This cool-water species are found in many parts of the world's oceans even though the abundance of this species in open marine waters is relatively low. Though, it can be rather abundant in some parts of the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk, especially near the shore where it was found to dominate in the southern part of this area. However, most individuals are found in isolation. It was also found in the western and eastern Bering Sea. Additionally, it constituted a noticeable proportion of jellyfish biomass in waters of the northern California Current.
In a study conducted in 2011, the egg-yolk jelly was found to aggregate mostly over deep basins, whereas in shallow areas a significant quantity of this species was found only off West Kamchatka, This is in stark contrast to the other members of the family Ulmaridae (since it is no longer a member) which prefer shallow water. This preference could be related to the bell size of the individual which ranges from 5–59 cm. This bell size likely allows the jellyfish to swim in deeper waters by resisting stronger water currents and pressure.
Also, jellyfish populations (including the egg-yolk jelly) are on the rise in degraded areas as a result of increased tolerance to detrimental factors. Additionally, jellyfish play a large role in the food web and can serve as indicators of ecosystem structure and function; The larger the jellyfish population, the greater the negative impact on ecosystem services.
The fried egg jellyfish typically moves faster during the day and swims fastest during flood tides. This jellyfish undergoes vertical migrations that span the water column throughout short and long time frames. These vertical migrations allow them to enter the low depth of the hypoxia zone.
This species typically resides below the pycnocline and avoids crossing the boundary layer, but they often dive into the hypoxic layer during the day when competition is high. By diving deep into the hypoxia zone, the fried egg jellyfish evades competition; unlike other species where hypoxia generally causes species to move away from the oxygen depleted zone, the fried egg jellyfish is able to withstand low oxygen levels for several hours at a time. And, with the belief that hypoxia regions will continue to grow, the fried egg jellyfish could thrive.


Phacellophora camtschatica mainly feeds on gelatinous zooplankton and smaller jellyfish, which become ensnared within the tentacles. Tentacles contain nematocysts, which help in prey capture. These structures also provide defense against predation. Food that is caught in the tentacles is then covered in mucous, then these tentacles are brought to the mouth by oral lobes. Food is then digested by digestive enzymes in the gastrovascular cavity. Broken down food is then distributed throughout the jellyfish by ciliary action.
Phacellophora camtschatica feeds on a great variety of taxa, including euphausiids, cladocerans, and decapod zoea, fish (including fish larvae), and especially other jellyfish such as Aurelia spp., ctenophores and Pelagia noctiluca. The fried egg jellyfish have been known to host symbionts that will transfer onto P. camtschatica when the host is consumed. This is possible because the sting of this jellyfish is weak therefore allowing many symbionts/parasites including small crustaceans like larval crabs (Cancer gracilis) and some Amphipoda (Hyperia medusarum) to regularly ride on its bell and even steal food from its oral arms and tentacles.


Phacellophora camtschatica, commonly known as the fried egg jellyfish or egg-yolk jellyfish, is a very large jellyfish in the family Phacellophoridae. This species can be easily identified by the yellow coloration in the center of its body which closely resembles an egg yolk, hence how it got its common name. Some individuals can have a bell close to 60 cm (2 ft) in diameter, and most individuals have 16 clusters of up to a few dozen tentacles, each up to 6 m (20 ft) long. A smaller jellyfish, Cotylorhiza tuberculata, typically found in warmer water, particularly in the Mediterranean Sea, is also popularly called a fried egg jellyfish. Also, P. camtschatica is sometimes confused with the Lion's mane jellyfish (Cyanea capillata).
It feeds primarily by collecting medusae and plankton with its tentacles, and bringing them into its mouth for digestion. It is capable of only limited motion, and mostly drifts with the current, even when swimming. This species and most of its relatives in the Cnidaria phylum often use suspension feeding as their main food gathering strategy.
The body of this jellyfish does not contain any respiratory, circulatory, or excretory systems. Instead, it uses its large surface area to accomplish these things. Also, this species (and all others in the phylum cnidaria) lack a mesoderm and instead uses mesolgea. Therefore, there are not three true tissue layers, in turn making this species (and all other cnidarians) diploblastic not triploblastic.
The reproduction and life cycle of this jellyfish has been well documented. It mostly follows the same life cycle as other members in the class Scyphozoa. It alternates between a polyp form that reproduces asexually and a medusa form that reproduces sexually. These jellyfish are a cool water species found in most of the world’s oceans, but most commonly in the Northern Pacific.


Porcellio scaber (otherwise known as the common rough woodlouse or simply rough woodlouse), is a species of woodlouse native to Europe but with a cosmopolitan distribution. They are often found in large numbers in most regions, with many species (shrews, centipedes, toads, spiders and even some birds) preying on them.


Porcellio scaber is a detritivore - it mainly feeds on decaying leaf litter but will consume any rotting plant matter. Living plants are of limited nutritional value for these woodlice which prefer to feed on the bacteria and fungi which cause decay. P. scaber has very sensitive olfactory receptors that allow it detect the smell of microbial activity and to locate food.


Porcellio scaber has an oval body, can grow up to 20 millimetres (0.79 in) long, and is usually a grey colour, paler underneath, although, brown, blue, yellow, orange, or pinkish hues may also be observed. The dorsal (upper) surface of its segmented exoskeleton is covered in a series of small tubercles hence its common name.
At the head it has two pairs of antennae, with the inner pair being very small. Two compound eyes are located on the dorsal side of the head, while the mouthparts are on the ventral (lower) side.
There are 7 pairs of legs, corresponding to the 7 segments of the thorax. The short abdomen consists of 6 segments. On the ventral side of the abdomen there are two whitish pseudo-lungs, connected with pores to the outside air. At the rear end there is a small telson flanked by a pair of appendages known as uropods.


The females carry about 25 to 90 fertilized eggs until they hatch and are held in a fluid-filled sac at the ventral side of the abdomen for about 40-50 days. The young are reproductively mature after 3 months; the adult animals have a life expectancy of about two years.


Cancer productus, one of several species known as red rock crabs, is a crab of the genus Cancer found on the western coast of North America. This species is commonly nicknamed the Pearl of the Pacific Northwest.


Cancer productus is carnivorous; in Puget Sound it will crush barnacles with its large pincers for consumption. Small living crabs and dead fish are also eaten. Mating in this species occurs when the female is soft-shelled from October to June in Puget Sound.  The male can often been seen guarding females until molting during this time. This species is known to be a favorite prey item of the giant Pacific octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini.


Cancer productus is harvested by sport and commercial fishermen in California, mostly from Morro Bay south. The California rock crab fishery is made up of three species – the yellow rock crab (C. anthonyi), the brown rock crab (R. antennarium), and the red rock crab (C. productus). Rock crab landings for 1999 were 790,000 pounds and have averaged 1.2 million pounds per year from 1991–1999.
It is not as sought after as Dungeness crab due to the considerably lower amount of flesh. However, the flesh has a delicate flavor and slightly sweet taste. The similar Cancer pagurus has a major commercial fishery in western Europe. Both males and females with a carapace exceeding 5 inches (130 mm) may be harvested in Washington, when in season.


Cancer productus has carapace teeth that are somewhat broad and rounded with teeth between the eyes of nearly equal size and shape. The carapace of C. productus is widest at the posterior-most tooth, up to 20.0 cm wide. The pincers are large with distinctive black tips. This species lacks serrations or projections on the ventral side of the claws.  Adults have a brick-red coloration throughout. The coloration of juveniles is diverse, often white, sometimes with red spots, or zebra-striped.


Aurelia labiata is a species of moon jellyfish. It is a cnidarian in the family Ulmaridae. It is typically larger than Aurelia aurita, with individuals document up to 45 cm (18 in). However, much of its size range overlaps with A. aurita (up to 40 cm (16 in)), making size an imperfect diagnostic tool. Most Aurelia labiata have a 16-scalloped bell, meaning the bell indents inward at 16 points, a characteristic that also appears in other Aurelia species. Aurelia labiata occurs in the northeastern Pacific Ocean, from the northern coast of California, north to Canada and into Alaska.


Anthopleura artemisia is a species of sea anemone.  It is known by a number of common names, including burrowing anemone and moonglow anemone.  It was first described to science in 1846 in a volume by James Dwight Dana, reporting on the animals found on the United States Exploring Expedition.  Dana attributes the description to Charles Pickering, who was a naturalist on the expedition.


The burrowing anemone prefers sandy, shelly, muddy, or cobbled bottoms which are loose enough for the animal to bury itself.  It must have something solid, such as a rock, at the bottom of the loose layer to anchor its column.  This species has been documented inhabiting holes bored by clams.  It is a shallow water anemone, living in the intertidal zone down to a depth of 30 metres (98 ft).  It prefers sheltered bays to open ocean beaches.  It has been found attached to pilings and floats.  These animals can be found from Alaska to southern California, including Puget Sound. The type specimen referenced in the species description came from Discovery Bay, Washington.


Burrowing anemones are gonochoric, which is to say that individuals are either male or female. Sexual reproduction occurs through broadcast spawning, where eggs and sperm are released into the sea to achieve fertilization.  The releases of gametes appears to be coordinated, and mass spawning events have been observed at low tide.  Fertilized eggs become free swimming larva.
This species is also capable of asexual reproduction through longitudinal fission.  In essence, an anemone will split into two pieces, and each will become a genetic copy of the other.
Burrowing anemones are carnivores, eating unwary crabs that wander into their stinging tentacles.  They are in turn preyed upon by the nudibranch Aeolidia papillosa, and likely other nudibranchs and small fish as well.


As the name burrowing anemone suggests, the column of this animal is usually buried to a greater or lesser extent.  In some individuals, the column may be completely buried, and only the oral disk and tentacles are visible.  The buried portion of the column is pink or white, while the part above the substrate, if any, is green or brown.  Including the buried portion, the column may reach 25 centimetres (9.8 in) in height.  It may be up to 10 centimetres (3.9 in) in diameter.  The upper third of the column is covered in longitudinal rows of rounded wart-like tubercules.  They are sparse on the middle third, and usually absent on the lower third of the column.
The tentacles are slim and tapering.  They are about half the width of the oral disk in length.  They and the oral disk vary in color between individuals and can be green, brown, black, pink or orange.  The tentacles are often banded in white. There are rarely more than five rows of tentacles circling the oral disk.  They have special fighting tentacles, acrorhagi, to attack other anemones in too close proximity.  When not inflated for an attack, these are inconspicuous.  They appear as a single row of round, white bumps, underneath the outer row of tentacles.
Burrowing anemones are often solitary on the open coast, and are found living closer together in estuaries.


