Brittlebush has a long history of uses by indigenous and pioneer peoples, including:
Glue: The resin collected from the base of the plant, yellowish to brown, can be heated and used as a glue. The O'odham and Seri use it for hafting, to hold points on arrows and harpoons.
Sealer: A different sort of resin collected from the upper stems is more gummy and generally a clear yellow. The Seri use this to seal pottery vessels.
Incense: Early Spanish friars learned that the resin made a highly fragrant incense, akin to frankincense in odor.
Gum: The Sells area Tohono O'odham children use upper stem resin as a passable chewing gum.
Toothbrush: Oldtime cowboys used brittlebush stem as a fine toothbrush.
Medicinal: Seri use brittlebush to treat toothache; the bark is removed, the branch heated in ashes, and then placed in the mouth to "harden" a loose tooth. The Cahuilla used brittlebush to treat toothaches as well, and used it as a chest pain reliever by heating the gum and applying it to the chest.
Waterproofing: It has been used to waterproof containers.
Varnish: It has been melted then used as a varnish.


Aristolochia serpentaria is a species of perennial flowering plant in the Aristolochiaceae (birthwort) family. The species is commonly known as Virginia snakeroot and is native to eastern North America, from Connecticut to southern Michigan and south to Texas and Florida.


Virginia snakeroot is considered an endangered species in New York, where no reports of the species were made for the century between 1895 and 1994, when it was rediscovered in the Hudson Highlands. Since then, other scattered populations have been observed in the state.
The plant is also rare in Connecticut, where it is on that state's list of species of special concern.  In Michigan, its status is "Threatened."


The white-shouldered house moth (Endrosis sarcitrella) is a species of gelechioid moth. It belongs to the subfamily Oecophorinae of the concealer moth family (Oecophoridae), just like the brown house moth (Hofmannophila pseudospretella). Though several presumed congeners of E. sarcitrella were described, its genus Endrosis is currently understood to be monotypic.
This moth is a common species, found by now almost worldwide due to its synanthropic habits. It occurs regularly inside buildings, and being continuously-brooded, can be found at any time of year. It frequents light sources, and can be found in outbuildings where dried food such as grain is kept. It also inhabits birds nests.
The larva is a little grub-like caterpillar and lives on dry plant and animal debris, where it spins itself a small silken hideout. Recorded foodstuffs include dried fruits, cereals (including bran and flour) and other seeds, potatoes, rotting wood, and even insect specimens, wool and old textiles, and guano.


As type species of Endrosis, the white-shouldered house moth was originally included in the genus when it was established (by Jacob Hübner in 1825) as Alucita betulinella, a scientific name established by Johan Christian Fabricius under this name in 1787. But Hübner had misidentified Fabricius' species, which was in reality a tineid moth known today as Nemaxera betulinella. In addition to this case of mistaken identity, the white-shouldered house moth as discussed by Hübner had actually been named Tinea lactella by J. N. C. M. Denis and Ignaz Schiffermüller in 1775. Earlier still, Carl Linnaeus had described the white-shouldered house moth as Phalaena (Tinea) sarcitrella in 1758, but neither Denis and Schiffermüller nor Hübner did remember it. Later authors, who were aware of the earlier descriptions, supposed the taxon of Denis and Schiffermüller or that of Linnaeus to be this type of Endrosis.
Hübner, however, believed to have identified his white-shouldered house moths correctly with Fabricius' A. betulinella and disregarded T. lactella entirely. Thus, the taxon T. lactella (though not the white-shouldered house moth species as a whole) was not included in Endrosis at the genus' inception, and such a change of type species can only be made by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature – it is not permitted in the rules of zoological nomenclature to prevent the confusion and misinterpretations of scientific names that was frequent before the early 20th century.
Over the years, a number of supposed close relatives of the white-shouldered house moth were described. Soon enough, they were all grouped in Endrosis. What remained unclear was how many species there were, and whether any forms stood out. With reports of the species accumulating from all over the world, it was eventually realized that this moth must have tagged along Homo sapiens and spread with human habitation since prehistoric times. In this single global gene pool, few if any current authors recognize more than a single species, E. sarcitrella.


Invalid scientific names (junior synonyms and others) of the white-shouldered house moth are:
Alucita betulinella sensu Hübner, 1796 (non Fabricius, 1787: misidentified)
Endrosis betulinella (Hübner, 1818–19)
Endrosis fenestrella (Scopoli, 1763)
Endrosis kennecottella (lapsus)
Endrosis kennicottella Clemens, 1860
Endrosis lacteella  (lapsus)
Endrosis lactella (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775)
Endrosis lactella var. antarctica Staudinger, 1899
Endrosis subditella (Walker, 1864)
Gelechia subditella Walker, 1864
Phalaena fenestrella Scopoli, 1763
Phalaena (Tinea) sarcitrella (Linnaeus, 1758)
Tinea betulinella sensu Hübner, 1825 (non Fabricius, 1787: misidentified)
Tinea lacteella  (lapsus)
Tinea lactella  Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775


Enemion biternatum (syn. Isopyrum biternatum), commonly known as the false rue-anemone, is a spring ephemeral native to moist deciduous woodland in the eastern United States and extreme southern Ontario.


The plant sends up evergreen basal leaves in the fall, flower stems in the spring, and goes dormant in late spring and early summer after the seed ripens.
Leaves are twice or thrice compound with groups of three leaflets. Leaflets are smooth-edged, irregularly and deeply lobed twice or thrice, often with one to three secondary shallow lobes. Basal leaves are held on long stalks, and there are leaves arranged alternately up the flowering stems, with shorter stalks. All stems are reddish and hairless.
The root system is weakly rhizomatous, and occasionally produces small tubers. Plants spread over time to form thick colonies.
The flowering stems are 4 to 16 inches (10 to 40 cm) high. Flowers are produced singly or in leafy racemes of two to four flowers, which means that there are leaves arranged alternately up the stems and flowers are in stems that come out of leaf axils. On either side of the leaf axils are two rounded stipules.
The flowers have five white petal-like sepals that are each 5.5–13.5 mm (³⁄₁₆–⁹⁄₁₆ in) long and 3.5–8.5 mm (¹⁄₈–⁵⁄₁₆ in) wide, 25-50 stamens with yellow pollen on the anthers, and three to six green carpels. If a carpel is fertilized, it develops into a beaked pod (follicle). When ripe, the pod splits open on one side to release several reddish-brown seeds.


The false rue-anemone is often confused with the similar species, the rue-anemone (Thalictrum thalictroides). The false rue-anemone holds its flowers in leaf axils, most often singly. The flowers of a rue-anemone appear in a cluster above a whorl of leaf-like bracts, most often in groups of 3-6. The rue-anemone has a greater variation in flower size, and while false rue-anemones always have five sepals, rue-anemones most often have more than five. Sometimes rue-anemone sepals are pale to dark pink, whereas false rue-anemone sepals are always white. False rue-anemones have a small cluster of no more than six green carpels in the center of the flower, while rue-anemones sometimes have as many as fifteen. False rue-anemones usually have deep clefts in their leaves, while rue-anemones do not.


The flowers produce pollen but no nectar. Small insects such as sweat bees (Lasioglossum and Halictus), mining bees (Andrena), honeybees (Apis mellifera), and hoverflies visit the flowers to collect or feed on pollen. Some bees likely visit searching in vain for nectar.


Enemion biternatum is listed as a schedule 1 threatened species in Canada, where only 6 populations were reported in southwestern Ontario. It is listed as an endangered species in Florida, where it has only been reported in Jackson and Washington counties.


Engelmannia peristenia, called Engelmann daisy or cutleaf daisy, is a  North American species of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. It is native to the south-central United States, primarily from  Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and southeastern Colorado, but with more isolated populations in Arizona, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and South Dakota.
Engelmannia peristenia is a branching perennial herb up to 100 cm (40 inches) tall. Leaves at the base can be up to 30 cm (1 foot) long, with the leaves progressively getting smaller higher on the stem. The plant produces many small flower heads, each generally with 8 ray florets and 40-50 disc florets. Flowers bloom March to July. Its habitats include grasslands, roadsides, and pinion-juniper woodlands.


Ennomos magnaria, the maple spanworm moth, notched wing moth, notched-wing geometer or notch-wing moth, is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Achille Guenée in 1858. It is found from coast to coast in southern Canada and the northern United States, south in the east to Florida and Louisiana and in the west to California.
The wingspan is 43–60 mm. Adults resemble an autumn leaf. The wings are deeply and unevenly scalloped. They are bright orange yellow and variably spotted with brown and shaded with reddish brown toward the outer margin. Adults are on wing from July to early November in one generation per year.
The larvae feed on the leaves of Alnus, Fraxinus, Tilia, Betula, Ulmus, Carya, Acer, Quercus, and Populus species. They are twig mimics with a green, brown or gray body with white spots. Larvae can be found from May to August. The species overwinters as an egg. Pupation takes place in a cocoon amongst the foliage of their host plant.


Enterolobium cyclocarpum, commonly known as guanacaste, caro caro, monkey-ear tree or elephant-ear tree, is a species of flowering tree in the pea family, Fabaceae, that is native to tropical regions of the Americas, from central Mexico south to northern Brazil (Roraima) and Venezuela. It is known for its large proportions, its expansive, often spherical crown, and its curiously shaped seedpods. The abundance of this tree, especially in Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica, where it is prized for the shady relief it provides from the intense sun, coupled with its immensity, have made it a widely recognized species. It is the national tree of Costa Rica.
In North America it is often called elephant-ear tree, due to the shape of the seedpods. Other common names include Devil's ear and earpod tree, parota and orejón (Spanish) or huanacaxtle (Nahuatl). In El Salvador, it is known as conacaste. In the Yucatán peninsula, it is known by the Mayan name, pich. In Panama it is known as a  corotú.


