 3 ft (90 cm) wide. At maturity, it will develop a woody base. Fragrant lavender to rose-purple flowers are in tight clusters located on terminal and axillary stems, blooming from mid-summer until fall frost. The stem is square with very long internodes. Leaves are ovate to ovate-lanceolate with a toothed margin and grow up to 4 in (10 cm) long.


Verbena is derived from Latin, meaning ‘sacred bough’, in reference to the leafy twigs of vervaine (Verbena officinalis) which were historically carried by priests, used in wreaths for druidic rituals, and for medicine. Named by Virgil and Pliny the Elder. The common name, vervaine, comes from the Celtic name, ‘ferfain’.
Its specific epithet bonariensis means ‘from Buenos Aires, Argentina’. ‘Buenos’ means ‘good’ and ‘aires’ means ‘air’ (‘good air’).


Verbena bonariensis is a member of the South American vervains, which are polyploid and have more than 14 chromosomes. Among these, it is part of a lineage which might also include Verbena intermedia and seems well distant from Verbena litoralis or Verbena montevidensis for example.
Sometimes, the name Verbena brasiliensis, Brazilian verbena or Brazilian vervain, is found for this species. However, this is the result of a mix-up with V. brasiliensis, the "true" Brazilian verbena, which has been erroneously referred to as V. bonariaensis by several botanists.


There are two named subspecies:
Verbena bonariensis subsp. bonariensis L.
Verbena bonariensis subsp. conglomerata Briq.