Armadillidium vulgare, the common pill-bug, potato bug, common pill woodlouse, roly-poly, slater, doodle bug, or carpenter, is a widespread European species of woodlouse. It is the most extensively investigated terrestrial isopod species.


The native distribution of A. vulgare ranges across Europe, especially in the Mediterranean Basin. In the United Kingdom, A. vulgare is very common in southern and eastern England, but is more confined to coastal areas in the north. Similarly, in Ireland, A. vulgare is common in the south and east, but rarer in the north and west.
A. vulgare has also been introduced to many locations in North America, where it may reach population densities of up to 10,000 individuals per square metre (900 individuals per square foot). It is now one of the most abundant invertebrate species in California coastal grassland habitats. It has also been introduced, to a lesser extent, to sites across the world.


Armadillidium vulgare is able to withstand drier conditions than many other woodlouse species, and is restricted to calcareous soils or coastal areas. It feeds chiefly on decaying plant matter, but also grazes lichens and algae from tree bark and walls.
It is able to regulate its temperature through its behaviour, preferring bright sunshine when temperatures are low, but remaining in shadow when temperatures are high; temperatures below −2 °C (28 °F) or above 36 °C (97 °F) are lethal to it. A. vulgare is less susceptible to cold during the night, and may enter a state of dormancy during the winter in order to survive temperatures that would otherwise be lethal.


Bothriechis schlegelii, known commonly as the eyelash viper, is a species of venomous pit viper in the family Viperidae. The species is native to Central and South America. Small and arboreal, this species is characterized by a wide array of color variations, as well as the superciliary scales above the eyes. It is the most common of the green palm-pitvipers (genus Bothriechis), and is often present in zoological exhibits. The specific name schlegelii honors Hermann Schlegel, who was a German ornithologist and herpetologist. For other common names see below.There are no subspecies that are currently recognized as being valid.


Like other Bothriechis members, B. schlegelii is arboreal and has a strong prehensile tail. It is largely nocturnal, consuming small rodents, frogs, lizards and small birds. It is not known to be an aggressive snake, but will not hesitate to strike if harassed.
A typical ambush predator, it waits patiently for unsuspecting prey to wander by. Sometimes, it is known to select a specific ambush site and return to it every year in time for the spring migration of birds. Studies have indicated that B. schlegeli learns to improve strike accuracy over time. Sometimes B. schlegelii (especially juveniles) will employ what is known as “caudal luring”, wiggling the tail in worm-like motions to encourage potential prey to move within striking range.
There is a myth among villagers in some small areas of South America that the eyelash viper will wink, flashing its "eyelashes" at its victim, following a venomous strike. Snakes are not physiologically capable of such behavior, as they have no eyelids and can not close their eyes.


The eyelash viper is a relatively small species of pitviper, with adults ranging from 55–82 cm (22–32 in) long, and females being longer and more variable in size than males, which can grow to 69 cm (27 in) long. It has a wide, triangular-shaped head, and eyes with vertical pupils. Like all pit vipers, it is solenoglyphous, having large, hypodermic needle-like fangs in the front of the upper jaw that fold back when not in use, and has heat sensitive organs, or pits, located on either side of the head between the eye and nostril.
Its most distinguishing feature, and origin of its common name, is the set of modified scales above the eyes that look much like eyelashes. The eyelashes are thought to aid in camouflage, breaking up the snake's outline among the foliage where it hides. The
eyelash viper occurs in a wide range of colors, including red, yellow, brown, green, even pink, as well as various combinations thereof. It often has black or brown speckling on the base color. No external features distinguish the two sexes.


B. schlegelii prefers lower altitude, humid,  tropical areas with dense foliage, generally not far from a permanent water source.  One study noted the preference of B. schlegelii  for deep, shady ravines.


The eyelash viper reaches sexual maturity at around two years of age, and the ovoviviparous species reproduces throughout the year in warm environments. Females carry eggs for around six months before they hatch internally, where the young complete their development. Pregnant females have enlarged lower abdomens, and may stop eating in later stages of pregnancy. In a typical brood they give birth to 2–20 live young, which are 15–20 cm (5.9–7.9 in) in length and appear physically similar to adults.
Males engage in a sometimes hours-long courtship ritual called a "dance of the adders", in which two males posture and intimidate one another in an upright, "cobra-like" stance until one is pushed away or falls to the ground. They are polygynous, and usually mate at night.


This omnivorous species mainly feed on arthropods, with a preference for copepods, ostracods, and hemipterans.  They feed also on fish, birds, reptiles, small mammals and dead animals. It is oviparous.  These turtles can live for up to 37 years.
Females lay twice a year, one between February and May and the other between September and December. They lay from 9 to 14 eggs, with a maximum of 32 eggs and an incubation period of approximately 150 days.


Phrynops hilarii, commonly known as Hilaire’s toadhead turtle or Hilaire’s side-necked turtle, is a species of freshwater turtle in the family Chelidae. The species is endemic to South America.


Phrynops hilarii has an oval, flattened carapace, with a maximum length of approximately 40 cm, weighing approximately 5 kg. The carapace is usually dark brown, olive, or gray, with a yellow border. The head is large and flat, gray to olive above, with a pointed snout and two bicolored chin barbels There is a black band on each side of the head, which comes out of the muzzle and passes over the eyes, going up to the neck.


These turtles inhabit streams, lakes and swamps with abundant aquatic vegetation and  soft bottoms.


The diet of the little brown skink consists of small insects, spiders, and other arthropoda, such as isopods.  The active foraging of a ground skink is assisted by their ability to discriminate prey chemicals and "smells" by tongue-flicking. This is one of their two main methods of locating prey: visual and chemical senses. A visual incentive is associated with tongue flicking, orientation to the prey, and attack behavior. When the visual aspect of the prey is removed, then the amount of tongue flicking increases to an even greater rate.


Scincella lateralis, formerly Lygosoma laterale is a small species of skink found throughout much of the eastern half of the United States, and into northern Mexico. The ground skink differs from the majority of North American lizard species in that it is generally considered a forest dweller. Common names for this species include the little brown skink and the ground skink.  However, the common name, ground skink, may refer to any species in the genus Scincella.


The little brown skink is one of the smallest reptiles in North America, with a total length (including tail) of only 3 - 5.5 inches (7.5 - 14.5 cm). Its back is typically a coppery brown color with a white or yellow underside, and like most skinks has an elongated body and short legs. Transparent disks in the lower eyelids allow it to see with its eyes closed (Beane 2006, Palmer et al. 1995). Females tend to grow faster and be larger than males.  Scincella lateralis exhibits sexual dimorphism where the females are generally larger, but males have larger heads. This is suggested that this may be the result of sexual selection favoring larger heads in males in male-male contests.


S. lateralis lives in a variety of habitats, including deciduous or mixed deciduous/coniferous forests, hedgerows, and the edges of streams and ponds. It does require a deep substrate, such as leaf litter.
Some evidence suggests that meander cutoff may promote gene flow across a riverine barrier in Ground skinks. Several genetic discontinuities align with major southeastern rivers and rivers may have historically isolated populations. However, phylogeographic evidence suggests that some gene flow is occurring across the rivers, and especially the Mississippi River. The meander loop cutoff mechanism may allow passive dispersal to take place across the barrier.


Sexually mature S. lateralis females lay small clutches of 1-6 (usually 2-3) eggs in moist soil, rotting logs, falling logs, or under rocks. Eggs are laid during the summer, March through August in the Southern United States. There may be more than one clutch per year. In contrast to Eumeces species, the female ground skink does not guard its eggs (Robert Brooks 2009). Eggs hatch in one to two months, and young are sexually mature at one year of age.


Thamnophis proximus, commonly known as the western ribbon snake, is a species of garter snake in the subfamily Natricinae of the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to the western United States, Mexico, and Central America. The species has six recognized subspecies.


T. proximus is a slender snake with a very long tail, approximately one-third of the total length of the body. Dorsally, T. proximus is blackish, brown, or olive with three light-colored stripes. Ventrally, it is greenish-white or yellowish-white. The upper labials are whitish and unmarked, contrasting with the dark top and sides of the head.
Adults measure 17–50 in (43–127 cm) in total length (including the tail).


The African striped skink (Trachylepis striata), commonly called the striped skink, is a species of lizard in the skink family (Scincidae). The species is widespread in East Africa and Southern Africa. It is not a close relation to the Australian striped skink, Ctenotus taeniolatus.


T. striata is brown or bronze-coloured with two yellowish stripes that run lengthwise on either side of the spine. Both sexes grow to a total length (including tail) of 25 cm (9.8 in). Their tails are often missing due to predators.


The body form is extremely slender with a long, pointed, projecting snout which is rather more than twice as long as the eye. Adult colouration varies from light brown to dull yellow-green and often a startling fluorescent green.
The type and number of scales is used to identify the snakes.  In this species the internasals are usually in contact with the labial or lip scales. There are one to four small loreals between the prefrontal and the labial scales. The frontal is as long as its distance from the end of the snout or a little longer and a little longer than the parietal scales. There is one preocular scale in front of the eye, which is in contact with the frontal scale.  There two postocular scales (behind the eyes). The temporal scales come in patterns of 2+2 or 3+3, rarely 1+2. Of the upper labial scales, the ninth, fourth, fifth, and sixth enter the eye while the 4 lower labials are in contact with the anterior chin-shields, which are shorter than the posterior chin-shields. The scales in 15 rows and are usually faintly keeled on the sacral region.
There are 203-234 Ventral scales which are anal divided.  There are 167 to 203 subcaudals which are bright green, pale olive, or grey-brown, with a yellow line along each side of the lower parts. The interstitial skin of the neck is black and white.
Adults may attain 1.8 m (6 feet) in total length, with a tail 0.6 m (2 feet) long.
Its appearance is very much like those of South American vine snakes. It is a rear-fanged species and is mildly venomous but is not considered a threat to humans.


The Asian vine snake feeds on small reptiles and amphibians, particularly lizards and tree frogs.


Ahaetulla prasina is a species of snake in the family Colubridae native to southern Asia. Its common names include Asian vine snake, Boie's whip snake, Gunther's whip snake, Oriental whip snake  (Thai: งูเขียวหัวจิ้งจก) .