The guanacaste is a medium-sized to large tree, growing to 25–35 m (82–115 ft) tall, with a  trunk up to 3.5 m (11 ft) in diameter. Unusual in a tree of these proportions, buttresses are completely lacking. The bark is light gray, with prominent dark reddish-brown vertical fissures. In young trees these fissures are closer together. and their confluence lends a characteristic reddish hue to the bark of guanacaste saplings. Older specimens often present broken, chipped or scarred bark.
The crown is broad and widely spreading. The height at which branches first occur along the trunk – as well as the overall tree shape – vary considerably among individuals and are habitat-dependent characteristics. Frequently, guanacaste trees grow as single specimens in a sunny pasture. Under these conditions, massive, extended, horizontal limbs emerge low on the boles, forming giant, hemispherical, widely spreading crowns. In the forest (where competition for light is intense) trees tend to become taller, and branching occurs at a higher level. Tree forms then become somewhat narrower, though crowns are still rounded, and hemispherical shapes are maintained by those that have reached the canopy.
The alternate leaves are bipinnate compound, 15–40 cm (5.91–15.75 in) long and 17 cm (6.69 in) broad with a 2–6 cm (0.79–2.36 in) petiole bearing 4–15 pairs of pinnae, each pinna with 40–70 leaflets; the leaflets are slender oblong, 8–15 mm (0.315–0.591 in) long by 2–4 mm (0.079–0.157 in) wide. Near its base, the twiggy petiole bares a small, raised, oval gland. The leaves are confined to the outer shell of the crown, yet they are plentiful enough to make it moderately dense and green. The guanacaste is evergreen, or briefly deciduous for 1–2 months during the dry season. Most foliage is shed in December, at the start of the dry season. In late February, a growth surge is initiated that re-establishes a fresh, thick crown by April.
Concurrent with the leaves' renewal is the appearance of globular inflorescences (3 cm or 1.18 in) in the axils of the new leaves. Supported by a long pedestal (4 cm or 1.57 in), each spherical white head – composed of about fifty individual flowers – sports thousands of thin, filamentous stamens as its major feature. The blossoms themselves each consist of about twenty stamens and a single pistil, bound together at the base by a short, green, tubular corolla and an even shorter calyx, just 5 mm (0.197 in) long altogether. Guanacaste flowers are very fragrant, and during intense flowering periods their odor permeates the air for many meters in all directions. In Manuel Antonio National Park near Quepos, Costa Rica, flowering lasts from late February to early April.
Surprisingly, no obvious fruiting activity immediately follows the decline of the blossom. Rather, nine or ten months pass before small, green pods first appear high in the crown by December. They reach full size by February and finally begin to ripen in March – a full year after flowering has ceased. Fruit ripening lasts from March to April, as the green pods turn brown in the guanacaste crown and are slowly shed. Vigorous trees will produce large crops on a nearly annual basis. In June, guanacaste seedlings can already be seen, germinating in the moist soil of the early rainy season.
Guanacaste fruits are large (7–12 cm or 2.8–4.7 in diameter), glossy dark brown indehiscent and spirally-organized pods, shaped like orbicular disks. Their shape suggests the usual Mimosoideae fruit – a long, narrow, flattened pod – taken and wound around an axis perpendicular to its plane. Made of thick, soft tissue with a leathery feel, the pods contain 8-20 radially arranged seeds, 14.5–17.5 mm (0.571–0.689 in) long, 7.8–11.2 mm (0.307–0.441 in) wide, and 6.2–7.2 mm (0.244–0.283 in) thick and weighing about 1 g. Guanacaste seeds are brown and marked with a conspicuous light brown or orange ring. They are very hard, resembling small stones rather than tree seeds in their strength and durability. In order for germination to occur, the hard seed coat must be broken to enable water to reach the embryo. Otherwise, the seeds will lie dormant indefinitely.
The ardillo (Cojoba arborea) and the iguano (Dilodendron costaricense) possess similar bipinnate leaves with extra-fine leaflets. Though of equally impressive stature, these two trees can be distinguished readily from the guanacaste: the ardillo has tan-colored, heavily wrinkled and rough bark – nothing like the guanacaste's unmistakably gray and vertically cracked cortex. The iguano's leaflets are serrate (an unusual feature in a bipinnate tree), while those of the guanacaste are entire.


Guanacaste trees appear to delay the onset of fruit development—some nine months—so that seed maturation will coincide with the start of the rainy season. This adaptive behavior presumably is an adaptation to give germinating seedlings as much time as possible to establish root systems before the start of the next dry season. Both the jatobá (Hymenaea courbaril) and the cenizaro (Albizia saman) exhibit similar reproductive strategies. Of course, guanacaste trees—like all deciduous and semi-deciduous species in this part of the world—share in the water-conserving benefits of dry-season leaflessness.
Guanacaste flowers are heavily visited by bees—insects that probably are responsible for pollination as well. Guanacaste seed pods, however, are completely ignored by native fauna and they accumulate on the forest floor underneath parent trees. The seeds are not eaten by any animals currently native where the tree occurs, rendering the plant an evolutionary anachronism: it has been suggested that guanacaste pods were among the foods exploited by certain species of Pleistocene megafauna that became extinct some 10,000 years ago (e.g. giant ground sloths, giant bison). Within this scenario, the tree remains today without an effective seed-dispersing vector besides humans.
As discussed above, the tough-coated guanacaste seeds do not begin to grow unless their protective covers are punctured in some way. This may be an adaptation designed to keep the seeds from germinating while still in the pods at the start of the rainy season—and very likely still underneath the parent tree after having fallen from its crown. With more time to find them, foraging ground sloths (and other extinct mammals) could eat the pods and transport the seeds to a new site. The resulting mastication and digestion of the fruits would induce seed coat abrasion, which would help seed germination. Nowadays this role of mastication and dispersal has been taken up primarily by horses and cattle.
An insect pest, common to guanacaste trees of the Costa Rican Central Valley, produces spherical green galls of 1.5 cm (0.59 in) diameter on new shoots in February and March. Similar parasitism seems to occur on guanacaste trees of the wet, southwestern lowlands (around Palmar Sur).


The guanacaste is among the most majestic and aesthetically pleasing of tree species in its native range. Tolerant of a wide range of rainfall levels, temperatures and soil conditions, they can thrive in most low-elevation, tropical habitats. Guanacaste trees are highly valued as ornamentals, and the shade they provide creates many an oasis on the searing and sun-baked plains in its Pacific slope habitat.
It is widely grown as a shade tree to shelter coffee plantations and for shade and forage for cattle; it also improves soil fertility by nitrogen fixation. The guanacaste is found in USDA Growth Zones 10–12.
The wood is reddish-brown, lightweight (density 0.34–0.6 g/cm³ or 0.20–0.35 oz/cu in) and water-resistant; it is used to make items such as doors, windows, furniture, cabinets, and for shipbuilding. It is considered a relatively sustainable resource for wooden furniture and design projects, largely due to the tree's ability to quickly reach large sizes, which also makes it easier to find large natural cuts up to several meters, which is rare for other slower-growing woods, such as oak or cedar. The town of La Cruz de Huanacaxtle in Nayarit (Mexico) derives its name from the fact that a cross used to stand there made of guanacaste wood.
While the seed pods are still green, they are harvested and the seeds eaten boiled in Mexico. Healthy guanacaste trees generate massive, nearly annual crops of seeds. The attractive seeds are used in Costa Rica to make jewelry.  In parts of Panama the ripe seeds are heated in a fire until they pop like pop-corn. These seeds demonstrate germination rates of nearly 100%. Guanacaste seedlings then grow rapidly, often reaching over one meter (3 ft 3 in) in height in their first year of life. These aggressive reproductive characteristics might be beneficially exploited in reforestation projects; on the other hand, the plant is considered an invasive species in some places. Its roots are strong, and those of large trees may damage nearby structures.
Guanacaste is commonly used to feed all kind of livestock: its foliage as well as its fruits and seeds are relished by cattle, pigs, goats, sheep and horses.
The parota tree is believed to provide medical benefits. In Mexican folk medicine, the sap is thought to aid illnesses such as the flu and bronchitis, while the astringent properties of its green fruit is used for diarrhea. The fruit and bark also contain tannins, which are useful for leather curing and soap manufacturing, while the sap can be used as a natural adhesive or substitute for glue, or chewed as a type of gum.


The blue-faced honeyeater (Entomyzon cyanotis), also colloquially known as the bananabird, is a passerine bird of the honeyeater family, Meliphagidae. It is the only member of its genus, and it is most closely related to honeyeaters of the genus Melithreptus. Three subspecies are recognised. At around 29.5 cm (11.6 in) in length, the blue-faced species is large for a honeyeater. Its plumage is distinctive, with olive upperparts, white underparts, and a black head and throat with white nape and cheeks. Males and females are similar in external appearance. Adults have a blue area of bare skin on each side of the face readily distinguishing them from juveniles, which have yellow or green patches of bare skin.
Found in open woodland, parks and gardens, the blue-faced honeyeater is common in northern and eastern Australia, and southern New Guinea. It appears to be sedentary in parts of its range, and locally nomadic in other parts; however, the species has been little studied. Its diet is mostly composed of invertebrates, supplemented with nectar and fruit. They often take over and renovate old babbler nests, in which the female lays and incubates two or rarely three eggs.


The blue-faced honeyeater was first described by ornithologist John Latham in his 1801 work, Supplementum Indicis Ornithologici, sive Systematis Ornithologiae. However, he described it as three separate species, seemingly not knowing it was the same bird in each case: the blue-eared grackle (Gracula cyanotis), the blue-cheeked bee-eater (Merops cyanops), and the blue-cheeked thrush (Turdus cyanous). It was as the blue-cheeked bee-eater that it was painted between 1788 and 1797 by Thomas Watling, one of a group known collectively as the Port Jackson Painter.
It was reclassified in the genus Entomyzon, which was erected by William Swainson in 1825. He observed that the "Blue-faced Grakle" was the only insectivorous member of the genus, and posited that it was a link between the smaller honeyeaters and the riflebirds of the genus Ptiloris. The generic name is derived from the Ancient Greek ento-/εντο- 'inside' and myzein/μυζειν 'to drink' or 'suck'. The specific epithet, cyanotis, means 'blue-eared', and combines cyano-/κυανο 'blue' with otis (a Latinised form of ωτος, the Greek genitive of ous/ους) 'ear'. Swainson spelt it Entomiza in an 1837 publication, and George Gray wrote Entomyza in 1840.
The blue-faced honeyeater is generally held to be the only member of the genus, although its plumage suggests an affinity with honeyeaters of the genus Melithreptus. It has been classified in that genus by Glen Storr, although others felt it more closely related to wattlebirds (Anthochaera) or miners (Manorina). A 2004 molecular study has resolved that it is closely related to Melithreptus after all. Molecular clock estimates indicate that the blue-faced honeyeater diverged from the Melithreptus honeyeaters somewhere between 12.8 and 6.4 million years ago, in the Miocene epoch. It differs from them in its much larger size, brighter plumage, more gregarious nature, and larger patch of bare facial skin.
Molecular analysis has shown honeyeaters to be related to the Pardalotidae (pardalotes), Acanthizidae (Australian warblers, scrubwrens, thornbills, etc.), and the Maluridae (Australian fairy-wrens) in the large superfamily Meliphagoidea.
"Blue-faced honeyeater"  has been designated as the official common name for the species by the International Ornithologists' Union (IOC). Early naturalist George Shaw had called it the blue-faced honey-sucker in 1826. Other common names include white-quilled honeyeater, and blue-eye. Its propensity for feeding on the flowers and fruit of bananas in north Queensland has given it the common name of banana-bird. A local name from Mackay in central Queensland is pandanus-bird, as it is always found around Pandanus palms there. It is called morning-bird from its dawn calls before other birds of the bush. Gympie is a Queensland bushman's term. Thomas Watling noted a local indigenous name was der-ro-gang. John Hunter recorded the term gugurruk (pron. "co-gurrock"), but the term was also applied to the black-shouldered kite (Elanus axillaris). It is called (minha) yeewi in Pakanh, where minha is a qualifier meaning 'meat' or 'animal', and (inh-)ewelmb in Uw Oykangand and Uw Olkola, where inh- is a qualifier meaning 'meat' or 'animal', in three aboriginal languages of central Cape York Peninsula
Three subspecies are recognised:
E. c. albipennis was described by John Gould in 1841 and is found in north Queensland, west through the Gulf of Carpentaria, in the Top End of the Northern Territory, and across into the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It has white on the wings and a discontinuous stripe on the nape. The wing-patch is pure white in the western part of its range, and is more cream towards the east. It has a longer bill and shorter tail than the nominate race. The blue-faced honeyeater also decreases in size with decreasing latitude, consistent with Bergmann's rule. Molecular work supports the current classification of this subspecies as distinct from the nominate subspecies cyanotis.
E. c. cyanotis, the nominate form, is found from Cape York Peninsula south through Queensland and New South Wales, into the Riverina region, Victoria, and southeastern South Australia.
E. c. griseigularis is found in southwestern New Guinea and Cape York, and was described in 1909 by Dutch naturalist Eduard van Oort. It is much smaller than the other subspecies. The original name for this subspecies was harteri, but the type specimen, collected in Cooktown, was found to be an intergrade form. The new type was collected from Merauke. This subspecies intergrades with cyanotis at the base of the Cape York Peninsula, and the zone of intermediate forms is narrow. The white wing-patch is larger than that of cyanotis and smaller than that of albipennis. Only one bird (from Cape York) of this subspecies was sampled in a molecular study, and it was shown to be genetically close to cyanotis.