L. lugubris are omnivorous. In the wild, they eat a varied diet of insects, fruit, and pollen.


This species is widespread in coastal regions of the Indian and Pacific oceans, including the Maldives, Sri Lanka, India, Myanmar, Malaysia, Hawai'i, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Japan, Taiwan, China, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Australia (Cocos Island), Western Samoa, Guam, the Society Islands, Pitcairn, and the Mascarene Islands.
It has been introduced widely in the Neotropics, including in Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador (including the Galapagos), Colombia and Chile, as well as to the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean.


Lepidodactylus lugubris measure 8.5-10 cm in length including tail (4-4.4 cm snout-to-vent). L. lugubris is cryptically coloured, typically light to dark tan with dark spots down the length of its back and a brown strip from the ear to the tip of the nose. This species is capable of changing color, and so the same individual may appear light or dark at different times during the day.


L. lugubris is primarily nocturnal, but is occasionally encountered exposed but near cover during the day.
This species is nearly all female, and reproduces via parthenogenesis. While males occasionally occur, they are very rare and often sterile. Females lay 1-2 eggs at a time, and glue them to surfaces in protected locations.  Clutches are laid every 4-6 weeks.


The black kingsnake is a large to medium constrictor. Adult specimens attain an average size of 90 to 122 centimetres (35 to 48 in) in total length, with some reaching maximum total lengths of 147 to 183 centimetres (58 to 72 in).  It is generally similar to L. getula getula, although its can be distinguished by its geography and appearance.  It has a black body that is interspersed with widely spaced yellow or cream-colored speckles, larger and more numerous along the sides.  The dorsum in some is unpatterned and in others crossbanded.  The venter displays a checked black and yellow (or cream) pattern.  Ventral scales range from 197 to 222 in both sexes, with subcaudal scales ranging from 45 to 59 in males and 37 to 51 in females.


Black kingsnakes occupy a wide variety of habitats and is one of the most frequently encountered species by humans in some states.  Preferred habitats include abandoned farmsteads, debris piles, edges of floodplains, and thick brush around streams and swamps.


Adults reach an average (snout-vent) length of 50mm, and weigh about 2.5g. C. marmoratus have fat reserves in their tails, which can be disconnected from their body (autotomy) when threatened, to aid in escape. Tails take about eight months to regenerate. Fully regenerated tails are characterized by an abrupt change in dorsal skin colouring and pattern at the level of the original fracture plane. Original tails also have much more developed muscular bands. C. marmoratus hatchlings do not have any fat in the tail, and they drop it more readily than adults do.


C. marmoratus is Australia’s most southerly gecko. It occurs from northeastern New South Wales to southwestern Western Australia, as well as a number of islands off the coasts of South Australia and Western Australia. They use a variety of habitats including open shrubland, sclerophyll forest, riverine woodland and urban regions.


Eutropis multifasciata was first observed in Taiwan in 1992, in the southern Kaohsiung area. It has since spread northward and established populations in the central-western and south-western lowlands.  The species has successfully adapted to Taiwan's agricultural areas, open forests, and human-disturbed areas. It's high fecundity (reproductive ability) has enabled it to compete with other species for resources. This is likely the cause of the decline in the populations of indigenous lizard species that occupy the same habitats as Eutropis multifasciata. Since this species has a poor cold tolerance, its elevational distribution in Taiwan is restricted below 500 meters. However, it is expected that in response to rising temperatures associated with climate change, this species will benefit from increased maximum activity time. As a result, distribution of this species is expected to expand from lowland areas to higher elevations, especially if the landscape becomes more open.


The Cherokee use an infusion of the plant for various purposes, including taking it for cramps,  heart trouble, giving it to children and adults as a purgative and for fever, and taking it for 'blacks' (hands and eye sockets turn black). They also give an infusion of the root specifically to children for fever. They use a poultice the root for sores, and they use a compound infusion for fainting spells. They also use a compound for pneumonia.
The Iroquois use the plant as a worm remedy and take a compound decoction as a laxative.


Senna hebecarpa, with the common names American senna and wild senna, is a species of legume native to eastern North America.


It is a larval host and nectar source for the Cloudless Giant Sulphur (Phoebis sennae) butterfly. It is also of special value to native bumble bees.


Sedum lanceolatum is the host plant of the butterfly species Parnassius smintheus. Sedum lanceolatum produces a deterrent cyanoglycoside, sarmentosin, so that herbivores do not feed on it. The larvae of Parnassius smintheus sequester sarmentosin from the plant for their own defense. However, it has been found that if the S. lanceolatum plant becomes physically damaged by mechanical means, the larvae feeding on it have reduced growth rates, possibly due to an induced defense by the plant itself. While damage by insects does not cause defense by Sedum lanceolatum, damage from feeding by the larvae does induce defense by the plant. Consequently, the larvae often hurry to feed, then switch to another plant within the time window offering highest nutritional quality. Larvae will typically feed and leave a plant in less than half an hour. From November to February, the leaves of their foodplant are fatally toxic to the larvae, but for the rest of the year, the larvae feed and develop normally. If the snow melts before March, the eggs hatch while the larval foodplant is still toxic, and the larvae perish.


Sedum lanceolatum is a species of flowering plant in the family Crassulaceae known by the common names spearleaf stonecrop and lanceleaf stonecrop.
It is native to western North America and occurs in western Canada and the United States. It is distributed from Alaska to Arizona and New Mexico and as far east as South Dakota and Nebraska. It grows in exposed, rocky mountainous habitat at moderate and high elevations, up to 4048 meters in the Rocky Mountains. The plant persisted and evolved on sky islands and nunataks in these ranges during glaciation events during the Pleistocene epoch.
This is a succulent plant forming basal rosettes of knobby or pointed leaves up to 3 centimeters long. Smaller leaves occur farther up the stem and often fall away by the time the plant blooms. The stems are about 10–15 cm (4–6 in) tall. The inflorescence is made up of one or more erect arrays of several flowers. The flowers have yellow petals sometimes tinged with red, each lance-shaped petal just under a centimeter long. The stamens are tipped with yellow anthers. The plant reproduces sexually by its tiny, lightweight seeds, or vegetatively when sections of its stem break off and root.


The Indigenous peoples of California sowed the plant, to later harvest the seeds to grind for food.
The conspicuous flowers support native bees, making it a "honey plant".


Clarkia purpurea is a species of wildflower known by the common names winecup clarkia, winecup fairyfan, and purple clarkia.
This annual plant is native to western North America, including: Baja California; California; Arizona; Oregon; Washington; and British Columbia. — where it is found in a diverse variety of habitats. In the California Floristic Province it is found in all the zones, except the deserts, from the coasts to high interior mountains, including the Sierra Nevada.


Clarkia purpurea erects a thin reddish stem which may approach 1 meter (3 ft.) in height and has a few lance-shaped leaves.
The bowl-shaped flowers have four petals, usually one to two centimeters long. They are in shades of pink, purple, or deep wine red; often with a streak or spot of pink or red in the middle.


Penthorum sedoides, known by the common name ditch stonecrop, is a perennial forb native to the eastern United States and Canada which produces small white flowers in summer.


Usually reaching a height between 20 and 60 cm, wood avens blooms between May and August, and its flowers are 1 – 2 cm in diameter, having five bright yellow petals. The hermaphrodite flowers are scented and pollinated by bees. The fruits have burrs, which are used for dispersal by getting caught in the fur of rabbits and other animals. The roots contain the compound eugenol which is also present in cloves  and are used as a spice in soups and also for flavouring ale.


Geum urbanum is found throughout Europe (its areas are more scattered in southern Iberia and in Russia, and it is completely absent from northern Scandinavia, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Shetland, Malta, the Balearic and the Aegean islands). It also occurs in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, in Turkey and the Levant, the Caucasus and the Armenian Highlands, around the Alborz mountains in Iran, and less extensively in western Siberia and in the mountains of Central Asia up to the Western Himalayas.


Desmodium paniculatum, the panicled-leaf ticktrefoil, narrow-leaf tick-trefoil or panicled tickclover, is a perennial herb in the pea family, Fabaceae. Belonging to a nearly cosmopolitan genus, the panicled-leaf ticktrefoil is  a common native to Eastern North America, ranging from Quebec to Florida and as far West as Texas, Nebraska, and Ontario. The sticky loment can be found in disturbed areas that receive plenty of light, such as roadsides, parks, and abandoned fields.


Vinca major is a trailing vine, spreading along the ground and rooting along the stems to form dense masses of groundcover individually 2–5 m across and scrambling up to 50–70 cm high.
The leaves are opposite, nearly orbicular at the base of the stems and lanceolate at the apex, 3–9 cm long and 2–6 cm broad, glossy dark green with a leathery texture and an entire but distinctly ciliate margin, and a hairy petiole 1–2 cm long.
The  flowers are hermaphrodite, axillary and solitary, violet-purple, 3–5 cm diameter, with a five-lobed corolla. The  calyx surrounding the base of the flower is 10–17 millimetres (0.39–0.67 in) long with hairy margins. The flowering period extends from early spring to autumn.


Vinca major, with the common names bigleaf periwinkle, large periwinkle, greater periwinkle and blue periwinkle, is a species of flowering plant in the family Apocynaceae, native to the western Mediterranean. Growing to 25 cm (10 in) tall and spreading indefinitely, it is an evergreen perennial, frequently used in cultivation as groundcover.


Sparganium erectum, the simplestem bur-reed or branched bur-reed, is a perennial plant species in the genus Sparganium.
The larvae of the moth Plusia festucae feed on Sparganium erectum.
Subspecies:
Sparganium erectum subsp. microcarpum (Neuman) Domin (synonym: Sparganium microcarpum (Neuman) Celak.)


A member of the pea family (Fabaceae), lupines form seeds in fuzzy pods that may be attractive to children. The seeds of the lupine can be toxic, though toxins flush through the system quickly and are not cumulative. However, internal use is not advised.


Lupinus nootkatensis, the Nootka lupine, is a perennial plant of the genus Lupinus in the legume family, Fabaceae. It is native to North America.  The Nootka lupine grows up to 60 cm tall. Late in the 18th century it was first introduced to Europe.
The Nootka lupine is common on the west coast of North America, and is one of the species from which the garden hybrids are derived, being valued in Britain and other North-European countries for its tolerance of cool, wet summers. In North-America, it grows along roadsides, gravel bars, and forest clearings from the Aleutian Islands and Southcentral Alaska, and along the Alaskan panhandle to British Columbia. Rigorous self-seeders as they are, lupine can often be seen along roadsides and in open meadows, their bright blueish purple flowers catching ones eye from quite a distance. Their long tap roots make transplanting difficult, so sowing seed is preferable.


The species has been found along the Pacific coast of North America from Monterey to Isla Asuncion on the Baja California peninsula in Mexico.  Off the coast of California, with the exception of a persistent population in Diablo Cove, Norrisia norrisi primarily occurs south of Point Conception in the low intertidal and shallow subtidal zones.


Predators of Norrisia norrisii include sea otters, starfish such as Pisaster ochraceus and Pisaster giganteus, California spiny lobster Panulirus interruptus, and drilling mollusks such as octopus and moon snails.  When fleeing a predator on a sloping substrate or while crawling on kelp, a Norrisia norrisii may simply detach itself and roll or fall away from the predator.  If detached from a giant kelp or other stipitate alga, Norrisia norrisii will quickly crawl towards another kelp upon reaching the bottom.  Mortality on the bottom of the reef is much higher than on the giant kelp.


Norrisia norrisii has a wide, solid, shell that ranges in size from a few mm in juveniles up to 59 mm in adults, as measured across the greatest shell dimension. The shell is smooth, save for light growth lines and ill-defined spiral lines. It is brown or reddish fawn-colored, black around the umbilicus and greenish inside.
Similar to other trochid snails, such as the more commonly occurring Chlorostoma species (or Tegula), the dextrally coiled shell of Norrisia norrisii is also more globose and shows a  depressed-turbinate shape.
The spire is low-conoidal. The minute apex is subacute, and spirally striate ; when perfect, the apical whorls are variegated. The 6 whorls widen rapidly. They are nearly plane and sloping above. Their edges project outside. They are pa23ery and rolled up like a spiral cord. The body whorl is very large. The thin peristome is  simple. The sutures are plain.
Other distinctive features include a smooth, green columella, an open, black-ringed umbilicus. The columellar margin is thickened at the base of the shell, and has a very obtuse tubercle there. The rounded-quadrangular aperture is angular above and brilliantly nacreous inside. It is sealed with an operculum made of protein rather than calcium carbonate.  The operculum is circular, multispiral, with a central nucleus. The fleshy foot of the snail is a bright reddish orange with black speckling lining the basal margin.  Four elongate epipodial tentacles are spaced evenly along both sides of the muscular foot.
Empty shells of Norrisia norrisii are often occupied by hermit crabs, using the hard shell to protect their poorly armored posterior.


Norrisia norrisii can be found in the lower rocky intertidal zone, where these snails graze on algae, microscopic films, and wrack.  More commonly Norrisia norrisii is found in the shallow subtidal, particularly in kelp forests.  On Santa Catalina Island off the coast of southern California, Norrisia norrisii is commonly seen crawling up and down stipes of the giant kelp Macrocystis pyrifera.


This dorid nudibranch occurs in the eastern Pacific, from Barkley Sound, British Columbia to Baja California, Mexico. It has been confused with Diaulula boreopacifica which has a more northerly range and also occurs in Japan and Russia.


This nudibranch grows to about 100 mm (4") in length. The background color can be white or any shade of yellow to a yellowish brown, and it has characteristic markings consisting of a few brown rings or irregular spots. Specimens with more numerous spots are Diaulula odonoghuei.


Kelletia kelletii is found from Isla Asunción, Baja California, Mexico, to Monterey, CA, USA. The type locality is the "Californian coast". Studies suggest that the Kellet's whelk range expanded to Monterey Bay in the 1970s or early 1980s, possibly due to an El Niño event, and is dependent on recruits from southern California.


Kelletia kelletii is a large carnivorous scavenger. It also occasionally feeds on live organisms as a predatory gastropod. As a scavenger, it appears to be attracted to almost any injured or dead animal on the sea floor. Often in subtidal areas large numbers of Kelletia kelletii have been observed moving towards and/or feeding upon one food item.
As a predator Kellet's whelk feeds on dead or alive polychaetes, bivalves, sea snails, crustaceans, ascidians. Additionally, they are known to scavenge on dead fish, echinoderms, and cephalopods.
Kelletia kelletii feeds with an extensible muscular proboscis which can be extended from the head region during feeding. Food is ingested by a muscular sucking action of the proboscis and a rasping of the radula. The proboscis is capable of extending approximately twice the length of the whelk's shell; it is this extension which allows Kelletia kelletii to reach food items in depressions or within the substratum. Most of the scavenger feedings by Kelletia kelletii attract more than one individual. In one instance, 85 were clustered around and feeding on a dead sea bass, Paralabrax sp., off Point Loma.


Kellet's whelk has been observed feeding together at the same time with the Giant sea star Pisaster giganteus on common food items and thus these two species are trophically interrelated. Pisaster giganteus also preys on Kelletia kelletii more often than any other motile gastropod, and yet the whelks do not appear to be eaten in proportion to their abundance or accessibility in studied localitions. The sea star appears to be a major predator of the whelk, even though Kelletia kelletii makes up less than 10% of the diet of the sea star. The whelk does not display an avoidance response in the presence of Pisaster giganteus. Coexistence between the two species is believed possible as long as Kelletia kelletii does not become a preferred prey of the sea star. Usually these feeding convergences involved only a single sea star and two or three whelks.
These convergent feeding groups were not limited to Kelletia kelletii and Pisaster giganteus. Kelletia kelletii has also been observed feeding interspecifically with two other sea stars, Dermasterias imbricata and Pisaster brevispinus.


Kelletia kelletii was discovered and described (under the name Fusus kelletii) by Manx naturalist Edward Forbes in 1850. The specific name kelletii is in honor of captain Henry Kellett, who led the scientific expedition during which these snails were collected.
Kellet's whelks are the largest buccinid gastropods found in southern California. The robust, spindle shaped, spiraled shell can reach 6.9 inches (17.5 centimeters) in length. Shells are white to tan and are often covered with encrusting organisms such as bryozoans, sponges and algae.
Kellet's whelks display sexual dimorphism with females being the larger individual in a mating pair. Females are generally sexually mature between 2.6 and 2.8 inches (6.5 and 7.0 centimeters), with males maturing at slightly smaller sizes.


The native range of Milax gagates was originally from Morocco through Tunisia and southern Spain to southern France and the Balearic Islands.
It is an endangered species in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
The species may be native to the Canary Islands.
Milax gagates has been introduced in the area between Portugal and Galicia, the Atlantic coastlands of France to Belgium, the British Isles, and in many other areas almost worldwide (Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, Japan, Pacific islands, South Africa, Atlantic islands). As an introduced species it now occurs in a number of countries and islands including:
Portugal
Belgium
British Isles: Great Britain and Ireland. In Britain is always local except in Cornwall.
Australia and Tasmania
New Zealand
Japan
Pacific islands
South Africa
Atlantic Islands
United States - widely distributed. In Florida only in ports.
Argentina


Milax gagates lives mostly in cultivated areas, often the coast, and also in forests,  shrublands, and natural meadows. It prefers habitats close to water. It hides under stones, moist ground litter and in soil cavities.
It feeds on fresh herbs, including the roots, it can sometimes be a pest of crops such as carrots and potatoes. It is occasionally damaging to gardens and crops in Britain. It is an agricultural pest on soybean, sunflower, and oilseed rape in Argentina.
In Britain copulation takes place  during the period from spring to autumn. During copulation both slugs cling together so closely that no everted genitalia are visible. Under laboratory conditions, the first eggs are laid 5–15 days after copulation. At one time approximately 15 eggs are laid. This can be repeated several times, but in total not more than 100 eggs are laid by one individual. The dimensions of the eggs are 2 × 1.5 mm. Self-fertilization is also possible.
The slug is semelparous, dying 15 to 30 days after laying eggs. Juveniles hatch after at least 25 to 30 days. Maturity is reached in 4 to 5 months under laboratory conditions.


The body of Milax gagates is an even dark grey to black, although it has somewhat lighter sides. There are no pigment spots. The mantle is relatively large (35-40% of body length), with distinct grooves. The keel is prominent between mantle and posterior end. Skin sculpture is weak. There are 16-17 grooves between keel and pneumostome. The sole of the foot has blackish lateral zones and a lighter medial zone.
Milax gagates is up to 50 mm long. Preserved specimen have a length of 25–30 mm and a width of 6–8 mm. The weight of adult slugs ranges from 991.2 mg to 3308.0 mg.
Reproductive system: The penis is rounded, and half as long as the epiphallus. The epiphallus is slightly widened and truncated (as if cut off) at its end. the vas deferens is short (usually not longer than epiphallus), opens asymmetrically at the truncated end of the epiphallus. The atrium is short, and not widened. The accessory gland consist of several elongate glands and is connected to the atrium by some 20 short coiled tubular ducts. The stimulator is narrow, conical, slightly flattened at its end with some papillae.
The stimulator of the similar species Milax nigricans has more papillae situated at its base and not near its free end.


This species of dorid nudibranch lives in the eastern Pacific, from Alaska to Baja California.


This nudibranch grows to be about 45 mm, or almost 2 inches in length. It can be white or yellow or even a sort of pinkish color, and sometimes has small dark spots.


The snakeskin chiton, Sypharochiton pelliserpentis, has a country-wide distribution around New Zealand – including the Chatham Islands, and is also distributed around the coasts of Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales in Australia.  S. pelliserpentis is often extremely numerous on New Zealand shores, reaching densities of up to 228 individuals per square metre, and it has been shown to occupy a wide range of shore levels wherever there is a solid substrate available – from inner estuaries to high energy surf beaches.  Generally it is located on rock surfaces rather than under stones, and is often found above neap high water mark.


Physocarpus opulifolius,  known as common ninebark, Eastern ninebark, Atlantic ninebark, or simply ninebark, is a species of flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae, native to eastern North America.


It is a mound-shaped deciduous shrub with alternate, simple leaves, on arching stems. It has a height from 1–3 m (3–10 ft) and a spread of 1–2 m (4–6 ft). The leaves vary from 3–12 cm (1–5 in) in length, with palmately veined lobes. It is fast-growing, insect- and disease-resistant, and drought-tolerant. The species is adaptable to a very wide range of soil and site conditions, from moist to dry, acid to alkaline, and gravelly to heavy clay; and can grow in partial shade to full sun. The 5-petaled, 6–8 mm (0.24–0.31 in) diameter flowers form in corymbs. The flowers are white to pinkish, blooming from May to June in North America. In Missouri the fruits ripen from August to early October and are small, dry pods hanging in drooping, papery clusters. The bark peels off in thin papery strips, resembling the number nine in shape, exposing brown inner bark which is the origin of the common name.