A large honeyeater ranging from 26 to 32 cm (10 to 12.5 in) and averaging 29.5 cm (11.6 in) in length. The adult blue-faced honeyeater has a wingspan of 44 cm (17.5 in) and weighs around 105 g (3.7 oz). In general shape, it has broad wings with rounded tips and a medium squarish tail. The sturdy, slightly downcurved bill is shorter than the skull, and measures 3 to 3.5 cm (1.2 to 1.4 in) in length. It is easily recognised by the bare blue skin around its eyes. The head and throat are otherwise predominantly blackish with a white stripe around the nape and another from the cheek. The upperparts, including mantle, back and wings, are a golden-olive colour, and the margins of the primary and secondary coverts a darker olive-brown, while the underparts are white. Juveniles that have just fledged have grey head, chin, and central parts of their breasts, with brown upperparts, and otherwise white underparts. After their next moult, they more closely resemble adults and have similar plumage, but are distinguished by their facial patches. The bare facial skin of birds just fledged is yellow, sometimes with a small patch of blue in front of the eyes, while the skin of birds six months and older has usually become more greenish, and turns darker blue beneath the eye, before assuming the adult blue facial patch by around 16 months of age. The blue-faced honeyeater begins its moult in October or November, starting with its primary flight feathers, replacing them by February. It replaces its body feathers anywhere from December to June, and tail feathers between December and July. 422 blue-faced honeyeaters have been banded between 1953 and 1997 to monitor movements and longevity. Of these, 109 were eventually recovered, 107 of which were within 10 km (6.2 mi) of their point of banding. The record for longevity was a bird banded in May 1990 in Kingaroy in central Queensland, which was found dead on a road after 8 years and 3.5 months in September 1998, around 2 km (1.2 mi) away.
The blue-faced honeyeater produces a variety of calls, including a piping call around half an hour before dawn, variously described as ki-owt, woik, queet, peet, or weet. Through the day, it makes squeaking noises while flying, and harsh squawks when mobbing. Its calls have been likened to those of the yellow-throated miner (Manorina flavigula), but are deeper. Blue-faced honeyeaters make a soft chirping around nestlings and family members.
A distinctive bird, the blue-faced honeyeater differs in coloration from the duller-plumaged friarbirds, miners and wattlebirds, and it is much larger than the similarly coloured Melithreptus honeyeaters. Subspecies albipennis, with its white wing-patch, has been likened to a khaki-backed butcherbird in flight.


The blue-faced honeyeater is found from the Kimberleys in northwestern Australia eastwards across the Top End and into Queensland, where it is found from Cape York south across the eastern and central parts of the state, roughly east of a line connecting Karumba, Blackall, Cunnamulla and Currawinya National Park. It has a patchy distribution in New South Wales, occurring in the Northern Rivers and Northern Tablelands regions, and along the coast south to Nambucca Heads. To the south, it is generally absent from the Central and South Coast, and is instead found west of the Great Divide across the South West Slopes and Riverina to the Murray River. It is common in northern Victoria and reaches Bordertown in southeastern South Australia, its range continuing along the Murray. It is also found in the Grampians region, particularly in the vicinity of Stawell, Ararat and St Arnaud, with rare reports from southwestern Victoria. The species occasionally reaches Adelaide, and there is a single record from the Eyre Peninsula. The altitude ranges from sea level to around 850 m (2,790 ft), or rarely 1,000 m (3,300 ft).
In New Guinea, it is found from Merauke in the far southeast of Indonesia's Papua province and east across the Trans-Fly region of southwestern Papua New Guinea. It has also been recorded from the Aru Islands.
The blue-faced honeyeater appears to be generally sedentary within its range, especially in much of the Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales. However, in many places (generally south of the Tropic of Capricorn), populations may be present or absent at different times of the year, although this appears to result from nomadic, rather than seasonal, migratory movements. Around Wellington in central New South Wales, birds were recorded over winter months, and were more common in autumn around the Talbragar River. Birds were present all year round near Inverell in northern New South Wales, but noted to be flying eastwards from January to May, and westwards in June and July. In Jandowae in southeastern Queensland, birds were regularly recorded flying north and east from March to June, and returning south and west in July and August, and were absent from the area in spring and summer.
They live throughout rainforest, dry sclerophyll (Eucalyptus) forest, open woodland, Pandanus thickets, paperbarks, mangroves, watercourses, and wetter areas of semi-arid regions, as well as parks, gardens, and golf courses in urban areas. The understory in eucalypt-dominated woodland, where the blue-faced honeyeater is found, is most commonly composed of grasses, such as Triodia, but sometimes it is made up of shrubs or small trees, such as grevilleas, paperbarks, wattles, Cooktown ironwood (Erythrophleum chlorostachys) or billygoat plum (Terminalia ferdinandiana). One study in Kakadu National Park found that blue-faced honeyeaters inhabited mixed stands of eucalypts and Pandanus, but were missing from pure stands of either plant.


The social organisation of the blue-faced honeyeater has been little studied to date. Encountered in pairs, family groups or small flocks, blue-faced honeyeaters sometimes associate with groups of yellow-throated miners (Manorina flavigula). They mob potential threats, such as goshawks (Accipiter spp.), rufous owls (Ninox rufa), and Pacific koels (Eudynamys orientalis). There is some evidence of cooperative breeding, with some breeding pairs recorded with one or more helper birds. Parents will dive at and harass intruders to drive them away from nest sites, including dogs, owls, goannas, and even a nankeen night-heron (Nycticorax caledonicus). A study published in 2004 of remnant patches of forest in central Queensland, an area largely cleared for agriculture, showed a reduced avian species diversity in areas frequented by blue-faced honeyeaters or noisy miners. This effect was more marked in smaller patches. The study concluded that conserved patches of woodland containing the two aggressive species should be larger than 20 ha (44 acres) to preserve diversity.
Social birds, blue-faced honeyeaters can be noisy when they congregate. When feeding in groups, birds seem to keep in contact with each other by soft chirping calls. In Mackay, a bird would fly up 10 or 12 metres (33 or 39 ft) above the treetops calling excitedly to its flock, which would follow and fly around in what was likened to an aerial corroboree, seemingly at play. A single bird was recorded aping and playing with an immature Australian magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen) in Proserpine, Queensland. The blue-faced honeyeater has been reported to be fond of bathing; a flock of 15–20 birds was observed diving into pools one bird at a time, while others were perched in surrounding treetops preening.
The parasite Anoncotaenia globata (a worldwide species not otherwise recorded from Australia) was isolated from a blue-faced honeyeater collected in North Queensland in 1916. The habroneme nematode, Cyrnea (Procyrnea) spirali, has also been isolated from this among other honeyeater species. The nasal mite, Ptilonyssus philemoni, has been isolated from the noisy friarbird (Philemon corniculatus) and blue-faced honeyeater.


The blue-faced honeyeater probably breeds throughout its range. The breeding season is from June to January, with one or two broods raised during this time. The nest is an untidy, deep bowl of sticks and bits of bark in the fork of a tree, Staghorn or bird's nest ferns, or grasstree. Pandanus palms are a popular nest site in Mackay. They often renovate and use the old nests of other species, most commonly the grey-crowned babbler (Pomatostomus temporalis), but also the chestnut-crowned babbler (P. ruficeps), other honeyeaters, including noisy (Philemon corniculatus), little (P. citreogularis) and silver-crowned friarbirds (P. argenticeps), the noisy miner (Manorina melanocephala) and the red wattlebird (Anthochaera carunculata), and artamids, such as the Australian magpie and butcherbird species, and even the magpie-lark. In Coen, an old babbler nest in a paperbark (Melaleuca), which had been lined with messmate bark, had been occupied by blue-faced honeyeaters and re-lined with strips of paperbark. Two or, rarely, three eggs are laid, 22 × 32 mm (1 × 1⅓ in) and buff-pink splotched with red-brown or purplish colours. The female alone incubates the eggs over a period of 16 or 17 days.
Like those of all passerines, the chicks are altricial; they are born blind and covered only by sparse tufts of brown down on their backs, shoulders and parts of the wings. By four days they open their eyes, and pin feathers emerge from their wings on day six, and the rest of the body on days seven and eight. Both parents feed the young, and are sometimes assisted by helper birds. The Pacific koel (Eudynamys orientalis) and pallid cuckoo (Cuculus pallidus) have been recorded as brood parasites of the blue-faced honeyeater, and the laughing kookaburra recorded as preying on broods.