Viola lanceolata originates from North America and can be found in many states in the United States and in Canada. Its native status is L48 (N), CAN (N), and SPM (N).


The overall plant is 10–15 cm (4–6 in) tall and has narrow, lance-shaped leaves. These leaves are sometimes wider in the summer than in the spring and have generally smooth surfaces. Its stem is smooth and slender. Its flower contain 5 white petals located at the top of the stalk. The bottom three petals typically have purple veins. This plant spreads with root-like structures that grow over the surface of the ground (stolons). Its growth habit is a forb/herb.


Circaea lutetiana is a perennial herbaceous plant with opposite, simple leaves, on slender, green stems. The flowers are white, borne in summer. It grows   20 cm  to 60 cm, rarely up to 75 centimeters high.
The leaves are rounded or slightly notched at the base, they  narrow gradually to the pointed tip and are  not strongly toothed, but have sinuate edges. The leaf stalks are equally hairy all round.
The flower has 2 notched petals, 2 stamens and a 2-lobed stigma. The  open flowers are well spaced along the stalk and there are no bracts at base of individual flower stalks. The fruit consists of 2 equal cells, and usually sets seed. The flower stalks become angled downwards before fruiting. The fruit is a small bur 3.5-5mm which aids the plant's dispersal via zoochory.
In winter the aerial parts die off leaving an underground rhizome.
Circaea alpina will hybridize with Circaea lutetiana producing sterile offspring that persists in vegetative colonies.


The plant is native to Europe, Middle Asia, and Siberia. North American populations are now considered to be a separate species, Circaea canadensis. It grows in woods in deep shade and moist environments on nitrogen-containing clay.


Distichlis spicata is a hardy perennial with rhizomes and sometimes stolons. It is an erect grass which occasionally approaches half a meter in height but is generally shorter. The solid, stiff stems have narrow leaves up to 10 centimeters in length, which may be crusted with salt in saline environments.
This species is dioecious, meaning the male flowers and female flowers grow on separate individuals. The pistillate inflorescence may be up to 8 centimeters long, with green or purple-tinted spikelets. The staminate flowers look quite similar, thinner but larger overall and denser. The flower parts of both sex may be bright pinkish-purple.


Microtis unifolia is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber and a single hollow, green leaf which is 100–800 mm (4–30 in) long. A flowering stem up to 600 mm (20 in) high emerges from the leaf about one-third of its length from its base. Between ten and one hundred green or yellowish-green flowers are arranged on a 30–130 mm (1–5 in) length of the flowering stem. There is a lance-shaped to egg-shaped bract 2–4 mm (0.08–0.2 in) long and about 1.50 mm (0.06 in) wide at the base of each flower. The ovary is more or less oval in shape, 3–4 mm (0.1–0.2 in) long on a short, relatively thick pedicel and stands out from the stem. The dorsal sepal is egg-shaped to almost circular, 2–4 mm (0.08–0.2 in) long and 1–2 mm (0.04–0.08 in) wide and forms a hood over the other parts of the flower. The lateral sepals are lance-shaped to egg-shaped, about 2 mm (0.08 in) long and 1 mm (0.04 in) wide and spread apart from each other. The petals are lance-shaped or egg-shaped and curved, shorter than the dorsal sepal and partly hidden by it. The labellum is oblong, 1–2.5 mm (0.04–0.1 in) long and pressed against the ovary. Its edges are notched, wrinkled or wavy and there is a saddle-shaped labellum in its centre. Flowering occurs from October to January in Australia, but somewhat later in New Zealand


Microtis unifolia, commonly known as the common onion orchid, is a species of orchid occurring from south China to Japan, Malesia, and Australasia to the Southwest Pacific. It has a single green leaf and up to one hundred small green or yellowish-green flowers. A common, widespread orchid which is easily grown in pots and is sometimes a weed in plant nurseries.


Quercus buckleyi, commonly known as Texas red oak or Buckley's oak, is a species of flowering plant. It is endemic to the southern Great Plains of the United States (Oklahoma and Texas).
Buckley's oak is smaller and more likely to be multitrunked than its close relative, the Shumard oak (Q. shumardii). The two species are interfertile, and hybrids are common along a line from Dallas to San Antonio, Texas. Texas red oak usually is 9 to 15 meters (30 to 49 feet) tall at maturity, and seldom reaches a height of more than 23 m (75 ft).
Quercus buckleyi was formerly known as Q. texana, but under botanical rules of priority, that name properly refers to Nuttall's oak. This has led to much confusion.
It is a highly regarded ornamental and shade tree. In autumn, the leaves turn vivid red and orange.


Symphyotrichum cordifolium (formerly Aster cordifolius), commonly known as common blue wood aster, heartleaf aster, and blue wood-aster, is a perennial herbaceous flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to central and eastern North America. It reaches heights of up to 1.2 meters (4 feet) and has bluish daisy-like flowers which bloom late-summer and fall in its range.


The Ojibwe have used S. cordifolium to make an incense to attract deer.


Symphyotrichum cordifolium reproduces vegetatively via short rhizomes, as well as via wind-dispersed seeds. The ray florets of species in the Symphyotrichum genus are exclusively female, each having a pistil but no stamen, while disk florets are bisexual, each with both male and female reproductive parts.


It is reputed to have medicinal qualities and has been used by various peoples as an astringent, cosmetic, douche, narcotic and refrigerant.  Several research studies have been undertaken on the properties of this plant.
Rembert Dodoens wrote of the names of the plant in the 1578 English translation of his original book published in 1563, as the fourth among the group of horehounds “…: in Brabant water Andoren, and of some Egyptenaers cruyt, that is to say, the Egyptians herbe, bycause of the Rogues and runnegates which call themselves Egyptians, do colour themselves blacke with this herbe.” The Brabant original seems to suggest it was used by tramps/hobos who were pretending to be Romany people by darkening their skin. He also wrote that water horehound was not used in medicine. Through time it often came to be said that name gypsywort comes from the belief that Romani people would stain their skin with the juice of the plant, although Howard (1987) states that they used it to dye their linen.


Lycopus europaeus, common names gypsywort, gipsywort, bugleweed, European bugleweed and water horehound, is a perennial plant in the genus Lycopus, native to Europe and Asia, and naturalized elsewhere. Another species, Lycopus americanus has also been erroneously called L. europaeus.


Gypsywort is a rather straggly perennial plant with slender underground runners and grows to a height of about 20 to 80 cm (8 to 31 in). The stalkless or short-stalked leaves are in opposite pairs. The leaf blades are hairy, narrowly lanceolate-ovate, sometimes pinnately-lobed, and with large teeth on the margin. The inflorescence forms a terminal spike and is composed of dense whorls of white or pale pink flowers. The calyx has five lobes and the corolla forms a two-lipped flower about 4 mm (0.16 in) long with a fused tube. The upper lip of each flower is slightly convex with a notched tip and the lower lip is three-lobed, the central lobe being the largest and bearing a red "nectar mark" to attract pollinating insects. There are two stamens, the gynoecium has two fused carpels and the fruit is a four-chambered schizocarp. The flowers are visited by many types of insects, and can be characterized by a generalized pollination syndrome.


The dark red, dense wood is used as a building material for items ranging from furniture to bridges; it is durable but is difficult to air-dry.
The fruits are used in making wine.
The seeds, which are edible, contain 30-54% oil, which is used as a lubricant.
The bark has a high tannin content and is used as a source of red dye to stain rattan baskets.
The roots are used medicinally.
The leaves are eaten in Southern Laos dipped into chili sauce.


Bischofia javanica, or bishop wood, is a plant species of the family Phyllanthaceae. It and the related Bischofia polycarpa are the only two members of genus Bischofia and tribe Bischofieae. These species are distributed throughout southern and southeast Asia to Australia and Polynesia also in North America (brought to North America as a decorative plant but now considered to be an invasive species). The tree is commonly used by tigers to scratch-mark territory in the jungles of Assam where it is locally called uriam. They also occur in southwestern, central, eastern, and southern China, and also Taiwan, where the indigenous people consider it a sacred tree.


The plant is edible. The young leaves can be used as a potherb, sautéed or used raw, such as in salads. The young seedpods can be used as a substitute for black pepper. The leaves contain protein, vitamin A and vitamin C.


Lepidium virginicum, also known as least pepperwort or Virginia pepperweed, is an herbaceous plant in the mustard family (Brassicaceae). It is native to much of North America, including most of the United States and Mexico and southern regions of Canada, as well as most of Central America. It can be found elsewhere as an introduced species.
Virginia pepperweed grows as a weed in most crops and is found in roadsides, landscapes and waste areas. It prefers sunny locales with dry soil.


Lepidium virginicum is an herbaceous annual or biennial. The entire plant is generally between 10 and 50 centimeters tall. The leaves on the stems of Virginia pepperweed are sessile, linear to lanceolate and get larger as they approach the base.
As with Lepidium campestre, Virginia pepperweed's most identifiable characteristic is its raceme, which comes from the plant's highly branched stem. The racemes give Virginia pepperweed the appearance of a bottlebrush. On the racemes are first small white flowers, and later greenish fruits.
All parts of the plant have a peppery taste.


Cylindropuntia californica is a species of cholla cactus known by the common name snake cholla. It is primarily found in Baja California, Mexico and the southernmost part of California in the United States. It is characterized by a short, decumbent habit, yellow-green flowers, elongated stems, and short spines. It is mostly found in coastal sage scrub and coastal chaparral habitats. In California, variety californica is regarded as a rare and threatened plant, with a California Native Plant Society listing of 1B.1, in part due to its limited number of occurrences and threats from development. It formerly had a larger range due to the inclusion of Cylindropuntia bernardina within it as the variety parkeri.


A short, sprawling cactus, this species is typically found growing less than 1.5 m (4.9 ft) high. There are usually several to many trunks, with the main branches and stems usually sprawling along the ground or becoming erect. The terminal segments of the stems are usually less than 25 cm (9.8 in) long and measure 2 to 4 cm (0.79 to 1.57 in) in diameter. The tubercles on the stem measure 7 to 20 mm (0.28 to 0.79 in) and are less than 5 mm (0.20 in) high.
The spines of this cactus are generally less than 2 cm (0.79 in) long, and are colored a yellow to orange-brown. Most species of cholla have paper-like sheath enclosed over their spines. On this species, the sheath is a translucent white to gold-brown. The flower is yellow to yellow-green, and the filaments are green. The fruit is leathery, and may have no spines or many. The seeds are less than 7 mm (0.28 in) long.


The young shoots can be boiled (with two changes of water) as a potherb; eating too much is not recommended as the plant contains calcium oxalate crystals. The seeds are also edible.


Jewelweed is an herbaceous plant that grows 3 to 5 feet tall and blooms from late spring to early fall. The flowers are orange (sometimes blood orange or rarely yellow) with a three-lobed corolla; one of the calyx lobes is colored similarly to the corolla and forms a hooked conical spur at the back of the flower. Plants may also produce non-showy cleistogamous flowers, which do not require cross-pollination.
It often branches extensively. The round stems are glabrous (smooth) and succulent, and semi-translucent, with swollen or darkened nodes on some plants. The leaves are alternate and simple and have teeth on the margins. The seed pods have five valves which coil back rapidly to eject the seeds in a process called explosive dehiscence or ballistochory. This reaction is where the name 'touch-me-not' comes from; in mature seed pods, dehiscence can easily be triggered with a light touch.


Along with other species of jewelweed, the juice of the leaves and stems is a traditional Native American remedy for skin rashes, including poison ivy. The effectiveness of its use to prevent the development of a rash after short-term exposure to poison ivy has been supported by peer-reviewed study, and is likely due to the plant containing saponins. These studies also found that some individuals have a sensitivity to jewelweed which can cause a more severe rash.
The stem juice has also been used to treat athlete's foot; its fungicidal qualities have been scientifically verified.


Impatiens capensis, the orange jewelweed, common jewelweed, spotted jewelweed,  jewelweed, spotted touch-me-not, or orange balsam, is an annual plant which is native to
North America. It is common in bottomland soils, ditches, and along creeks, often growing side by side with its less common relative, yellow jewelweed (I. pallida).


Nectar spurs are tubular elongations of petals and sepals of certain flowers that usually contain nectar. Flowers of Impatiens capensis have these nectar spurs. Nectar spurs are thought to have played a role in plant-pollinator coevolution. Curvature angles of nectar spurs of Impatiens capensis are variable. This angle varies from 0 degrees to 270 degrees.
The angle of the nectar spur is very important in the pollination of the flower and in determining the most efficient pollinator. Hummingbirds are major pollinators. They remove more pollen per visit from flowers with curved nectar spurs than with perpendicular nectar spurs. But hummingbirds are not the only pollinators of Impatiens capensis. Bees, especially bumblebees play an important role in pollination as well. Due to hummingbirds and bees, the pollination of Impatiens capensis is very high.


Allium triquetrum is native to south-western Europe, north-western Africa, Madeira and the Canary Islands, where it grows in meadows, woodland clearings, on river banks and roadside verges from sea level to an elevation of 850 metres (2,790 ft). It has also been introduced to the British Isles, New Zealand, Turkey, Australia, California, Oregon, and South America, and is a declared noxious weed in some of those places. Recorded as an alien at a garden waste site on Howth Head, Ireland.


Anemonoides quinquefolia is a long-lived perennial geophyte that spreads by means of underground rhizomes. The small rhizomes are situated just below the surface in the humus-rich layer of decaying tree leaves. There the plant slowly spreads to form patches that can reach several feet in diameter.
An individual plant may take 5 years or longer to flower. A. quinquefolia flowers between March and June depending on location. It is a spring ephemeral with a very short growing season. It emerges early in the spring, reproduces quickly, and dies back to its rhizome by midsummer.
The flower of A. quinquefolia is nyctinastic, that is, the flower closes at night (and on cloudy days) and opens during the day. This habit protects the reproductive organs, maintains the viability of pollen, and may be a possible defensive strategy against herbivores.
A. quinquefolia is a myrmecochore, that is, its seeds are dispersed by ants. Each seed has a fleshy structure called an elaiosome, a nutrient-rich appendage that attracts ants.
The ranges of A. quinquefolia and A. lancifolia overlap in the southeastern United States where the two species interbreed. The resulting hybrids have intermediate characteristics, which makes identification extremely difficult.


Anemonoides quinquefolia (French: anémone à cinq folioles), a flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae, is native to North America. It is commonly called wood anemone or windflower, not to be confused with Anemonoides nemorosa, a closely related European species also known by these common names. The specific epithet quinquefolia means "five-leaved", which is a misnomer since each leaf has just three leaflets. A plant typically has a single, small white flower with 5 sepals (but no petals).


Anemonoides quinquefolia is a perennial herbaceous plant with a horizontal underground rhizome 1–3 mm (0.04–0.12 in) thick. There are two distinct leaf forms: stem leaves and a basal leaf. The flowering stem (which includes the stem leaves) and the basal leaf emanate from the same base point on the rhizome, but since the rhizome is underground, this gives the appearance of two distinct plants, one flowering and one nonflowering. The flowering stem emerges first (if at all), followed by the basal leaf once the plant has flowered.
The flowering plant stands 5–20 cm (2–8 in) tall, occasionally reaching heights of 30 cm (12 in). A whorl of three ternate petiolate leaves (technically bracts) subtends the flower. The lateral leaflets of each stem leaf may be lobed, giving the appearance of five leaflets per leaf. Each leaflet is up to 5 cm (2.0 in) long, with serrate leaf margins (edges) and branched (not parallel) veins. The flower stalk rises directly from the leaf whorl. The solitary flower is 2–2.5 cm (0.8–1.0 in) across with 4–9 (usually 5) sepals (but no petals) and 30–60 white-tipped stamens. Each sepal is 6–25 mm (0.2–1.0 in) long and 4–8 mm (0.2–0.3 in) wide. The petal-like sepals are usually white but occasionally they are pink, or with a pink base and white tip, or with a white base and a pink or blue tip. The fruits are beaked achenes 2.5–4.5 millimetres (0.1–0.2 in) long, oblong in shape with hooked styles.
The single basal leaf is a ternate leaf with a petiole 4–25 cm (2–10 in) long. The long petiole (leaf stalk) rises directly from the rhizome. The lateral leaflets are usually lobed (even more so than the stem leaves), giving the appearance of five leaflets (hence the specific epithet quinquefolia, which means "five-leaved"). Each leaflet is up to 4.5 cm (1.8 in) long.


Hedypnois rhagadioloides, the Cretanweed or scaly hawkbit, is a species of plant in the tribe Cichorieae within the family Asteraceae. It is native to the Mediterranean Region and neighboring areas from Canary Islands to Iran, and naturalized in Australia and in parts of the Americas (southwestern United States, Baja California in Mexico, central Chile).
Hedypnois rhagadioloides is a variably hairy/hispid annual herb with flower stalks up to 40 centimeter (16 inches) stall, most of the leaves gathered around the base resembling the common dandelion except for the bristles. Leaves are green or purplish, up to 18 centimeters (7.2 inches) long. The plant produces a flower stalk with one single flower head or a flat-topped array of several heads. The head has rows of phyllaries that may be very bristly, and the head is egg-shaped when still closed. Each head contains 8-30 yellow ray flowers but no disc flowers.


European mistletoe is potentially fatal, in a concentrated form, and people can become seriously ill from eating the berries.
The toxic lectin viscumin has been isolated from Viscum album. Viscumin is a cytotoxic protein (ribosome inactivating protein, or RIP) that binds to galactose residues of cell surface glycoproteins and may be internalised by endocytosis. Viscumin strongly inhibits protein synthesis by inactivating the 60 S ribosomal subunit. The structure of this protein is very similar to other RIPs, showing the most resemblance to ricin and abrin.
Some birds have immunity to the poison and enjoy the berries, especially the mistle thrush which is named for its favourite food.


Mistletoe leaves and young twigs are used by herbalists, and preparations made from them are popular in Europe, especially in Germany, for attempting to treat circulatory and respiratory system problems. Use of mistletoe extract in the treatment of cancer originated with Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Anthroposophy.
Although laboratory and animal experiments have suggested that mistletoe extract may affect the immune system and be able to kill some kinds of cancer cells, there is little evidence of its benefit to people with cancer.


Viscum album is a species of mistletoe in the family Santalaceae, commonly known as European mistletoe, common mistletoe or simply as mistletoe (Old English mistle). It is native to Europe and western and southern Asia.
Viscum album is a hemiparasite on several species of trees, from which it draws water and nutrients.  It has a significant role in European mythology, legends, and customs.  In modern times, it is commonly featured in Christmas decoration and symbology.  (V. album is found only rarely in North America, as an introduced species; its cultural roles are usually fulfilled by the similar native species Phoradendron leucarpum.)


It is a hemi-parasitic evergreen shrub, which grows on the stems of other trees. It has stems 30–100 centimetres (12–39 in) long with dichotomous branching. The leaves are in opposite pairs, strap-shaped, entire, leathery textured, 2–8 centimetres (0.79–3.15 in) long, 0.8–2.5 centimetres (0.31–0.98 in) broad and are a yellowish-green in colour. This species is dioecious and the insect-pollinated flowers are inconspicuous, yellowish-green, 2–3 millimetres (0.079–0.118 in) diameter. The fruit is a white or yellow berry containing one (very rarely several) seed embedded in the very sticky, glutinous fruit pulp.
It is commonly found in the crowns of broad-leaved trees, particularly apple, lime (linden), hawthorn and poplar.
European mistletoe is the only multicellular organism to not have a functioning respiratory complex I in its electron transport chain, a protein that's essential for the creation of useful energy for its cells. It is believed to survive by obtaining adenosine triphosphate and energy-rich compounds from its host as well as reorganizing its other respiratory complexes and slowing its growth and energy requirements


First peoples in southern British Columbia harvested the bulbs from April to June.  They can be eaten raw or cooked.


Calochortus macrocarpus leaves are blue-green and grass-like.  The bulbs are tapering, like a carrot.
The flowers are large, one- to three-petaled, and are pink to purple. The sepals are about 2 inches long, slightly longer than the green-striped petals. They bloom in June.


Calochortus macrocarpus, also known as sagebrush mariposa lily, is a North American species of bulbous perennials in the lily family.