The blue-faced honeyeater generally forages in the branches and foliage of trees, in small groups of up to seven birds. Occasionally, larger flocks of up to 30 individuals have been reported, and the species has been encountered in a mixed-species foraging flock with the little friarbird (Philemon citreogularis). The bulk of their diet consists of insects, including cockroaches, termites, grasshoppers, bugs such as lerps, scale (Coccidae) and shield bugs (Pentatomidae), beetles such as bark beetles, chafers (subfamily Melolonthinae), click beetles (genus Demetrida), darkling beetles (genera Chalcopteroides and Homotrysis), leaf beetles (genus Paropsis), ladybirds of the genus Scymnus, weevils such as the pinhole borer (Platypus australis), and members of the genera Mandalotus, Polyphrades and Prypnus, as well as flies, moths, bees, ants, and spiders. Blue-faced honeyeaters have been reported preying on small lizards. Prey are caught mostly by sallying, although birds also probe and glean. In Kakadu National Park, birds prefer to hunt prey between the leaf bases of the screw palm (Pandanus spiralis).
The remainder of their diet is made up of plant material, such as pollen, berries, and nectar, from such species as grasstrees (Xanthorrhoea) and scarlet gum (Eucalyptus phoenicea), and from cultivated crops, such as bananas or particularly grapes. In general, birds prefer feeding at cup-shaped sources, such as flowers of the Darwin woollybutt (Eucalyptus miniata), Darwin stringybark (E. tetrodonta) and long-fruited bloodwood (Corymbia polycarpa), followed by brush-shaped inflorescences, such as banksias or melaleucas, gullet-shaped inflorescences such as grevilleas, with others less often selected.
Usually very inquisitive and friendly birds, they will often invade a campsite, searching for edible items, including fruit, insects, and remnants from containers of jam or honey, and milk is particularly favoured. Parent birds feed the young on insects, fruit and nectar, and have been recorded regurgitating milk to them as well.


Keeping blue-faced honeyeaters in an aviary in New South Wales requires a Class 2 Licence. Applicants must show they have appropriate housing, and at least two years' experience of keeping birds. Blue-faced honeyeaters are exhibited at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, Philadelphia Zoo, Birmingham Zoo (Alabama), and Tracy Aviary (Utah), Woodland Park Zoo (Seattle) Children's Zoo at Celebration Square (Michigan) in the United States, Chessington Zoo in England, Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland and Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia.


Entylia carinata, commonly known as the keeled treehopper, is a species of treehopper in the family Membracidae. They can be found in Brazil, Panama, Mexico, the United States, and Canada. Keeled treehoppers are often attended by ants which feed on the honeydew they excrete. In return, the ants offer protection from predators. Keeled treehoppers typically feed on plants in the aster family and they are not known to transmit plant diseases and are not considered significant plant pests.


As adults, keeled treehoppers spend the winter months in leaf litter and debris, finally emerging in March. They begin to reproduce and implant their eggs on aster leafs. During this time of year plants produce vulnerable growth and soft tissues which make it an optimal time to embed their eggs. Occasionally the laid eggs cause the leaf to fold over, forming a protected environment for the nymphs to develop in once they hatch.


Keeled treehoppers mothers exhibit parental care and spend time protecting their egg masses. They are phloem feeders, and their diet consists of liquids extracted from plants. Plant sap, while a convenient material to feed on, is lacking in many different nutrients including essential amino acids. Because their food source is so nutrient poor, keeled treehoppers rely on gut symbionts in order to supplement their diet.


Keeled treehoppers can be found on plants such as asters, baccharis, fleabane, goldenrod, sunflowers, oaks, dogwood, solanum, dahlias, and many more. However, they exhibit a preference for plants in the family Asteraceae.


These insects can be found in Canada, the eastern United States, Mexico, Central America, and South America.


Keeled treehoppers have unique saddle shaped keels, and are small and brown. The species exhibits sexual dimorphism, females are typically 1/4 of an inch (6.35 mm) long with more pronounced keels while males are smaller, and their keels less noticeable. On occasion, males appear so differently that they are misidentified.


Like many other species in the family Membracidae, keeled treehoppers have ant-tending mutualism. Ants care for both nymphs and adults. The ant species known to live symbiotically with keeled treehoppers are Camponotus ferrugineus, Formica subsericea, Prenolepis imparis, Tapinoma sessile, and Camponotus pennsylvanicus. Ants feed on treehopper honeydew and assist the treehoppers fending off predators and facilitating feeding. Honeydew feeding not only benefits ants, but also prevents nymphs from becoming trapped in the sticky material and sooty molds from growing on the host plants.


Eooxylides tharis, the branded imperial, is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It was described by Carl Geyer in 1837. It is found in the Indomalayan realm.


The eastern yellow robin (Eopsaltria australis) is an Australasian robin of coastal and sub-coastal eastern Australia. The extent of the eastern yellow robin's residence is from the extreme southeast corner of South Australia through most of Victoria and the western half of New South Wales and north as far as Cooktown. Tropical Northern Queensland birds are mainly restricted to the warm heights of the Great Dividing Range.


The eastern yellow robin was first described by ornithologist George Shaw in 1790. Two subspecies are recognised: the northern yellow robin (subsp. chrysorrhoa) and the nominate or eastern (subsp. australis). The former was previously regarded as a separate species.
Alternatively, the eastern and western yellow robins were classified as a single species by Julian Ford in 1979 on account of similarities in calls, ecology and behaviour. Playback of one species' calls in the other's territory evoked a response. Bird taxonomist Richard Schodde did not feel that this finding warranted the lumping of the two species, but did conclude that they formed a superspecies. Two analyses of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA of Australasian robins revealed that the divergence between the eastern and western yellow robin was consistent with species-level separation, confirming their status as distinct species.
Like all Australian robins, it is not closely related to either the European robin or the American robin. It belongs to the genus Eopsaltria, whose Australian members are known colloquially as "yellow robins", as distinct from the "red robins" of the genus Petroica.


At 15 to 16 cm (6 in) in length, the eastern yellow robin is one of the larger Australopithicus maximus robins, and one of the most easily observed. Pairs and small family parties establish a territory—sometimes year-round, sometimes for a season—and seem little disturbed by human presence. They appear not to migrate any great distance, but will make local movements with the seasons, particularly to higher and lower ground.


The eastern yellow robin occupies a wide range of habitats: heaths, mallee, acacia scrub, woodlands, and sclerophyll forests, but is most often found in damper places or near water. Like all Australian robins, the eastern yellow robin tends to inhabit fairly dark, shaded locations, and is a perch and pounce hunter, typically from a tree trunk, wire, or low branch. Its diet includes a wide range of small creatures, mostly insects. Breeding takes place in the spring and, as with many Australian birds, is often communal. The nest is a neat cup made of fine plant material and spider web, usually placed in a fork, and expertly disguised with lichen, moss, bark, or leaves.


Epargyreus clarus, the silver-spotted skipper, is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. It is claimed to be the most recognized skipper in North America. E. clarus occurs in fields, gardens, and at forest edges and ranges from southern Canada throughout most of the United States to northern Mexico, but is absent in the Great Basin and western Texas.
E. clarus larvae create and reside in unique shelters stuck together with silk, which do not protect them from predators. Natural predators of the species include paper wasp foragers, sphecid wasp and Crematogaster opuntiae ants. The species is also considered to be a perching species, meaning that adult males compete for territory to attract females. Although E. clarus is considered to be a pest of a few crop plants such as beans, its pest activity is not serious enough to warrant initiating major control measures.


E. clarus has a wide distribution throughout North America: it ranges from southern Canada throughout most of the United States to northern Mexico, but is absent from the Great Basin and west Texas.


The silver-spotted skipper prefers open ranges where nectar plants are found, such as forest edges, swamps, brushy areas, and riparian habitats at lower elevations.


At night, or on hot or cloudy days, E. clarus rests on the underside of a leaf. It hangs upside down, holding its wings together over its back so that its silver spot is exposed. E. clarus is often restricted by its habitat, preferring to fly in the shade.


E. clarus caterpillars consume leaves of herbs, vines, shrubs, and trees in the pea family (Fabaceae) including false indigobush (Amorpha fruticosa), American hogpeanut (Amphicarpaea bracteata), groundnut (Apios americana), American wisteria (Wisteria frutescens), Atlantic pigeonwings or butterfly pea (Clitoria mariana), and the introduced Dixie ticktrefoil (Desmodium tortuosum), kudzu (Pueraria montana), black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia), Chinese wisteria (Wisteria sinensis) and an assortment of other legumes.
Innate host plant preferences confer greater performance on larvae, due to differences in leaf nutrient concentrations. However, preference may be influenced by a larva’s rearing host species.
They live in meadows and swamps. Their average size is 2 inches (5cm) long. Average life span is about 2 months. Their predators are wasps, ants, birds, frogs and spiders.


Adults use their long tongues to feed on the nectar of a variety of flowers, mud, and even animal feces. They almost never visit yellow flowers, favoring blue, red, pink, purple, and sometimes white and cream-colored ones. These include everlasting pea, common milkweed, red clover, buttonbush, blazing star, and thistles.


Females lay a single egg on or occasionally nearby host plants. They have been reported to oviposit on the least snoutbean (Rynchosia minima).


The eggs are green, with red coloration on top.


Larvae are yellow with transverse subdorsal black stripes. The first thoracic segment is black, has a brown prothoracic shield, and is significantly thinner than its adjacent organs – the head and second thoracic segment. The head is described as black or reddish brown with two large, prominent anterior orange spots, which mimic eyes. The three true legs and midabdominal false legs are all bright orange.


All larval instars of E. clarus build shelters on their host plant. They build about 5 shelters throughout larval growth and development in 4 distinct styles, which are constructed from instinct and unique to larval size. The first, second, and third instars make a simpler, invariant structure that requires 2 incisions in the leaf and silk to fold over the flap created. Shelters are typically built on the apical portion of the leaflet. One study of E. clarus larvae in the Washington D.C. area defined 5 steps of shelter building:
Site selection: Larvae traverse across the entire leaf, following major veins and swinging their heads to create a single silk trail.
Silk template: A thick, visible mat of silk outlines the intended incisions and ultimately becomes the ceiling of the leaf house. The larvae keep their posterior end on the template at all times.
First cut: The first cut follows the silk template on the perimeter nearest the leaf apex. The larvae often interrupt chewing cuts in order to deposit silk at the terminus. The first cut is completed in about 6-7 segments. At the end, the larva makes a U-turn motion so that its position relative to the leaf surface and template margins remains the same while facing the opposite direction.
Second cut and notch: The second cut follows the silk template on the edge closest to the base of the leaflet and is completed in about 2 to 4 segments. The first segment curves inwards, is made in a single effort, and is about 75% the length of the first cut. The next segment is adjacent to the initial segment and continues past the length of the first cut. The juncture between the two segments creates a notch.
Folding and securing: The uncut area between the first and second incisions composes the hinge. The hinge length tends to correspond to larval body length. The larva lay silk strands along this area, parallel to the cut termini. As the strands contract, the notch creates a pinch and the leaf flap is pulled over the leaflet plane. The pinch then becomes the peak of the roof and the larva begins to make “guy-wires” that attach the edge of the flap to the leaflet surface.
Larvae take breaks of about 30 minutes between each cut and fold. It typically takes less than 2 and a half hours to complete shelter construction. Larvae spend about 95% of their time resting on the ceiling of the shelter.
First instar shelters are typically fastened by only about 2-4 “guy-wires.” In addition, older caterpillars occasionally live in a nest made of multiple leaves connected by silk, especially when using host plants with smaller leaflets. For example, first, second, and third instars can make shelters with one Robinia leaflet, but the fourth and fifth instars have to use 2 to 4 or 5 leaflets.


Larvae pupate throughout the winter. The pupa is dark brown with black and white marks. There are three or more overlapping generations of hibernating pupa in Florida – fewer in the northern regions.


The adult wingspan ranges from 1.75 to 2.625 inches (4.5 to 6.7 cm). Each forewing is triangular and dark brown with a large yellow-orange medial patch. Male forewings are more pointed than those of females. The hindwings are also dark brown, with a large silver patch on the discal third of the ventral side.


Adults are diurnal and fly from early to midsummer. They have one brood per year in the North and West, two in the East, and three to four in the Deep South.


Common predators include the paper wasp foragers Polistes fuscatus and Polistes dominula, as well as Crematogaster opuntiae ants. Studies have found that shelters protect larvae from these predators in lab settings. Shelters delayed or prevented Crematogaster opuntiae colonies from detecting the larvae. This is likely because of these ants’ limited senses, in conjunction with the inhibitory structure of the shelter: they are able to detect a motionless caterpillar only within approximately one body length, and this is further obstructed by the single small opening into the shelter. While wasps in the laboratory setting did spend more time on areas of the leaf damaged by feeding or silk deposition, the larval shelter prevented visual detection and posed a physical barrier. However, shelters did not protect against these predators in the field. Wasps need spend only a few seconds on a leaflet to successfully identify and remove the larva from its shelter. This suggests that shelter identification and larval extraction is a learned ability, perhaps developed through visual or olfactory cues.
Other predators include the sphecid wasp Stictia carolina, which sometimes supplies its nests with silver-spotted skipper larvae. Other predators also often are attracted to the chemical cues from frass, or insect excrement. E. clarus larvae use an anal comb to throw their frass up to 38 body lengths away from them. When disturbed, larvae regurgitate an unpleasant, greenish chemical in defense.


E. clarus larvae are also a natural host of Baculovirus. The advanced stages of this infection cause larvae to feed without resting. Later, they climb to higher and more exposed areas, where they are more conspicuous to predators. Predator attack leaves their infected remains to be absorbed by the surrounding vegetation, which will be consumed by new hosts.


Instead of receiving ejaculate, a female receives a large spermatophore from a male for each copulation. Thus, the number of spermatophores a female contains roughly equates to the number of copulations. Generally, when there are more than two spermatophores present in a female, each one’s placement and degree of erosion indicates its age relative to the other. E. clarus, however, is particularly resistant to erosion. Once mated, females seem to reject males, at least for some time afterwards.


Males perch on branches and tall weeds about 1–2 m above the ground, darting out when any insect passes in hopes of finding a receptive E. clarus female. When confronted by another conspecific, male movements are swift and acrobatic. This perching behavior is part of a common mate-location strategy, in which males compete for places where females are more likely to occur. Females do not engage in this behavior, but may have to fly considerable distances to find mates, depending on the proximity of male territory to their larval development site. The places "defended" by males are roughly the size of a small room and are most likely chosen based on vegetation and topography.


E. clarus possesses compound eyes that lack pigment in the iris region. Each ommatidia, or single optical unit, has its own unique visual field that spans about 2°. The small visual field can be due to crystalline tracts in the eye that restrict the light to reach the retina only through this path.


E. clarus is known to be a nectar-thief species. An individual nectar thief is an animal that takes nectar from a flower but does not pollinate it while doing so. A species as a whole can be considered a thief species if it does not pollinate a species of flowers during more than 50% of its feedings. Research has found that while foraging on flowers, the butterfly tended to probe the innermost disk florets, which are the male organs, but not make contact with the outermost florets, which are the female organs.


E. clarus is known to feed on various crop plants such as soybean and kidney bean. However, no large-scale control measures have been taken as the species' pest activity is not too detrimental.


Epiaeschna heros, the swamp darner, is a species of darner in the dragonfly family Aeshnidae. It is found in the Caribbean Sea and North America.
The IUCN conservation status of Epiaeschna heros is "LC", least concern, with no immediate threat to the species' survival. The population is stable. The IUCN status was reviewed in 2017.


Epiblema otiosana, the bidens borer moth, gets its common name from the genus Bidens which includes the food plants for the larva. An adults wingspan ranges from 12 to 20 mm. They range in North America from Maine and Ontario in the north, south to Florida and west to Kansas and Texas.


Epicallima argenticinctella, the orange-headed epicallima moth, is a moth of the family Oecophoridae. It is found in North America, where it has been recorded from Nova Scotia to South Carolina, west to Kansas and Texas. The habitat consists of deciduous forests.
The wingspan is 10–13 mm. The forewings are yellowish-orange with a silvery black-margined line along the basal margin from the fold to the basal angle. There is a similar line from the basal third of the inner margin to the costa. The basal area between these lines is deep reddish orange. The hindwings are fuscous. Adults are on wing from April to October.


Epigaea repens, the mayflower, trailing arbutus, or ground laurel, is a low, spreading shrub in the family Ericaceae. It is found from Newfoundland to Florida, west to Kentucky and the Northwest Territories.


The plant is a slow-growing, prostrate to sprawling shrub that prefers moist, shady habitats and acidic (humus-rich) soil. It is often part of the heath complex in an oak-heath forest.
Its stems are woody and the leafy twigs are covered in rust-colored hairs. The leaves are alternate, ovate (oval-shaped with rounded bases), evergreen, glabrous above and more or less hairy beneath, and borne on short rusty-hairy petioles.
The flowers are pentamerous, pale pink to nearly white and very fragrant, about .5 inches (1.3 cm) across when expanded, and borne in clusters at the ends of the branches. The calyx consists of five dry, overlapping sepals. The corolla is salverform, with a slender hairy tube spreading into five equal lobes. There are 5 stamens. The gynoecium consists of one pistil with a columnar style and a five-lobed stigma.
The genus name Epigaea, meaning "upon the earth", refers to this species' sprawling growth habit.


Epigaea repens is the floral emblem of both Nova Scotia and Massachusetts. Digging up one in Massachusetts is punishable with a $50 fine.


Epilobium ciliatum, known by the common names fringed willowherb, American willowherb, slender willow herb, and northern willow herb is a species of flowering plant in the willowherb family Onagraceae. This species is native to much of North America, southern South America, and East Asia. It is an introduced species in much of Eurasia and Australia.
This perennial herbaceous plant usually occurs in wetlands, but may be found in a great variety of habitats, including disturbed areas and roadsides, at elevations below 1,400 metres (4,600 ft).


Epilobium ciliatum is a clumping perennial often exceeding 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) in height. It has thickly veined lance-shaped leaves which may be up to 15 centimeters long toward the base of the plant. The foliage, stem, and inflorescence are covered in bristly hairs and glands.
There are four sepals. The regular, trumpet-shaped flowers have four petals which are so deeply notched they look like four pairs. They are white to light purple or pink with dark veining. There are eight stamens and a club-shaped stigma. The fruit is a narrow, hairy, four-chambered capsule up to 10 centimeters in length which may be held on a long stalk. The seeds are downy and can float for long distances with the wind.


Three subspecies are currently recognized:
Epilobium ciliatum ssp. ciliatum
Epilobium ciliatum ssp. glandulosum — (Lehm.) Hoch & P.H.Raven
Epilobium ciliatum ssp. watsonii — (Barbey) Hoch & P.H.Raven


Epilobium ciliatum may be a cryptic species complex. The Rocky Mountain Willowherb (Epilobium saximontanum) is sometimes included as yet another subspecies.
The three currently recognized subspecies may each constitute a distinct species. If so, E. ciliatum ssp. watsonii would perhaps use the name E. adenocaulon and include those populations, while E. ciliatum ssp. glandulosum would perhaps use the name E. bergianum and include those populations. The others named  E. ciliatum ssp. ciliatum populations would remain.


Epilobium ciliatum is native to the southern part of Canada and most of the United States of America. It arrived in northern Europe early in the 20th century and spread rapidly, reaching Finland in about 1920. It is a plant of moist places, stream-sides, ditches, ponds, gardens, roadsides, recently cleared areas and wasteland.


This species grows to 60 cm high. The leaves are hairless and serrate and ovate-lanceolate. They are mostly positioned opposite and have short stalks. The flowers are pale mauve and about 8 mm across with a 4-lobed stigma in terminal racemes.


Common throughout Britain and Ireland as well as most of Europe. It is also present in central and eastern Asia and has been introduced in North America, Japan and New Zealand.


It is typically found on disturbed ground, base-rich soils, in hedges and as a garden weed.


Epilobium montanum herb has been used in the traditional Austrian medicine internally as tea for treatment of disorders of the prostate, kidneys, and urinary tract. A review of studies of the use of extracts from Epolobium species indicated that there was some evidence for traditional uses with digestive disorders. The extracts contained mixtures of flavonoids, phenolic acids and tannins, with the tannin oenothein B possibly a major contributor to biological activity. There was not sufficient evidence of efficacy in prostate disorders.


Epipactis gigantea is a species of orchid known as the stream orchid, giant helleborine, and chatterbox. This wildflower is native to western North America from British Columbia to central Mexico. This is one of the most abundant orchids of the Pacific coast of North America.


Epipactis gigantea is an erect perennial reaching anywhere from 30 centimeters to one meter in height. Its stems have prominently-veined, wide or narrow lance-shaped leaves 5 to 15 centimeters long and inflorescences of two or three showy orchids near the top. Each flower has three straight sepals which are light brownish or greenish with darker veining, each one to two centimeters long. The two top petals are similar in shape and reddish-brown with purple veins. The lowest petal is cup-shaped with a pointed, tongue-like protuberance and is brighter red-brown and more starkly veined, often with areas of yellow. The fruit is a hanging capsule 2 or 3 centimeters long which contains thousands of tiny seeds. This plant grows in wet areas in a variety of habitats, including riverbanks, hot springs, and meadows at elevations between 2800 and 8000 feet. Unlike some of its relatives, this species is an autotroph. A distinctive race with burgundy colored foliage is known from The Cedars in Sonoma County California, an area of serpentine rock, and it is called forma rubrifolia (P M Brown).