Helianthus divaricatus, commonly known as the rough sunflower, woodland sunflower, or rough woodland sunflower, is a North American species perennial herb in the family Asteraceae. It is native to central and eastern North America, from Ontario and Quebec in the north, south to Florida and Louisiana and west to Oklahoma and Iowa.
Helanthus divaricatus commonly occurs in dry, relatively open sites.  The showy yellow flowers emerge in summer through early fall.
The woodland sunflower is similar to Helianthus hirsutus, but its stem is rough. It is up to 1.5 m tall with short stalked, lanceolate to oval leaves, 1–8 cm wide with toothed margins. Its flowers have 8 to 15 rays, each 1.5 to 3 cm (0.6-1.2 inches) long, surrounding an orange or yellowish brown central disk. The plant attracts birds and butterflies. The Latin specific epithet divaricatus means spreading in a straggling manner.


With Daphne mezereum it is one of two species of Daphne native to Great Britain, both of which have a strong preference for alkaline soils and are most commonly found in limestone areas, although D. laureola is also found on clay. However, unlike D. mezereum, D. laureola is evergreen, with yellowish green flowers borne very early in the spring and black berries, which are poisonous to humans but not to birds, present from late summer. All parts of the plants are poisonous. The sap is known to cause skin rashes on contact.


Daphne laureola, commonly called spurge-laurel, is a shrub in the flowering plant family Thymelaeaceae. Despite the name, this woodland plant is neither a spurge nor a laurel.  Its native range covers much of Europe and extends to Algeria, Morocco and the Azores.


Daphne laureola reaches a height between 0.5–1.5 m (1.6–4.9 ft). The habit of this shrub can be upright or decumbent (arched at the base then spreading upward). The bark is thin and yellow-grey when mature, while immature stems are green. The cambium is malodorous with a scent reminiscent of herb robert.
The alternate leaves usually form dense whorls at the shoot tips, but may clothe entire branches. The leaves are oblanceolate to obovate-oblanceolate, 2–13 cm long and 1–3 cm wide. They are glabrous (smooth), dark green and glossy on the upper surface and lighter in color beneath.
The inconspicuous yellow-green axial flowers, usually hidden among the leaf bases, may be strongly fragrant, or may exhibit no scent at all.


Idia lubricalis, the glossy black idia, is a litter moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Carl Geyer in 1832. It is found from Canada south to Florida and Texas in deciduous forests.
Idia occidentalis was formerly considered a subspecies of Idia lubricalis.
The wingspan is 24–36 mm. Adults are on wing from May to September. There are multiple generations per year in the south.
The larvae feed on various fungi and lichens. They probably feed on other organic matter like rotting wood and grass on forest floor as well.


The rice stink bug is a significant pest of rice crops in the southern U.S., including Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas (the Rice Belt). This agricultural pest is known to attack cereal crops with small seeds, particularly wheat, sorghum, and rice. The insect also lives in wild grasses such as Johnson grass, barnyard grass, and sedge, making control of cash crops difficult. They are occasionally found on other crops in which grasses are prevalent between the rows, even though the insect may ignore the field crop. The insect is extremely mobile and is known to travel en masse in and out of fields quickly in search of more favorable foods.
Non-food crop hosts of the rice stink bug include: Echinochloa crusgalli, Echinochloa colona, Digitaria sanguinalis, Panicum dicotomiflorum, Phalaris minor, Paspalum urvillei, and Sporobolus poiretti; the last two are the most common species that the bug prefers.
The rice stink bug will damage a developing seed head by feeding on the seed's endosperm, leaving an empty shell or shriveled kernels. This type of damage can precipitate microorganism diseases and other crop losses, most notably discoloration, "pecky rice," and lower quality produce. When Oebalus pugnax are found in non-target crops such as standing corn, they can be ignored since they "generally do not feed in corn." However, seedling corn is susceptible to the rice stink bug.
Although the rice stink bug is the source cause of "pecky rice" damage in rice crops, the kernel spotting and discoloration is the result of a fungal infection of the rice kernels by fungi such as species of the ubiquitous genus Fusarium.


Oebalus pugnax, the rice stink bug, is a flying insect in the shield bug family Pentatomidae native to North America that has become a major agricultural pest in the Southern United States. It has been a known pest since at least the time of Johan Christian Fabricius, who described the species in 1775.


Tragopogon pratensis (common names Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon, meadow salsify, showy goat's-beard or meadow goat's-beard) is a biennial plant in the family Asteraceae, distributed across Europe and North America, commonly growing in fields (hence its name) and on roadsides.  It is found in North America from southern Ontario to Massachusetts; most of England; on the eastern and southern edges of Scotland; and central Ireland but not the coastal edges.
It flowers between June and October and its flowers have a diameter of 3–5 cm. The root and buds are edible, and it has a milky latex.


The plant grows up to 76 cm (30 in) tall.
It differs from viper's-grass (Scorzonera humilis) in that viper's-grass has short, pale green bracts, whereas in goat's-beard they are long and pointed.
The lower leaves are 10 to 30 cm long, lanceolate, keeled lengthwise, grey-green, pointed, hairless, with a white midrib.  The upper leaves are shorter and more erect. It is the only United Kingdom dandelion type flower with grass like leaves.
The flower heads are 5 cm wide.  They only open in the morning sunshine, hence the name 'Jack go to bed at noon'.
The achenes  are rough, long beaked pappus radiating outwards interwoven like a spider's web of fine white side hairs (referred to as a "blowball").


Bidens tripartita is a common and widespread species of plants in the sunflower family, Asteraceae, commonly known as three-lobe beggartick, three-part beggarticks, leafy-bracted beggarticks or trifid bur-marigold. It is native to much of Eurasia, North Africa, and North America, with naturalized populations in Australia and on some Pacific Islands.
Subspecies + varieties
Bidens tripartita subsp. bullatus (L.) Rouy
Bidens tripartita var. repens (D.Don) Sherff
Bidens tripartita subsp. tripartita
Bidens tripartita var. tripartita


Rhapsa scotosialis, the slender owlet moth, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. This species is endemic to New Zealand and is found throughout the country. It is regarded as one of the most common forest moths found in New Zealand. The larval host species for R. scotosialis is Piper excelsum.


The adults of this species were described by George Hudson as follows:
The expansion of the wings is 1+3⁄8 inches. The fore-wings have the costa considerably arched towards the apex, and the termen is bowed outwards in the middle; the colour is pale brown in the male and dark brown in the female; there are several obscure black marks near the base; the orbicular is very small, orange or pale grey outlined in black, the claviform is absent, the reniform is conspicuous, the outer edge is much indented, the inner edge is outlined with dull orange-red, there is a black blotch between the orbicular and the reniform; beyond the reniform there is a carved transverse line enveloping a series of minute black dots, then a very conspicuous wavy transverse line shaded towards the base of the wing; there is a pale triangular area at the apex, and a series of small crescentic dark brown markings on the termen; the cilia are dark brown. The hind-wings are greyish-ochreous; there is a rather faint line across the middle, followed by a broad shade; a series of small crescentic marks is situated on the termen; the cilia are dark greyish-ochreous. The antenna of the male are strongly bipectinated. The female is considerably darker, the markings are less distinct and numerous, and there is no black blotch between the orbicular and the reniform.
Both the male and female are variable in the depth of colour and newly emerged specimens can have a purplish tinge to their forewings.


This species is endemic to New Zealand and can be found throughout the country. R. scotosialis is one of the most common forest moths found in New Zealand.


Native Americans have used the root of F. rubra in traditional medicine for treating heart problems and as an aphrodisiac. The root has a high tannin content, making it useful as an astringent for treating diarrhea, dysentery, and bleeding.
The plant is used in gardens for the aesthetically pleasing and fragrant flowers which smell like lilac. A good number of both native and conventional nurseries sell some, yet it is still an uncommon plant in most American gardens and landscapes. 'Venusta' is the most common cultivar that bears a good bright rose-pink color. It grows in full sun or part-shade and needs moist to draining wet soil; it suffers from drought. It sends up its sort of maple-like foliage early in spring. It spreads by rhizomes, underground stems, so it becomes a spreading clump that eventually becomes a mass. It is easy to dig up and reset like many perennials when it gets too big and crowded or spreads to much. It does self-sow some to a lot in gardens. If it starts to look poorly from drought, one can easily prune it down and it will grow back some to look better.
Although aesthetically appealing for humans, F. rubra, based on current knowledge of the plant's floral and faunal associations, offers comparatively little value to wildlife. For instance, it is not a host plant for butterflies and native moths nor does it produce any nectar. Its magenta flowers are the color that typically draws butterflies but they will expend energy to get to the flowers and find no nectar. It competes for continually shrinking, due to human development, wetland acreage with plants that support more wildlife. Additionally, its seeds are not an important food source for birds or rodents. Herbivores do not find its foliage appealing. Its flowers are a source of food for insects that consume pollen. However, some sources say the plant mainly uses wind pollination, a pollination strategy that typically makes comparatively little pollen available for pollen-consuming insects. As a result, some conservationists suggest using this plant in aesthetics-oriented gardens but focusing more on other species for restoration work.


The species is native from Pennsylvania westward to Illinois, and north of Georgia. However, F. rubra is fairly successful as an alien species in places such as Massachusetts, where it was first recorded in 1875 and is still found. In many places where it is native, such as Indiana, and places where it is alien as well, F. rubra is a threatened species.
The typical habitat of F. rubra is wetland plant communities, particularly calcareous fens, although it is occasionally found in spring seeps and wet prairies. Populations are generally small and widely separated from one another as a result of the rarity and smallness of calcareous fens.


The plant is a spreading herbaceous perennial growing to 1.8–2.5 m (5 ft 11 in – 8 ft 2 in) tall by 1.2 m (3 ft 11 in) wide. With large lobed leaves and branching red stems, it produces corymbs of deep pink or peach, sweet fragrant flowers in the summer. Inflorescences of F. rubra are panicles possessing 200-1,000 small pink-petaled flowers on 1–2 m stems can have somewhere to 5,000 seeds. The numerous stamens give the flower a fuzzy appearance. Each flower has carpels that are free from one another, while also having five to 15 pistils. However, these seeds are small due to the large size of its clones yet when seeds are produced seedlings may fail to establish in large numbers. The plant grows in an aggressive manner with its creeping roots. The foliage texture of the plant is coarse and the color ranges from a medium to dark green.
Filipendula rubra is a perennial which grows up to 2.5 m (8 ft) by 1.3 m (4 ft 3in) at a medium rate. It is hardy to zone (UK) 2. It is in flower from July to August, and the seeds ripen from August to September. The species is hermaphrodite (has both male and female organs) and is self-fertile. The plant is pollinated by bees, flies, and beetles. The plant attracts wildlife.