Epipactis gigantea is cultivated in the specialty horticulture trade and available as a non-wild collected propagated ornamental plant. A maroon-leaved (forma rubrifolia) cultivar is also grown, called 'Serpentine Night'.


Epipactis helleborine, the broad-leaved helleborine, is a terrestrial species of orchid with a broad distribution. It is a long lived herb which varies morphologically with ability to self-pollinate.


Epipactis helleborine grows to a maximum height of 92 cm (36 in) and has broad dull green leaves which are strongly ribbed and flat. The flowers are arranged in long drooping racemes with dull green sepals and shorter upper petals. The lower labellum is pale red and is much shorter than the upper petals.
Achlorophyllous, white Epipactis helleborine plants have been found. Achlorophyllous forms tend to be shorter, as small as 17 cm.
Flowering occurs June–September.


This species is widespread across much of Europe and Asia, from Portugal to China, as well as northern Africa.
In North America, it is an introduced species and widely naturalized mostly in the Northeastern United States, eastern Canada and the Great Lakes Region, but also in scattered locations in other parts of the continent. In the US it is sometimes referred to as the "weed orchid" or "weedy orchid" and continues to spread throughout the country to new areas including Michigan, Wisconsin, and the San Francisco Bay Area.


Found in woods and hedge-banks and often not far from paths near human activity. It is one of the most likely European orchids to be found within a city, with many sites for example in Glasgow, London and Moscow. Sometimes spotted beside car parks.
Epipactis helleborine is known for its successful colonization of human-made or anthropogenic habitats such as parks, gardens or roadsides. These roadside orchids exhibit special features such as large plant size and greater ability to produce flowers. Pollination plays a huge role as pollinators such as Syrphidae, Culicidae, Apidae etc. possess greater species diversity and visits the flowering sites more in anthropogenic habitats as compared to native ones. The visitation rates along with the reproductive success of these orchids are higher in large populations as they are more attractive to pollinators.


This species of orchid is pollinated by several species of Hymenoptera, particularly the common wasp, but also other species in the genera Vespula and Dolichovespula. Flowers release a sweet nectar to attract the wasps, which has an intoxicating effect on them. Eight populations of Epipactis helleborine in central Europe (Lower Silesia, Poland) had their nectar studied and they were found to contain naturally occurring oxycodone (as well as another narcotic-like opioid) in minute amounts.
Epipactis helleborine requires a mycorrhizal symbiosis to germinate successfully and remains partially dependent upon the fungus when plants mature, however it is not particularly selective among fungal species. Fungi associated with the live roots include Tuber, Helotiales, Peziza, Leptodontidium, Hydnotrya and Wilcoxina.
It has been suggested that the presence of this orchid species in a woodland is an indicator that edible truffles can be found there, but this is not always the case.


A rather long list of names have been proposed for subspecies, varieties and forms of Epipactis helleborine, far too many to list here. This is not unusual for such a widespread species. At present (November 2021) only the following are accorded international acceptance:
Epipactis helleborine subsp. bithynica (Robatsch) Kreutz - Turkey
Epipactis helleborine subsp. helleborine - widespread
Epipactis helleborine subsp. neerlandica (Verm.) Buttler - Great Britain, Sweden, Belgium, Netherlands, France, Germany
Epipactis helleborine var. tangutica (Schltr.) S.C.Chen & G.H.Zhu - China
Epipactis helleborine subsp. tremolsii (Pau) E.Klein - France, Spain, Portugal, Sardinia, Italy, Algeria, Morocco


Epipactis palustris, the marsh helleborine, is a species of orchid native to Europe and Asia.


Epipactis palustris is a perennial herbaceous plant. This species has a stem growing to 60 cm high with as many as ten erect leaves up to 12 cm long and up to 4 cm wide, with parallel venation. It persists as an underground horizontal stem called a rhizome, from which new roots and stems grow each year. The aerial part of the stem is upright and has a cylindrical section. The base of the aerial stem is glabrous (smooth) and surrounded with pink scales, the upper part of the stem is pubescent and slightly reddened. The flowers are 17 mm across arranged in a one-sided raceme. In the typical form, the sepals are coloured deep pink or purplish-red, the upper petals shorter and paler. The labellum at least as long as the sepals, white with red or yellow spots in the middle. Variants without most of the reddish colours of the typical form have been called E. palustris var. ochroleuca. The fruit is a many-ribbed capsule, containing a large number of minute seeds.


Europe, including the United Kingdom and Mediterranean countries, Turkey, north Iraq, the Caucasus, north Iran, West and East Siberia and Central Asia. This species occurs in the Sarmatic mixed forests ecoregion.
Epipactis palustris is typically found in humid woodland and grassland, as well as in marshes, dune slacks and bogs. It prefers a calcareous substrate with a basic pH, low nutrient availability and medium wet.


Each flower contains male and female organs of reproduction. Flowers produce nectar and are pollinated by wasps, bees and Diptera.
Orchids rely on a symbiotic relationship with soil fungi, which gives them access to more soil nutrients. Epipactis palustris is specialised compared to other Epipactis species, partnering mainly with fungal species in the order Helotiales, but also to a much lesser degree with Sebacina, Tulasnella, Thelephora and Ceratobasidium in descending order of frequency.


Epipactis is a Greek word the meaning of which is disputed, but some have translated it as "grow above". The species epithet palustris is Latin for "of the marsh" and indicates its common habitat.
"Helleborine" may refer to deer using the orchid for food (many conservationists have noted that helleborine orchids are grazed by deer.). Alternatively it may denote that the plants are similar to hellebores (a group of species in the family Ranunculaceae), possibly because many species of orchid closely related to E. palustris have green flowers like the hellebores. "Hellebore" comes from the Greek "álkē" and "bora", translating as "fawn" and "food of beasts".
Variation in flower colour


The autumnal moth (Epirrita autumnata) is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Moritz Balthasar Borkhausen in 1794. It is found throughout the Palearctic region and the Near East and has a much wider distribution than its two close relatives (see below). In Sápmi (Lapland), in some years, the numerous autumnal moth larvae defoliate square miles of birch forests on mountains.


This species is very similar to the November moth, the small Autumnal moth, and the pale November moth, and identification is usually only possible by examining the genitalia. In general, this is the least variable of the four, with melanic forms occurring less often. It is also usually on the wing earlier in the year, flying in September and October, although the flight seasons of all three species overlap.
The caterpillar feeds on a wide variety of trees and shrubs. The species overwinters as an egg.


Episyrphus balteatus, sometimes called the marmalade hoverfly, is a relatively small hoverfly (9–12 mm) of the Syrphidae family, widespread throughout the Palaearctic region, which covers Europe, North Asia, and North Africa. The upper side of the abdomen is patterned with orange and black bands. Two further identification characters are the presence of secondary black bands on the third and fourth dorsal plates and faint greyish longitudinal stripes on the thorax. Its color patterns may appear wasp-like to other animals, such as birds, protecting it from predation.
Episyrphus balteatus can be found throughout the year in various habitats, including urban gardens, visiting flowers for pollen and nectar. They often form dense migratory swarms, which may cause panic among people for their resemblance to wasps. It is among the very few species of flies capable of crushing pollen grains and feeding on them. The larva is terrestrial and feeds on aphids.
As in most other hoverflies, males can be easily identified by their holoptic eyes, i.e., left and right compound eyes touching at the top of their heads.


Epitheca canis, the beaverpond baskettail, is a species of emerald dragonfly in the family Corduliidae. It is found in North America.
The IUCN conservation status of Epitheca canis is "LC", least concern, with no immediate threat to the species' survival. The
population is stable.


The common baskettail (Epitheca cynosura) is a dragonfly of the Corduliidae family.
The thorax is brown and hairy.
Some specimens have a triangular spot at the base of the hindwing.
Individuals are difficult to distinguish from the other species in this genus.
The caudal appendages (structures at the tip of the abdomen) differ between the species and
can be compared with known drawings or close-up photos.
Their flight season can begin as early as January and extends to August.
They may also be seen October to December in north Florida.


This is the most common baskettail within its range, hence the name.
The scientific name, cynosura, means dog tail, and possibly refers to way the cerci at the end of the abdomen curve outward like a dog wagging its tail one way then the other.


The dot-winged baskettail (Epitheca petechialis) is a dragonfly of the family Corduliidae.
Their flight season extends from January to July, slightly later than the other baskettails.
The easiest specimens to identify are those with the characteristic spots on the hindwing that give the species its name.
Individuals without these spots are difficult to distinguish from the other species in this genus.
The caudal appendages (structures at the tip of the abdomen) differ between the species and
can be compared with known drawings or close-up photos.


Epitheca princeps, the prince baskettail, is a species of emerald dragonfly in the family Corduliidae. It is found in North America.
The IUCN conservation status of Epitheca princeps is "LC", least concern, with no immediate threat to the species' survival. The population is stable. The IUCN status was reviewed in 2017.


These two subspecies belong to the species Epitheca princeps:
Epitheca princeps princeps Hagen, 1861
Epitheca princeps regina (Hagen in Selys, 1871)


The spiny baskettail (Epitheca spinigera) is a dragonfly of the Corduliidae family.
Flight season is late May to early July.


The scientific name, spinigera, means spine-bearing.  The males have a sharp looking spine that points downward from the cerci (at the end of the abdomen).
The spine may be absent on rare occasions.


The specific epithet arvense is from the Latin "arvum", meaning "ploughed", referencing the growth of the plant in arable soil or disturbed areas. The common name "common horsetail" references the appearance of the plant that when bunched together appears similar to a horse's tail.


Equisetum arvense creeps extensively with its slender and felted rhizomes that freely fork and bear tubers. The erect or prostrate sterile stems are 10–90 cm (3.9–35.4 in) tall and 3–5 mm (0.12–0.20 in) diameter, with jointed segments around 2–5 cm (0.79–1.97 in) long with whorls of side shoots at the segment joints; the side shoots have a diameter of about 1 mm (0.039 in). Some stems can have as many as 20 segments. The solid and simple branches are ascending or spreading, with sheaths that bear attenuate teeth. The off-white fertile stems are of a succulent texture, 10–25 cm (3.9–9.8 in) tall and 3–5 mm (0.12–0.20 in) diameter, with 4–8 whorls of brown scale leaves and an apical brown spore cone. The cone is 10–40 mm (0.39–1.57 in) long and 4–9 mm (0.16–0.35 in) broad. The fertile stems are typically precocious and appear in early spring. It has changed little from its ancestors of the Carboniferous period.
The plant is difficult to control due to its extensive rhizomes and deeply buried tubers. Fire, mowing, or slashing is ineffective at removing the plant as new stems quickly grow from the rhizomes. Some herbicides remove aerial growth but regrowth quickly occurs albeit with a reduction in frond density.
E. arvense is a nonflowering plant, multiplying through spores. It absorbs silicon from the soil, which is rare among herbs. It has a very high diploid number of 216 (108 pairs of chromosomes).


Equisetum arvense grows in a wide range of conditions, in temperatures less than 5 °C (41 °F) to greater than 20 °C (68 °F) and in areas that receive annual rainfall as low as 100 mm (3.9 in) and as great as 2,000 mm (79 in). It commonly occurs in damp and open woodlands, pastures, arable lands, roadsides, disturbed areas, and near the edge of streams. It prefers neutral or slightly basic clay loams that are sandy or silty, especially where the water table is high, though it can occur occasionally on slightly acid soils.
The plant is widespread in the northern hemisphere, growing as far as 83° North in North America and 71° North in Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia and as far south as Texas, India and Iran. It is less widespread in the southern hemisphere, but it occurs in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Madagascar, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand.


The plant contains several substances that can be used medicinally. It is rich in silicon (10%), potassium, calcium, manganese, magnesium and phosphorus, phytosterols, dietary fiber, vitamins A, E and C, tannins, alkaloids, saponins, flavonoids, glycosides and caffeic acid phenolic ester. The buds are eaten as a vegetable in Japan and Korea in spring. All other Equisetum species are toxic.
In polluted conditions, it may synthesize nicotine. Externally it was traditionally used for chilblains and wounds. It was also once used to polish pewter and wood (gaining the name pewterwort) and to strengthen fingernails. It is also an abrasive. It was used by hurdy-gurdy players to dress the wheels of their instruments by removing resin build up.
In horticulture and agriculture, an aqueous extract of E. arvense has been approved for use as a fungicide in the European Union and the United Kingdom (since Brexit). Horsetail extract can be used to control a range of important fungal pathogens on crops, including:
Damping off (Pythium) and powdery mildew on cucumbers.
Various fungal diseases of fruit trees, including scab (Venturia inaequalis), mildew, and peach leaf curl (Taphrina deformans).
Both downy and powdery mildew on grapevines.
Early blight (Alternaria solani) and Septoria blight (Septoria lycopersici) on tomatoes.
Grey mould, powdery mildew, red core, and anthracnose fruit rot (Colletotrichum acutatum) in strawberries.
Early blight, late blight, and powdery mildew on potatoes.
Equisetum is used in biodynamic farming (preparation BD 508) in particular to reduce the effects of excessive water around plants (such as fungal growth). The high silica content of the plant reduces the impact of moisture.
E. arvense has been used in traditional Austrian herbal medicine internally as tea, or externally as baths or compresses, for treatment of disorders of the skin, locomotor system, kidneys and urinary tract, rheumatism and gout.


Equisetum arvense is toxic to stock, particularly horses.
It was introduced into New Zealand in the 1920s and was first identified as an invasive species there by Ella Orr Campbell in 1949. It is listed on the National Pest Plant Accord, prohibiting its sale, spread and cultivation.


Equisetum fluviatile, the water horsetail or swamp horsetail, is a vascular plant that commonly grows in dense colonies along freshwater shorelines or in shallow water in ponds, swamps, ditches, and other sluggish or still waters with mud bottoms. It is a perennial herbaceous species, growing 30–100 cm (rarely 140 cm) tall with erect dark green stems 2–8 mm in diameter, smooth, with about 10–30 fine ridges. At each joint, the stem has a whorl of tiny, black-tipped scale leaves 5–10 mm long. Many, but not all, stems also have whorls of short ascending and spreading branches 1–5 cm long, with the longest branches on the lower middle of the stem. The side branches are slender, dark green, and have 1–8 nodes with a whorl of five scale leaves at each node. The water horsetail has the largest central hollow of the horsetails, with 80% of the stem diameter typically being hollow.
The stems readily pull apart at the joints, and both fertile and sterile stems look alike.
The water horsetail reproduces both by spores and vegetatively by rhizomes. It primarily reproduces by vegetative means, with the majority of shoots arising from rhizomes. Spores are produced in blunt-tipped cones at the tips of some stems. The spore cones are yellowish-green, 1–2 cm long and 1 cm broad, with numerous scales in dense whorls.
The water horsetail ranges throughout the temperate Northern Hemisphere, from Eurasia south to central Spain, Italy, the Caucasus, China, Korea and Japan, and in North America from the Aleutian Islands to Newfoundland, south to Oregon, Idaho, northwest Montana, northeast Wyoming, West Virginia and Virginia.
This horsetail is sometimes seen as an invasive species because it is very hardy and tends to overwhelm other garden plants unless it is contained. When planting, it is best to plant them with the rhizome in a container.
The water horsetail is most often confused with the marsh horsetail E. palustre, which has rougher stems with fewer (4-8) stem ridges with a smaller hollow in the stem centre, and longer spore cones 2–4 cm long.


The water horsetail has historically been used by both Europeans and Native Americans for scouring, sanding, and filing because of the high silica content in the stems. Early spring shoots were eaten. Medically it was used by the ancient Greeks and Romans to stop bleeding and treat kidney ailments, ulcers, and tuberculosis, and by the ancient Chinese to treat superficial visual obstructions. Rootstocks and stems are sometimes eaten by waterfowl. Horsetails absorb heavy metals from the soil, and are often used in bioassays for metals.
According to Carl Linnaeus, reindeer, which refuse ordinary hay, will eat this horsetail, which is juicy, and that it is cut as fodder in the north of Sweden for cows, with a view to increasing their milk yield, but that horses will not touch it.


Equisetum laevigatum is a species of horsetail in the family Equisetaceae. It is known by the common names smooth horsetail and smooth scouring rush. This plant is native to much of North America except for northern Canada and southern Mexico. It is usually found in moist areas in sandy and gravelly substrates. It may be annual or perennial. It grows narrow green stems sometimes reaching heights exceeding 1.5 meters. The leaves at the nodes are small, scale-like brownish sheaths and there are occasionally small, spindly branches. The stems are topped with rounded cone-shaped sporangia.


Equisetum scirpoides (dwarf scouring rush or dwarf horsetail) Michx., Fl. Bor.-Amer. 2: 281 (1803). 2 n = 216. The smallest of the currently occurring representatives of the genus Equisetum (horsetail).
The smallest Equisetum, E. scirpoides has circumpolar distribution. Plants create compact and dense clumps, reaching a maximum height of about 30 cm. The assimilation and generative shoots are identical and grow together. The leaves reduced to a black sheath around the stem. The stems are green, unbranched, thick and about 1 mm with six ribs. The generative shoots with small cones dying after sowing the spores. The nodes occur at approximately 1 – 3 cm. The leaves are very small to about 1 mm, and arranged in around nodes. The corms are thin, yellow and brown. The roots very fine, black and densely surpassing the ground. Species grows best in the mud at the depth zone from 0 to 3 cm. Specimens reproduce primarily by vegetative division. Equisetum scirpoides is hardy and semi-evergreen. This species is quite a popular decorative plant seen in garden ponds, ornamental gardens and assumptions in nearly the whole world. E. scirpoides was discovered and described by French botanist André Michaux. Detailed studies were conducted by the American botanist Oliver Atkins Farwell.


Within Equisetum scirpoides there are two subspecies :
Equisetum scirpoides ssp. scirpoides (A. Michaux, Fl. Bor.-Amer. 2: 281. 1803)
Hippochaete scirpoides (Michaux, Farwell) - Main subspecies, grows up to about 30 cm. Low, slender, wiry, unbranched stems. Stems erect or prostrate, hollow, segmented, rough surfaced, green. Internodes about 4 apart with segments marked by ashy grey bands. Sterile and fertile stems alike. Twisting and wiry in form, branching rare. Sheaths tiny, 1 - 2.5 mm × 0.75 - 1.5 mm, with three teeth, dark with white margins. Cones usually 1 long with sharp pointed tips, borne on short stalks at the tips of fertile stems. Spores green, spheric. Rootstalk shiny black, creeping, freely branching, and wide spreading. Roots black to very dark brown.
Equisetum scirpoides ssp. walkowiaki (R. J. Walkowiak, IEA Paper 2008)
Equisetum scirpoides (ssp.) minus (Lawson, Milde) - Smaller subspecies, grows up to about 15 cm. The botanical characteristics identical with the main subspecies. Often seen primarily as an ornamental plant in Japan. Subspecies described by Scottish botanist George Lawson and eminent German botanist Carl August Julius Milde, but without a proper taxonomic name, which gave the Polish botanist Radosław Janusz Walkowiak (subsp. walkowiaki).


Identifiable as a horsetail by the upright, hollow, jointed, cylindrical stems with inconsequential and easily overlooked leaves. Distinguished from other horsetails by its low, slender, wiry, unbranched stems and its small size. This is the smallest living horsetail. Field marks, diminutive size, low, slender, wiry, unbranched stems.


Equisetum telmateia, the great horsetail or northern giant horsetail, is a species of Equisetum (puzzlegrass) with an unusual distribution, with one subspecies native to Europe, western Asia and northwest Africa, and a second subspecies native to western North America. The North American subspecies is often simply but ambiguously called "giant horsetail", but that name may just as well refer to the Latin American Equisetum giganteum and Equisetum myriochaetum.


It is an herbaceous perennial plant, with separate green photosynthetic sterile stems, and pale yellowish non-photosynthetic spore-bearing fertile stems. The sterile stems, produced in late spring and dying down in late autumn, are 30–150 cm (rarely to 240 cm) tall (the tallest species of horsetail outside of tropical regions) and 1 cm diameter, heavily branched, with whorls of 14–40 branches, these up to 20 cm long, 1–2 mm diameter and unbranched, emerging from the axils of a ring of bracts. The fertile stems are produced in early spring before the sterile shoots, growing to 15–45 cm tall with an apical spore-bearing strobilus 4–10 cm long and 1–2 cm broad, and no side branches; the spores disperse in mid spring, with the fertile stems dying immediately after spore release. It also spreads by means of rhizomes that have been observed to penetrate 4 meters into wet clay soil, spreading laterally in multiple layers. Occasionally plants produce stems that are both fertile and photosynthetic.


There are two subspecies:
Equisetum telmateia subsp. telmateia. Great horsetail. Europe, western Asia, northwest Africa. Main stem between branch whorls pale greenish white.
Equisetum telmateia subsp. braunii (Milde) Hauke. Northern giant horsetail. Western North America, from southeastern Alaska and western British Columbia south to California. Main stem between branch whorls green.


It is found in damp shady places, spring fens and seepage lines, usually in open woodlands, commonly forming large clonal colonies.


The mottled umber (Erannis defoliaria) is a moth of the family Geometridae. It is common throughout much of the Palearctic region. The species was first described by Carl Alexander Clerck in 1759.


The species can be found in western Europe from northern Scandinavia to the Mediterranean, then east to the Caucasus, northern Iran, Russia, Russian Far East, and Ussuri.