Eggs are 1 mm in diameter, located under green unattacked leaves. First larvae just coming out from the egg are about 1–2 mm long. Larvae development brings them in four weeks to about 35–40 mm at maximum. There is some shrinkage at the beginning of the nymphosis, pupae are 25–30 mm long, first green with browning longitudinal lines, then more and more brownish. The wingspan of the adult form is 40–45 mm.  Two variants are observed, the most common one is mostly white while the other is most entirely light brown.


The larvae feed on the leaves and shoots of Buxus species. Young larvae only eat the upper part of the leaf, leaving the hardest inside structure. The leaves are not destroyed completely but appear as "peeled" in small parallel beats lines, or almost completely. These peeled leaves eventually die. Old larvae are the most damaging: they massively and completely eat the leaves, sometimes leaving a thin part at the contour and centre of the leaf, however. Green ball-shaped frass can usually be seen on host plants.


Cydalima perspectalis or the box tree moth is a species of moth of the family Crambidae, first described by Francis Walker, the English entomologist, in 1859. Native to Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea, far-east Russia and India, it has invaded Europe; first recorded in Germany in 2006, then Switzerland and the Netherlands in 2007, Great Britain in 2008, France and Austria in 2009, Hungary in 2011, then Romania, Spain and Turkey. It has been seen in Slovakia, Belgium and Croatia.
It was during preparations for the 2014 Winter Olympics in 2012, that it was introduced from Italy to Sochi, European Russia, with the planting stock of Buxus sempervirens. The following year it defoliated Buxus colchica in large quantities.
It was recorded in Ontario, Canada in August 2018 and in the eastern United States in May 2021.


There are two or three generations per year with adults on the wing from April/May to September. In the warmest parts of the European importation area, with cold conditions coming late in the year, there might be sometimes four generations per year. The species overwinters as a juvenile cocooned larva (about 5–10 mm long), protected in an hibernarium made of two leaving Buxus leaves solidly joined by silk.


Hibiscus trionum, commonly called flower-of-an-hour, bladder hibiscus, bladder ketmia, bladder weed, modesty, puarangi, shoofly, and venice mallow, is an annual plant native to the Old World tropics and subtropics. It has spread throughout southern Europe both as a weed and cultivated as a garden plant. It has been introduced to the United States as an ornamental where it has become naturalized as a weed of cropland and vacant land, particularly on disturbed ground.


The plant grows to a height of 20–50 centimetres (8–20 in), sometimes exceeding 80 cm (30 in), and has white or yellow flowers with a purple centre. In the deeply pigmented centre of the flower, the surface features striations, which have been the subject of controversy about whether they act as a diffraction grating, creating iridescence.
The pollinated but unripe seedpods look like oriental paper lanterns, less than 25 mm (1 in) across, pale green with purple highlights.
The flowers of Hibiscus trionum can set seed via both outcrossing and self-pollination. During the first few hours after anthesis, the style and stigma are erect and receptive to receive pollen from other plants. In the absence of pollen donation, the style bends and makes contact with the anthers of the same flower, inducing self-pollination. Although outcrossing plants seem to perform better than self-pollinating plants, this form of reproductive assurance might have contributed to the success of H. trionum plants in several environments.


Spreading bellflower is native to temperate parts of Europe and widely naturalised elsewhere. Its natural habitat is meadows, banks, open woodland, clearings, roadside verges, fallow fields and waste ground. In the United Kingdom it is rare in the wild, occurring mainly on infertile banks and rock outcrops. It needs light for the seeds to germinate so may reappear after many years of absence when the soil is disturbed.
A bellflower weevil in the genus Miarus is associated with this plant.


Spreading bellflower is a biennial herbaceous plant growing to a height of 25 to 80 centimetres (9.8 to 31.5 in). The stem is branched, erect and wiry and often reddish near the base. In its first year, this plant produces a rosette of short-stalked, slender, spatulate leaves. In the second year it sends up one or more flowering stalks. The leaves on these are alternate, linear and unstalked, the margins having rounded teeth. The inflorescence is a few-flowered terminal raceme. The calyx is fused and has five triangular lobes, sharp tipped and spreading. The corolla is five-lobed, 20 to 25 mm (0.8 to 1.0 in) long with five violet-blue (or occasionally white) fused petals. The corolla lobes are longer than they are wide. There are five stamens and a pistil formed from three fused carpels. The fruit is a strongly-veined, conical capsule. The flowering period is from June to September.


Cornus alba, the red-barked, white or Siberian dogwood, is a species of flowering plant in the family Cornaceae, native to Siberia, northern China and Korea. It is a large deciduous surculose (suckering) shrub that can be grown as a small tree. As a popular ornamental used in landscaping its notable features include the red stems in fall (autumn) through late winter, bright winter bark; and the variegated foliage in some cultivars, such as C. alba 'Elegantissima'. C. alba can grow to 3 m (10 ft) high, but variegated forms are less vigorous. For the brightest winter bark, young shoots are encouraged by cutting to the ground some older stems at the end of the winter, before leaves are open. The oval fruits are white, sometimes tinted blue.
The plant is extremely hardy, to USDA Zone 3 - −40 °C (−40 °F).
The Latin specific epithet alba means “white”.
The following cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit (confirmed 2017):-
'Aurea' (yellow leaves)
'Elegantissima' (deep red stems and small white flowers)
'Sibirica' (2.5 m (8 ft 2 in), brilliant red stems, cream flowers)
'Spaethii' (variegated leaves with yellow margins)


Sedum spathulifolium is a species of flowering plant in the family Crassulaceae known by the common names broadleaf stonecrop, yellow stonecrop, and spoon-leaved stonecrop. An evergreen perennial, it is native to western North America from British Columbia to southern California, where it can be found often in shade in many types of rocky habitat in coastal and inland hills and mountains.


Polygaloides paucifolia, synonym Polygala paucifolia, known as gaywings or fringed polygala, is a perennial plant of the family Polygalaceae.
Mature plants are 3 to 6 inches tall. Stems are smooth, slender and green. Leaves are clustered at the top, appearing to be whorled, but they are not. Leaflets are oblong to lanceolate—narrow at the base with a pointed tip. Leaves have an entire margin and are thin.
Flowers are pink and white, blooming in April and May. It grows in rich, moist woods.
The species was first described, as Polygala paucifolia, by Carl Ludwig Willdenow in 1802. In 2011, John Richard Abbott divided up part of the genus Polygala into more sharply defined genera. He placed P. paucifolia in Polygaloides as Polygaloides paucifolia.


Ephedra trifurca is a species of Ephedra known by the common names longleaf jointfir and Mexican tea.
It is native to the states of Baja California, Chihuahua and Sonora in northwestern Mexico, and to California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas in the Southwestern United States. It is found in desert scrub plant communities, in the Chihuahuan Desert, Sonoran Desert, and Colorado Desert.


Ephedra trifurca is a sprawling shrub that can approach 2 metres (6.6 ft) in height. It is made up of erect, sharp-pointed twigs which are light green when young and age to yellowish or greenish gray.
It has curling, pointed leaves at its nodes which are up to 1.5 centimeters long and persistent.
Male plants produce pollen cones at the nodes, each up to a centimeter long, and female plants produce seed cones which are slightly larger and each contain one seed in a papery envelope.


Androsace septentrionalis (pygmyflower rockjasmine, pygmy-flower rock-jasmine, northern rockjasmine, Northern fairy candelabra, Chinese: bei dian di mei) is a species of annual herbaceous plant in the Primrose family (Primulaceae), native to North America, Asia, and Europe.


Potentilla reptans, known as the creeping cinquefoil,  European cinquefoil or creeping tormentil, is a flowering plant in the family Rosaceae.
A creeping perennial plant native to Eurasia and Northern Africa, Potentilla reptans has been naturalized elsewhere. Its trailing stems root at the nodes, and leaves are on long stalks. The plant blooms between June and August with yellow flowers that are about 2 cm in diameter and have five heart-shaped petals. P. reptans, which can be easily confused with silverweed, often grows in crushed masonry in the South of England. The grizzled skipper butterfly favors the plant.
Alcoholic extracts from roots of Potentilla reptans showed a moderate antimicrobial activity against common wound pathogens.
Potentilla reptans can be an invasive weed in lawns and flowerbeds and difficult to eradicate, particularly when it competes with and infests established groundcovers.  All of the taproots must be dug up, or the plant will reappear.


P. nana is known to cause damage in pear orchards, feeding on pears that have not ripened. In addition, it has been recorded to consume the pupae of L. botrana.


This bush cricket is native to mainland Europe, the Near East and North Africa. The Indo-Malayan species Phaneropera subcarinata, classified by Bolívar, is morphologically similar to P. nana, and was classified under the P. nana name by Carl Brunner von Wattenwyl. As an invasive species, it has spread to the San Francisco Bay Area and may be widespread in the Los Angeles Basin, with records of its presence in California dating from at least 1952. In addition, it has been recorded in South America and hypothesized in the Annals of Carnegie Museum to have spread via shipping.
It mainly inhabits sunny and dry habitats, especially shrubs and low branches of trees.


Nyssa sylvatica is found in a variety of upland and wetland habitats in its extensive range. Its flowers are an important source of honey and its fruits are important to many birds and mammals. Hollow trunks provide nesting or denning opportunities for bees and various mammals. It is the longest living non-clonal flowering plant in Eastern North America, capable of obtaining ages of over 650 years.


Nyssa sylvatica is an important food source for many migrating birds in the fall [autumn]. Its early color change (foliar fruit flagging) is thought to attract birds to the available fruit, which ripen before many other fall fruits and berries. The fruit is quite marked, dark blue, in clusters of two or three. The sour fruits are eagerly sought by many kinds of birds, including: American robin, Swainson's thrush, gray-cheeked thrush, hermit thrush, wood thrush, northern cardinal, northern mockingbird, blue jay, red-bellied woodpecker, yellow-bellied sapsucker, northern flicker, pileated woodpecker, eastern phoebe, brown thrasher, eastern bluebird, European starling, scarlet tanager, gray catbird, cedar waxwing, and American crow, all primarily eastern North American birds migrating or residing year-round within the tree's range.
The limbs of these trees often deteriorate early, and the decayed holes make excellent dens for squirrels, raccoons, Virginia opossums, as well as nesting sites for honeybees.


Nyssa sylvatica, commonly known as tupelo, black tupelo, black gum or sour gum, is a medium-sized deciduous tree native to eastern North America from the coastal Northeastern United States and southern Ontario south to central Florida and eastern Texas, as well as Mexico.