The female of this species is wingless and rather spider-like and can be found on the trunks and stems of its larval food plants. She is white or yellow-and-black patched. The male is fully winged (wingspan 40–45 mm) and very variable. The ground colour of the forewing is pale yellow or light yellow ochre and suffused dark grey. The basal and distal fasciae are dark brown. The basal fascia is bordered on the inner side by a brown cloud; the distal fascia has a brown cloud on the outer edge. There is also a brown cloud along the costa. There are two dark brown oblong spots in the upper half of the terminal area. The hindwing is grey white with grey suffusion. There is a grey-black discal spot on both wings. There are numerous and significant deviations from this colour pattern and some specimens are very dark. See Prout (1912–16)  Truly melanic forms are also frequent. As with the peppered moth, the darker forms tend to be prevalent in industrial areas.


The adults have been recorded from September to December in the Great Britain and Ireland. Males are attracted to light.
The egg is oval with very shallow, somewhat zigzag longitudinal ridges, a cell-pattern only discernible on high magnification and brownish yellow, without gloss.
The larva is also variable from cream to dark brown and quite gaily coloured. It feeds on a wide variety of trees and shrubs (see list below) and can be a serious pest in orchards. The species overwinters as an egg.
Larval food plants include,
apple (Malus species)
birch – silver (Betula pendula), downy (Betula pubescens)
blackthorn (Prunus spinosa)
dog rose (Rosa canina)
elm (Ulmus species)
field maple (Acer campestre)
hawthorn – midland (Crataegus laevigata) common (Crataegus monogyna)
hazel (Corylus avellana)
hornbeam (Carpinus betulus)
oak – sessile (Quercus petraea), pedunculate (Quercus robur)
sallow – (Salix species) including goat (Salix caprea)
Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis)
sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa)
sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus)


The females lay their eggs individually or in small groups on grasses. Caterpillars feed on Gramineae, Digitaria, Milium effusum, Panicum, Setaria, Brachypodium, Festuca and Bromus species. Adults fly from May to August. This species overwinters as a caterpillar for one or two years depending on the altitude of its habitat.


Erechtites hieraciifolius (fireweed, American burnweed, or pilewort) is a plant in the daisy family, Asteraceae. It is native to the Americas, but is found many places around the world having been introduced by human activity. It is introduced in Hawaii, China, and Southeast Asia.


Erechtites hieraciifolius is an annual herb with alternate, simple leaves, on thick, green stems.  The leaves are serrated, and range from unlobed to deeply lobed, with the lobe pattern superficially resembling wild lettuces, which are in the same family but not closely related. When crushed, all parts of the species smell unpleasant. The flower heads are yellow or pink, borne in fall.  The heads are followed by cluster of small, wispy achenes.  The plant often branches and grows in a clump with multiple stems.


This species benefits from fire, and is often one of the earliest pioneer species of areas that have recently burned, hence some of its common names. It prefers moist sites but can handle gravelly soil and some degree of dry conditions. It also grows well in urban areas and around humans.
The flowers are pollinated primarily by wasps and honey bees Apis mellifera. The seeds are wind-dispersed, and are used as a minor food source by birds.
Varieties
Erechtites hieraciifolius var. cacalioides (Fisch. ex Spreng.) Less. ex Griseb. - Mexico, Central America, West Indies, South America
Erechtites hieraciifolius var. hieraciifolius  - North America, West Indies
Erechtites hieraciifolius var. megalocarpus (Fernald) Cronquist - northeastern United States from Massachusetts to New Jersey


Eremalche rotundifolia, the desert five-spot, is a flowering plant in the family Malvaceae, native to the Mojave Desert and Colorado Desert in the Southwestern United States.
Thisa dicot and annual herb  is found in scrublands, desert flats, washes and open stony areas between 50 and 1,500 m in elevation. It can be found in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and in Death Valley National Park in southern California. It can also be found in Nevada and Utah.
Generally this wildflower is only found between March and May.


Eremalche rotundifolia is an annual plant growing to 8–60 cm tall, with rounded leaves 1.5–6 cm broad with a toothed margin.
The flowers are dark-pink to lilac with five overlapping petals, each with a dark red/purple spot near the base. When fully open the petals are slightly in-curved, giving the flower a nearly spherical shape. The center contains a ring of light pink stigmas around a group of smaller pink stamens.
The leave are round and green with a covering of short bristly hairs, while the red/brown stems have similar but longer hairs. Stems are usually unbranched.
Petals close at night, reopening the next morning, and the leaves move during the day to receive the maximum amount of sunlight.


Eriastrum densifolium is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name giant woollystar. This wildflower is native to California and Baja California where it grows in open areas such as sand dunes and dry washes. It grows on an erect stem with slightly hairy to densely woolly foliage, often giving the plant a dark gray-green color. The leaves are narrow and spike-shaped with pointed lobes. The top of each stem is occupied by a bunched inflorescence full of woolly leaflike bracts and funnel-shaped, flat-faced flowers. The flowers are each 1 to 3 centimeters long with a face up to three or four centimeters wide. The lobes are white to bright, striking blue, sometimes with longitudinal pinstripes. The stamens protrude from the throat.
There are two subspecies of this plant. The rarer, ssp. sanctorum (Santa Ana River woollystar), is endemic to the Santa Ana River drainage in San Bernardino County, California. It was federally listed as an endangered species in 1987. A resident of higher floodplain habitat types, the plant was expected to suffer from the construction of the Seven Oaks Dam, which would alter the hydrology of the Santa Ana River waterways it depends on.


Erica abietina is a species of erica that is endemic to the Cape Peninsula of the Western Cape, South Africa.E. abietina includes four subspecies with often highly restricted distributions and distinctive flower colours. Previous delimitation of the species has included a further three subspecies which proved to be more distantly related to Cape Peninsula endemic E. abietina subspecies and are now classified under Erica grandiflora L.f. (Erica abietina subsp. aurantiaca E.G.H.Oliv. & I.M.Oliv.; Erica abietina subsp. perfoliosa E.G.H.Oliv. & I.M.Oliv.) and Erica situshiemalis E.G.H.Oliv. & Pirie.


Erica abietina subsp. abietina (or the red heath) is restricted to the Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos on Table Mountain, Cape Town. It produces rich-red flowers and grows up to about 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in) in height.
Erica abietina subsp. atrorosea E.G.H.Oliv. & I.M.Oliv. (or the wine-red heath) is found only in the southern parts of Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos on the Cape Peninsula, Cape Town. It produces pinkish-purple flowers and grows up to about 1 metre (3 ft 3 in).
Erica abietina subsp. constantiana E.G.H.Oliv. & I.M.Oliv. (or the Constantiaberg heath) is restricted to the Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos in the middle of the Cape Peninsula between Constantiaberg and Chapmans Peak. It forms a small, dense shrub with bright pink flowers.
Erica abietina subsp. diabolis E.G.H.Oliv. & I.M.Oliv. (or the devils heath) Critically endangered
This plant grows very easily and well in urban capetonian gardens and is increasingly popular as an ornamental plant.


Erica arborea, the tree heath or tree heather, is a species of flowering plant (angiosperms) in the heather family Ericaceae, native to the Mediterranean Basin and Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania in East Africa. It is also cultivated as an ornamental.
The wood, known as briar root (French: bruyère, Catalan: bruc, Portuguese: betouro, Spanish: brezo), is extremely hard and heat-resistant, and is used for making smoking pipes. Leaf fossils attributed to this species were described for the Mio-Pleistocene deposit of São Jorge in Madeira Island.


Erica arborea is an upright evergreen shrub or small tree with a typical height in the wild of some 7 m (23 ft), especially in Africa, but more typically 1–4 m (3–13 ft) in gardens. It bears dark green needle-like leaves and numerous small honey-scented bell-shaped white flowers. It is a calcifuge, preferring acid soil in an open sunny situation.


There are disjunct populations in Africa including the Ethiopian Highlands, the mountains of Ruwenzori and the Cameroon Mountains. In Africa it is normally referred to as giant heather.  It is native to the maquis shrublands surrounding the Mediterranean Basin north to Bulgaria and west to Portugal and the Canary and Madeira Islands.  Naturalised populations occur in south-eastern Australia.


Several cultivars and hybrids have been developed for garden use, of which the following have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:
E. arborea 'Estrella Gold' (gold-tipped leaves)
E. arborea var. alpina
E. arborea var. alpina f. aureifolia 'Albert's Gold' (gold-leaved)
E. × veitchii 'Gold Tips' (E. arborea × E. lusitanica)
Other tall growing heaths, including the Portugal Heath (Erica lusitanica) and channel heath (Erica canaliculata) may also sometimes be called tree heath.


The wood, known as briar root, is extremely hard, dense and heat-resistant, and is primarily used for making smoking pipes, as it does not affect the aroma of tobacco. The football-sized tubers are harvested at the age of 30 to 60 years. They are cooked for several hours, then dried for several months before they are further processed.
The wood is also used for making jewellery, fountain pens and knife handles.


Erica cerinthoides is a species of heath native to South Africa (the Cape Provinces, the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, the Northern Provinces), Lesotho and Eswatini. Common names include fire erica, fire heath, red hairy heath, rooihaartjie or klipheide. Throughout its range the species shows marked variation in habit, flower characteristics and hairiness. A form with white flowers is found in Eswatini and the South African province of Mpumalanga while the variety E. cerinthoides var. barbertona has shorter flowers.


The Latin specific epithet cerinthoides means “resembling honeywort (Cerinthe)”. The flowers bear a superficial resemblance to flowers of that genus in the family Boraginaceae, though it is only distantly related.


Erica cerinthoides is a variable plant over different parts of its range, varying in habit of growth, the hairiness of the leaves and the flowers, and the colour, size and shape of the flowers. Where it remains unburnt it can be a straggly bush over a metre tall, bare of leaves apart from a few extremities, and producing few flowers. Elsewhere it can be a compact small plant covered in blooms.


Erica cerinthoides is endemic to southern Africa. Its range extends from the Cedarberg Mountains in the Western Cape to the Eastern Cape, Transkei, and  Drakensberg, as well as Mpumalanga, Lesotho and Eswatini. Its northernmost limit is the Soutpansberg in the province of Limpopo. It grows in various habitats, from sea level to high mountains. It sprouts readily from the woody rootstock after fires which enables it to thrive when other vegetation is destroyed. In fact fire seems to stimulate flowering, and bushy plants of Erica cerinthoides can be seen in flower against a blackened landscape.


Erica cerinthoides requires a position in full sun with good drainage, and acidic soil. It is frost sensitive, but can regrow following damage. Plants can be propagated from cuttings of current season's  growth with a heel of older wood. They can also be grown from seed. In the UK it has gained the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit.