The trifoliate orange is recognizable by the large 3–5 cm (1.2–2.0 in) thorns on the shoots, and its deciduous leaves with three (or rarely, five) leaflets, typically with the middle leaflet 3–5 cm (1.2–2.0 in) long, and the two side leaflets 2–3 cm (0.79–1.18 in) long. The flowers are white, with pink stamens, 3–5 cm (1.2–2.0 in) in diameter, larger than those of true citrus but otherwise closely resembling them, except that the scent is much less pronounced than with true citrus. As with true citrus, the leaves give off a spicy smell when crushed.
The fruits are green, ripening to yellow, and 3–4 cm (1.2–1.6 in) in diameter similar in size to a lime and resembling a small orange, but with a finely downy surface and having a fuzzy texture similar to a peach. The fruits also have distinctive smell from other citrus varieties and often contain a high concentration of seeds.


The cultivar 'Flying Dragon' is dwarfed in size and has highly twisted, contorted stems. It makes an excellent barrier hedge due to its density and strong curved thorns. Such hedges have been grown for over 50 years at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, and are highly student-proof. The plant is also highly deer-resistant. In central London, mature specimens of the trifoliate orange can be seen in the gardens of St Paul's Cathedral.
Trifoliate orange and various hybrids of this plant are widely used as citrus rootstock.
Recent studies have revealed that the trifoliate orange contains auraptene at a high concentration, which is one of the functional components having immunity against citrus tristeza virus (CTV).


The fruits are very bitter, due in part to their poncirin content. Most people consider them inedible fresh, but they can be made into marmalade. When dried and powdered, they can be used as a condiment.


The fruits of the trifoliate orange are widely used in medical traditions of East Asia as a treatment for allergic inflammation.


The trifoliate orange was historically considered a member of the genus Citrus until Walter Swingle moved it to its own novel genus, Poncirus, based on its deciduous trifoliate leaves differing from other Citrus, as part of a larger reclassification that split the historical Citrus into seven genera. However, Mabberley and Zhang reunited all of Swingle's novel genera back into Citrus.  Early phylogenetic analysis of trifoliate orange plastids nested Poncirus within the citrus, consistent with a single genus, but the sequencing of the nuclear genome by Wu, et al. showed its genome to be most divergent, different enough to justify retention of Poncirus as a separate genus.  To explain the conflict between the plastid and nuclear genomic analysis, it was speculated that the trifoliate orange is likely either the progeny of an ancient hybridization between a core citrus and an unidentified more distant relative, or at some time in its history it acquired an introgressed cpDNA genome from another species.  Ollitrault, Curk and Krueger indicate that the majority of data are consistent with the enlarged Citrus that includes the trifoliate orange, though they recognize that many botanists still follow Swingle.
A second species of trifoliate orange native to Yunnan (China) has been reported and named Poncirus polyandra. Were Poncirus to be subsumed into Citrus, where C. polyandra is unavailable, the name Citrus polytrifolia has been suggested. Zhang and Mabberley concluded this Yunnan cultivar is likely a hybrid between the trifoliate orange and another Citrus, but recent genomic analysis of P. polyandra showed low levels of heterozygosity, the opposite of what one would expect for a hybrid. This analysis dated its divergence from P. trifoliata about 2.82 million years ago.
The trifoliate orange does not naturally interbreed with core Citrus taxa due to different flowering times, but hybrids have been produced artificially between the trifoliate orange and other citrus. In the Swingle system, where the trifoliate orange is placed in Poncirus, a hybrid genus name has been coined for these intra-generic crosses, "× Citroncirus". The most notable of these are the citrange, a cross between the trifoliate and sweet oranges, and the citrumelo, a hybrid of trifoliate orange and 'Duncan' grapefruit. Placing the trifoliate orange in Citrus would mean these hybrids would no longer be intergeneric, but instead hybrids within Citrus.  Genomic analysis of a number of these hybrids showed them all to derive from P. trifoliata and not P. polyandra.


Cladara atroliturata, the scribbler, is a moth in the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Francis Walker in 1863. It is found in North America.
The MONA or Hodges number for Cladara atroliturata is 7639.


Cladara limitaria, the mottled gray carpet moth, is a species of geometrid moth in the family Geometridae.
The MONA or Hodges number for Cladara limitaria is 7637.


Cladium mariscus is a species of flowering plant in the sedge family known by the common names swamp sawgrass, great fen-sedge, saw-sedge or sawtooth sedge. Previously it was known as elk sedge. It is native of temperate Europe and Asia where it grows in base-rich boggy areas and lakesides. It can be up to 2.5 metres (8 ft 2 in) tall, and has leaves with hard serrated edges. In the past, it was an important material to build thatched roofs; harvesting it was an arduous task due to its sharp edges that can cause deep lacerations.


Cladonia cristatella, commonly known as the British soldiers lichen or the British soldiers cup lichen, is a fruticose, cup lichen belonging to the family Cladoniaceae. The species was first described scientifically by American botanist Edward Tuckerman in 1858.


The long-tailed duck (Clangula hyemalis), formerly known as oldsquaw, is a medium-sized sea duck that breeds in the tundra and taiga regions of the arctic and winters along the northern coastlines of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It is the only member of its genus Clangula.


The long-tailed duck was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. He placed it with all the other ducks in the genus Anas and coined the binomial name Anas hyemalis. Linnaeus cited the English naturalist George Edwards's description and illustration of the "Long-tailed duck from Hudson's-Bay" that had been published in 1750 in the third volume of his A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. This duck is now the only species placed in the genus Clangula that was introduced in 1819 to accommodate the long-tailed duck by the English zoologist William Leach in an appendix to John Ross's account of his voyage to look for the Northwest Passage. The genus name Clangula is a diminutive of the Latin clangere meaning "to resound". The specific epithet hyemalis is Latin meaning "of winter". The species is considered to be monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
In North American English it is sometimes called oldsquaw, though this name has fallen out of favour. Some biologists have also feared that this name would be offensive to some Native American tribes involved in the conservation effort. The American Ornithologists' Union stated that "political correctness" was not sufficient to change the name, but "to conform with English usage in other parts of the world", it officially adopted the name "Long-tailed Duck".
An undescribed congener is known from the Middle Miocene Sajóvölgyi Formation (Late Badenian, 13–12 Mya) of Mátraszőlős, Hungary.


The long-tailed duck is gregarious, forming large flocks in winter and during migration. They feed by diving for mollusks, crustaceans and some small fish. Although they usually feed close to the surface, they are capable of diving to depths of 60 m (200 ft). According to the Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds they can dive to 80 fathoms (146 meters or 480 feet). They are the only ducks that use their wings to dive, which gives them the ability to dive much deeper than other ducks.


The long-tailed duck is still hunted across a large part of its range. There has been a significant decline in the number of birds wintering in the Baltic Sea, partly due to their susceptibility to being trapped in gillnets. For these reasons the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has categorised the long-tailed duck as "Near-threatened". It is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.


Clarkia amoena (farewell to spring or godetia; syn. Godetia amoena) is a flowering plant native to western North America, found in coastal hills and mountains from British Columbia south to the San Francisco Bay Area.
It is an annual plant growing to 1 m tall, with slender, linear leaves 2–7 cm long and 2–6 mm broad. The flowers are pink to pale purple, with four broad petals 1.5–6 cm long. The fruit is a dry capsule, which splits open when mature to release the numerous seeds.
Three subspecies are currently recognised, though intermediate forms are commonly found:
Clarkia amoena subsp. amoena
Clarkia amoena subsp. huntiana
Clarkia amoena subsp. whitneyi (Whitney's farewell to spring)
Farewell to spring is commonly cultivated as a garden plant, and cultivated varieties are known.


Clarkia concinna is a species of wildflower known as red ribbons. It is endemic to California, where it can be found in the low-elevation mountains of the northern part of the state. This is an annual plant with erect, herbaceous stems. The distinctive flowers have four looping sepals of red or dark pink which look like loops of silk ribbon. The longer, pink petals have three lobes which are usually streaked with white.
Subspecies:
C. c. automixa - Santa Clara red ribbons
C. c. concinna - red ribbons
C. c. raichei - Raiche's red ribbons


Clarkia rhomboidea is a species of wildflower known by the common names diamond clarkia and forest clarkia. This plant is native to western North America, where it is a common resident of varied forest and woodland habitats. This clarkia grows a spindly stem not exceeding a meter in height and occasional small leaves. The flower has four petals which are bright pink to lavender and often speckled with darker pink shades. The petals are diamond-shaped to spoon-shaped and one to one and a half centimeters long. There are eight stamens, each holding a large anther bearing blue-gray pollen.


Clarkia unguiculata is a species of wildflower known by the common name elegant clarkia or mountain garland. This plant is endemic to California, where it is found in many woodland habitats. Specifically it is common on the forest floor of many oak woodlands, along with typical understory wildflowers that include Calochortus luteus, Cynoglossum grande and Delphinium variegatum. C. unguiculata presents a spindly, hairless, waxy stem not exceeding a meter in height and bears occasional narrow leaves. The showy flowers have hairy, fused sepals forming a cup beneath the corolla, and four petals each one to 2.5 centimeters long. The paddle-like petals are a shade of pink to reddish to purple and are slender and diamond-shaped or triangular. There are eight long stamens, the outer four of which have large red anthers. The stigma protrudes from the flower and can be quite large. Flowers of the genus Clarkia are primarily pollinated by specialist bees found in their native habitat  "Clarkias independently developed self-pollination in 12 lineages."


Clavulina cristata, commonly known as the white coral fungus or the crested coral fungus, is a white- or light-colored edible coral mushroom present in temperate areas of the Americas and Europe. It is the type species of the genus Clavulina.
The commonly used species name cristata was coined in 1790 by Danish mycologist Theodor Holmskjold (as Ramaria cristata).  However, Linnaeus described apparently the same fungus as Clavaria coralloides in Species plantarum in 1753.  Therefore, according to the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants, the name Clavulina coralloides should be used in preference to Clavulina cristata, although the latter name is in more common use.


Fruit bodies, which are generally white- to cream-colored, can be up to 8 centimetres (3+1⁄8 in) tall, and 2–4 cm (3⁄4–1+5⁄8 in) broad. The coral "arms" are sparingly branched (3–4 times), 2–4 mm wide, smooth, and sometimes wrinkled longitudinally. The tips are cristate, having small pointed projections, and will often darken with age or in dry weather. The fruit bodies have no distinctive odor, and a mild taste.
The fruit bodies may have a darker color either due to natural variation (whereby the appearance of this species may approach and be confused with C. cinerea) or because of infection by a microscopic fungus, Helminthosphaeria clavariarum.


The spores are white, roughly spherical, thick-walled, non-amyloid, smooth, and have dimensions of 7–11 by 6–10 µm. Basidia are club-shaped, 60–80 by 6–8 µm, and 2-spored. Cystidia are absent. Sterigmata, the slender projections of the basidium that bear the spores, may be straight or curved, and up to 7–8 µm long. Microscopic and molecular analysis indicate that the species is related to chanterelles.


This fungus is edible, but the tough flesh and insubstantial fruit bodies make it unappetizing to some individuals. It is considered excellent by some.


Some other coral fungi have macroscopic and microscopic features similar to Clavulina cristata, making identification confusing. Clavulina rugosa is unbranched or sparingly branched. Clavulina cinerea is usually darker in color. Ramaria stricta has parallel branches and grows on wood.


Clavulina rugosa, commonly known as the wrinkled coral fungus, is a species of coral fungus in the family Clavulinaceae. It is edible.


The species was originally described as Clavaria rugosa by Jean Bulliard in 1790. It was transferred to Clavulina by Joseph Schröter in 1888.


Claytonia caroliniana, the Carolina springbeauty, is an herbaceous perennial in the family Montiaceae. It was formerly placed in the Portulacaceae. Its native range is eastern and central North America. It is most commonly found in the New England area of the United States but its habitat extends from Ontario and a northern limit in the Cape Anguille Mountains of Newfoundland and south to Alabama. It grows approximately 6 inches tall in forests of the Appalachian Mountains and piedmont


Claytonia caroliniana is a flowering, woodland perennial herb. It grows from March though June and is one of the earliest spring ephemerals. The plant grows from spherical underground tubers in light humus. They sprout and bloom before the tree canopy develops. Once the area is shaded, the plants whither leaving only the tuberous roots underground.
The flowers consist of five pink and purple petals. Dark pink veins accent the petals and give them a striped appearance. The carpels are fused together. They grow on a stem 3 - 10 inches tall that bears a single pair of broad leaves. This distinguishes it from Claytonia virginica, which, although similar in other ways, has longer and much narrower leaves.  Claytonia caroliniana is similar to some of the Arctic claytonias, but is probably allied to Claytonia ozarkensis.  Natural hybrids with Claytonia virginica have been documented
There are two green leaves that grow opposite each other on a node. The leaf has no teeth or lobes and a prominent central vein. They grow up to three inches long and 1/2 to 3/4 inches wide.


The plant is edible but its usability is limited due to difficulty harvesting and the small quantities each plant produces. Its tuberous roots are edible and rich in starch and can be cooked or eaten raw . The leaves can be eaten as well. The tuberous roots are eaten by eastern chipmunks and white-footed mice.


The plant was named after John Clayton. Clayton was an early collector of plant specimens in Virginia.


Claytonia lanceolata is a species of wildflower in the family Montiaceae, known by the common names lanceleaf springbeauty and western springbeauty.


This somewhat rare plant is native to western North America, growing in the sagebrush steppe and foothills up to alpine slopes. It thrives in the rocky soil of alpine climates where the snow never melts. It is a perennial herb growing from a tuber one to three centimeters wide. It produces a short, erect stem reaching a maximum height of 15 cm (6 in). At its smallest the plant bears only its first two rounded leaves before flowering and dying back. Its thick leaves are helpful for storing water. If it continues to grow it produces two thick, lance-shaped leaves further up the stem. The star-shaped flowers come in inflorescences of three to fifteen blooms and they are white or pink, often with veiny stripes and yellow blotches near the base of each petal. The fruit is a small capsule containing a few seeds, which are black and shiny.


The entire plant is edible raw or cooked, including the potato-like corm from which it grows. Some report that the bulbs must be cooked to remove toxins.
Native Americans ate the roots and pods, which can be cooked and eaten like potatoes. The leaves can be eaten raw or cooked.
The Okanogan-Colville, Okanogan, and Nlaka'pamux Native American peoples used the tuber of this plant for food and for animal fodder.


Claytonia rubra is a species of wildflower in the family Montiaceae known by the common names redstem springbeauty and erubescent miner's lettuce. It is native to western North America from southwestern Canada to the Transverse Range of California, U. S. A. (and east to the Black Hills of South Dakota, U. S. A., where it is found in coniferous forests and shrublands. This is an annual herb with stems up to about 15 centimeters long.  Some individuals may overwinter as biennials. The basal leaves have small rounded to diamond-shaped blades on long, tapering petioles. There are also leaves on the stem which may be rounded or squared and sometimes fuse together to create a bowl around the stem.  All the leaves possess blunt (obtuse) tips according to published descriptions and taxonomic treatments. The herbage is red or pink in color at all stages of development. The inflorescence is a dense cluster of up to 30 tiny flowers, each with petals less than 4 millimeters long and white to pink-tinted in color.  Together with Claytonia perfoliata and Claytonia parviflora, Claytonia rubra comprises what is almost certainly a polyploid pillar complex based on three diploid species, each occupying a definitive ecological niche
There are two subspecies of Claytonia rubra:  Claytonia rubra subsp. depressa and Claytonia rubra subsp. rubra


Claytonia virginica, the Virginia springbeauty, eastern spring beauty, grass-flower or fairy spud, is an herbaceous perennial plant in the family Montiaceae. Its native range is eastern North America. Its scientific name honors Colonial Virginian botanist John Clayton (1694–1773).


Springbeauty is a perennial plant, overwintering through a tuberous root. It is a trailing plant growing to 5–40 cm (2–16 in) tall. The leaves are slender lanceolate, 3–14 cm (1+1⁄4–5+1⁄2 in) long and 0.5–2 cm (0.20–0.79 in) broad, with a 6–20 cm (2+1⁄4–7+3⁄4 in) long petiole.
The flowers are 0.7–1.4 cm (0.28–0.55 in) in diameter with five pale pink or white (rarely yellow) petals, and reflect UV light. It has a raceme inflorescence, in which its flowers branch off of the shoot. The individual flowers bloom for three days, although the five stamens on each flower are only active for a single day. Flowering occurs between March and May depending on part of its range and weather. The seeds are between 0.2 and 0.3 cm (0.08 and 0.12 in) in diameter and a shiny black. The seeds are released from the capsule fruit when it breaks open. Elaiosomes are present on the seeds and allow for ant dispersal.
Claytonia virginiaca is a cytologically complex taxon, including diploids with n=6, 7, 8 and 9, and tetraploids, hexaploids, octaploids and dodecaploids. The largest number of chromosomes (2n=ca. 191) was observed in the New York area.


Springbeauty is found in the Eastern temperate deciduous forest of North America. It is noted for its abundance throughout many parts of its range, especially in forests. The plant can be found throughout many different habitat types including lawns, city parks, forests, roadsides, wetlands, bluffs, and ravines.


Hammond's yellow spring beauty, Claytonia virginica var. hammondiae, is a varietal with a very small range and population in a few areas of Northwestern New Jersey.


This plant has been used medicinally by the Iroquois, who would give a cold infusion or decoction of the powdered roots to children suffering from convulsions. They would also eat the raw roots, believing that they permanently prevented conception. They would also eat the roots as food, as would the Algonquin people, who cooked them like potatoes.
Spring beauty corms along with the entire above ground portion of the plant are safe for human consumption. The leaves can be cooked in salted water, although are not choice eating.


Clematis lasiantha, the pipestem clematis, is a creamy-white flowering liana vine, belonging to subgenus Clematis of the large genus Clematis.


It is found on the Pacific coast of North America, from the San Francisco Bay Area southwards into Baja California. It extends as far east as the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, but does not grow in the Central Valley, nor at heights greater than about 2,000 metres (6,600 ft). It grows on hillsides, in chaparral, and in open woodland.


Clematis lasiantha, the pipestem clematis, flowers from January to June.  Its leaves are 3-lobed, and generally grow groups of three to five leaflets, the largest leaves on the plant normally being between 3 and 5 cm in size. The pipestem clematis can be distinguished from the similar (but much more widely ranging) virgin's bower by the fact that pipestems normally only have one flower on each stalk, and at most three, whereas the virgin's bower has multiple flowers on each stem. The pipestem also has more pistils in each flower, but since both species have many, this is not an easy criterion to apply. The virgin's bower is more likely to be found along streams or in other wet places, whereas the pipestem tolerates more open, drier places. The plant attracts butterflies.


Clematis ligusticifolia is a climbing, spreading vine with showy flowers. It is also known as Old-man's Beard and Yerba de Chiva, and Virgin's bower,  (though Old-man's Beard may also refer to C. vitalba, and Virgin's bower may also refer to C. lasiantha). It is native to North America where it is widespread across the western United States in streamside thickets, wooded hillsides, and coniferous forests up to 8,500 feet (2,600 m).
It was called "pepper vine" by early travelers and pioneers of the American Old West. They used it as a pepper substitute to spice up food since real black pepper (Piper nigrum) was a costly and rarely obtainable spice. Like the rest of the genus Clematis, it contains essential oils and compounds which are extremely irritating to the skin and mucous membranes.  Unlike Black Pepper or Capsicum, however, the compounds in clematis cause internal bleeding of the digestive tract if ingested internally in large amounts. The plants can be toxic if consumed in large enough amounts, and can be toxic to small animals. Native Americans used very small amounts of clematis for migraine headaches and nervous disorders. It was also used as an effective treatment of skin infections.
A whole-plant hot water extraction was used to treat eczema, and a leaf compress is used to treat chest pain, sores, and boils.
It is dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate plants.


Clematis pitcheri is a species of flowering plant in the buttercup family known by the common name bluebill. It is a herbaceous, perennial vine found in the south-central United States and northern Mexico. It grows in wooded, rocky outcrops, woodland margins, bluffs, and disturbed habitats. Leaves are variable, oppositely arranged along the stems, and can be simple or compound.


Cleome rutidosperma, commonly known as fringed spider flower or purple cleome, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Cleome of the family Cleomaceae, native to tropical Africa. This species is an invasive weed throughout most lowland wet tropical areas of Asia and Australia. It is a very common weed of lawns.


Cleome viscosa, the Asian spiderflower or tick weed is an annual herb that grows up to a meter high. It belongs to the family Cleomaceae. It is considered an invasive species and is widely distributed in warm and humid habitats across the Americas, Africa and Asia,  and in Australia  (where it is considered a native).  It is commonly found during the rainy season.
The crushed leaves have been investigated as a treatment for stored seeds of cowpea, to prevent weevil infestation.
The leaves are used as external application to wounds and ulcers. The seeds are anthelmintic and carminative. The juice of the leaves is used as a remedy against discharge of pus from the ear. In a study comparing C. viscosa to standard antibiotics, it was proven to be effective at inhibiting microbial growth. This demonstrates its effectiveness as an antimicrobial agent in comparison to the antibiotic tetracycline.
In northern India, the seeds (called Jakhya) are used as a culinary herb, mainly for tempering. in Australia, the Walmajarri people of the southern Kimberley call it Jirlpirringarni.


Plants (10–)30–100(–160) cm. Stems viscid. Leaves: petiole 1.5–4.5(–8) cm, glandular-hirsute; leaflet blade ovate to oblanceolate-elliptic, (0.6–)2–6 × 0.5–3.5 cm, margins entire and glandular-ciliate, apex acute to obtuse, surfaces glandular-hirsute. Racemes 5–10 cm (10–15 cm in fruit); bracts (often deciduous), trifoliate, 10–25 mm, glandular-hirsute. Pedicels 6–30 mm, glandular-hirsute. Flowers: sepals green, lanceolate, 5–10 × 0.8–1.2 mm, glandular-hirsute; petals arranged in adaxial semicircle before anthesis, radially arranged at anthesis, bright yellow, sometimes purple basally, oblong to ovate, 7–14 × 3–4 mm; stamens dimorphic, 4–10 adaxial ones much shorter with swelling proximal to anthers, green, 5–9 mm; anthers 1.4–3 mm; ovary 6–10 mm, densely glandular; style 1–1.2 mm. Capsules dehiscing only partway from apex to base, 30–100 × 2–4 mm, glandular-hirsute. Seeds light brown, 1.2–1.8 × 1–1.2 mm, finely ridged transversely. 2n = 20.


The species was first described as Cleome viscosa in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus This name is not accepted by the Western Australian Herbarium. In Western Australia the accepted name is Arivela viscosa (L.) Raf., the name given to it in 1838 by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque for the phylogenetic reasons given by Russell Barrett and others in 2017.


Clethra alnifolia, the coastal sweetpepperbush or summersweet, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Clethra of the family Clethraceae, native to eastern North America from southern Nova Scotia and Maine south to northern Florida, and west to eastern Texas. It is a deciduous shrub which grows in wetlands, bogs and woodland streams.


It is a deciduous shrub growing to 1.5–3 m (4 ft 11 in – 9 ft 10 in) tall. The leaves are obovate to oblong, 4–10 cm long and 2–4 cm broad, with a serrated margin; they are green turning yellow-golden during the autumn. The flowers are white or very pale pink, 5–10 mm in diameter, and have a sweet, somewhat cloying fragrance. The flowers are attractive to bumblebees; they are produced in racemes up to 15 cm long and 2 cm broad in late summer, depending on the cultivar.  The "pepper" part of the common name derives from the mature fruits, capsules which have a vague resemblance to peppercorns, however with no element of spiciness.


It grows in wet forests, pine flatwoods, wetlands, bogs and can be seen alongside woodland streams. It prefers a neutral to acidic soil. The Nova Scotia population is small and endangered.


The Latin specific epithet alnifolia means "with leaves like alder (Alnus)". This gave rise to another common name, common white alder, though the two plants are not closely related.


C. alnifolia is typically used as a shrub for natural gardens, or is placed alongside a stream or pond to delay erosion. It does not leaf out until very late in the season, limiting its landscaping use. Several cultivars have been selected for garden use, including 'September Beauty'. Both 'Ruby Spice',  with strongly pink flowers, and the dwarf 'Hummingbird'  have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit (confirmed 2017).


Climaciella brunnea, known sometimes by the common names wasp mantidfly and brown mantidfly, is a predatory neuropteran insect in the family Mantispidae.


C. brunnea has a triangular head with large, compound eyes and a broad frons. It has straight antennae. Its raptorial forelegs are similar in shape and function to that of Mantodea; however, this adaptation evolved independently in the two groups and is an example of convergent evolution. The wings of C. brunnea are distinctive in that they are often characterized by having thick brown edges and transparent inner edges. The species has a body length of 2 to 3 cm.
Its markings mimic those of wasps species within the Polistes genus. C. brunnea exhibits a large amount of color polymorphism as many groups will mimic the colorations of specific wasps found within their respective region.


Climaciella brunnea is a species in the genus Climaciella and the family Mantispidae. It is in the order Neuroptera, or the net-winged insects.


Climaciella brunnea is found in Canada, the United States, and as far south as Nicaragua. While finding a single C. brunnea alone is difficult, the species is most commonly seen in aggregations. Attracted to a male pheromone, groups of C. brunnea will accumulate in areas to breed and feed.
Adults can be found sitting on vegetation or flowers in forest clearings. Individuals are often found on flower heads waiting for prey or feeding on nectar. Thus, it has some effect on pollination and is known as an casual pollinator.


First instar larva of this species are campodeiform and will use phoretic behavior in an attempt to find an adult spider. C. brunnea specializes on Lycosid spiders. The larva have a unique adaptation known as a caudal sucker that they use to attach themselves to the substrate of their habitat. Once attached, they will lift themselves and begin to wave their body back and forth for a short period of time. Afterwards, if they have not grabbed onto a passing spider they will briefly rest before resuming their phoretic behavior.
Once on the adult spider, C. brunnea larva will remain atop the carapace of the spider until either the spider copulates or begins to lay eggs. If the larva grabbed onto a male spider, they will quickly transfer to a female spider when the male mates. If the larva is attached to a female spider initially, it will remain on her until she lays eggs. Until then, the larva will subsist off the spider's hemolymph. Once the spider is ready to lay eggs, C. brunnea larva will quickly move into the sticky fluid the spider is using to construct the egg sac and thus the larva becomes trapped within the sac.
Inside, the larva will use its specially adapted sucking tube (made from its maxilla and mandibles) to feed off the spider eggs within the sac.


As adults, C. brunnea displays many striking defensive and reproductive behaviors. When disturbed, adults perform two defensive behaviors. The first involves the C. brunnea individual curling its abdomen beneath itself, likely mimicking a stinging wasp. The second defensive behavior is where the mantidfly holds the tip of its abdomen vertically as it begins to move itself in a back and forth motion. This likely not only mimics a stinging wasp but it also shows the striking coloration on the insect's abdomen.


Males of the C. brunnea species will attract females using a distinctive pheromone. Once a female is found, the males will then perform an elaborate courtship ritual. They will spread and raise their wings repeatedly while also extending and stretching their raptorial forelegs. The males will repeatedly do this for a few minutes before stopping and continuing if there is no response.
If a female is receptive, the two insects will then begin to mate. Pairs may be in copulation for up to a day. Once finished, the male will leave a spermatophore on the female's genitalia. Over the next few days, she will absorb this spermatophore and begin fertilizing her eggs. After fertilizing the eggs, the female C. brunnea will oviposit her eggs sporadically and in crescent shaped groupings.


Clinocardium nuttallii, the basket cockle or Nuttall's cockle, is a species of large edible saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusc in the family Cardiidae, the cockles.
Native to the coastlines of California and the Pacific Northwest, this species can be found from the Bering Sea to Southern California and has been used by the indigenous peoples of California and the Pacific Northwest as food.


Clintonia andrewsiana is a species of flowering plant in the lily family Liliaceae. The species was discovered by John Milton Bigelow in 1854 and described by John Torrey in 1856. The specific epithet andrewsiana honors Timothy Langdon Andrews (1819–1908), a "gentleman who assiduously examined the botany" of California during the mid-19th century. The species is commonly known as Andrews clintonia or red clintonia, where the latter refers to the color of the flowers. In California, it is also known as bluebead lily or western bluebead lily, not to be confused with C. borealis, which is likewise known as bluebead lily. The Pomo people of northern California considered the plant to be poisonous.


Clintonia andrewsiana is a perennial herbaceous plant that spreads by means of underground rhizomes. It is the largest plant species in the genus, standing 30 to 80 cm (12 to 31 in) tall. Around the base of the plant are 5 or 6 oval-shaped, dark green leaves, each 20 to 35 cm (8 to 14 in) long and 5 to 15 cm (2 to 6 in) wide. The tall, erect inflorescence consists of a terminal umbel with 10–20 flowers and up to three lateral umbels with 2–4 flowers each. Each flower has six pink to reddish-purple tepals 1 to 2 cm (0.4 to 0.8 in) long and six stamens about half as long as the tepals. The fruit is a blue or blue-black berry approximately 1 cm (0.4 in) in diameter.


Clintonia andrewsiana is found along the West Coast of the United States, from Monterey County in central California north to Curry County in southwestern Oregon. It prefers the shady, moist areas of the coastal redwood forests.
The range of C. andrewsiana overlaps with that of C. uniflora in Humboldt County and Del Norte County in northwestern California and Curry County in Oregon, but the two species are readily distinguished by their flowers. C. andrewsiana has multiple flowers arranged in one or more umbels while C. uniflora has a single flower with white tepals. The tepals of C. andrewsiana are a deep claret red.


Clintonia borealis is a species of flowering plant in the lily family Liliaceae. The specific epithet borealis means "of the north," which alludes to the fact that the species tends to thrive in the boreal forests of eastern Canada and northeastern United States.
Clintonia borealis is commonly known as bluebead, bluebead lily, or yellow clintonia. The term "bluebead" refers to the plant's small blue spherical fruit, perhaps its most striking feature. However, the term can be misleading since all but one of the species in genus Clintonia have blue fruits (notably, the fruit of C. umbellulata is black). Thus yellow clintonia is probably a better name for C. borealis since the adjective refers to the color of the plant's flower, a unique character among Clintonia species. Compound names such as yellow bead lily or yellow bluebead lily are also in use.
Other less common names include corn lily, poisonberry, or snakeberry. Some authors refer to C. borealis as Clinton's lily but that name may be more appropriate for the genus as a whole.


Clintonia borealis is a small (5–10 in) perennial plant, usually found in homogeneous colonies. At full growth, a shoot has 2–4 clasping and curved, slightly succulent leaves with parallel venation. The flowers are arranged in small umbels at the extremity of a long stalk. They have 6 stamens and 6 yellow tepals (i.e. very similar sepals and petals). In rare cases more than one umbel is found on a shoot or shoots from a clone. The fruits are small dark blue, lurid berries, which are semi-poisonous. A white-berried form (f. albicarpa) also exists.
The plant reproduces via seed or vegetatively by underground rhizomes. By either method, the plants are slow to spread. One colony often covers several hundred square meters.


In 1789, William Aiton described the species Dracaena borealis Aiton, a name that was to become a synonym for Clintonia borealis (Aiton) Raf. The latter was first described by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1832. The species C. borealis was previously classified within the genus Convallaria.


Clintonia borealis is a wide-ranging species in eastern North America, from Newfoundland and Labrador across New England into the Great Lakes region west to Manitoba and Minnesota. Its range extends southward into the Appalachian Mountains where it is allopatric with C. umbellulata, that is, the ranges of the two species do not significantly overlap but are immediately adjacent to one another. In the Appalachians, C. umbellulata prefers hardwood forests less than 1,000 m (3,281 ft) while C. borealis populates coniferous or mixed forests up to 1,600 m (5,249 ft).
C. borealis is globally secure but threatened in Maryland and Tennessee. It is an endangered species in Ohio and Indiana.


Culture is difficult, due to the need to avoid direct sunlight and the difficulty posed by germination. Transplanting is not recommended.


The rhizome contains diosgenin, a saponin steroid with estrogenic effects.


The young leaves of the plant are edible while still only a few inches tall. The fruit however, is mildly toxic, and is quite unpleasant tasting.


Hunters in North Quebec were said to have rubbed their traps with the roots because bears are attracted to its odor.
According to a Mi'kmaq tale, when a grass snake eats a poisonous toad, it slithers in rapid circles around a shoot of the bluebead lily to transfer the poison to the plant.


Clintonia uniflora, commonly known as bride's bonnet, queen's cup, or bead lily, is a species of flowering plant in the lily family Liliaceae. The specific epithet uniflora means "one-flowered", a characteristic that distinguishes this species from others in the genus Clintonia. For this reason, it is also known as the single-flowered clintonia.


Clintonia uniflora is a perennial herbaceous plant that spreads by means of underground rhizomes. It is the smallest plant in the genus, only 15 to 25 cm (6 to 10 in) tall. It has two or three leaves located at the base of a hairy stem. Each leaf is 2.5 to 6.5 cm (1 to 3 in) wide and 8 to 20 cm (3 to 8 in) long. A plant typically bears a single flower but occasionally there will be an inflorescence of two flowers. The small flower has six white tepals, each approximately 2 cm (0.8 in) long, and six protruding white stamens with pollen-dusted anthers. After pollination, the flower is replaced by a round blue berry approximately 1 cm (0.4 in) in diameter.


In 1829, Josef August Schultes described the plant variety Smilacina borealis var. uniflora, which was later segregated into species Smilacina uniflora. The latter was to become a synonym for Clintonia uniflora, first described by Carl Sigismund Kunth in 1850.


Clintonia uniflora is native to western North America, from southern Alaska to central California, extending eastward into southwestern Alberta and northwestern Montana. It prefers cool montane coniferous forests, typically at elevations from 3,000 to 5,000 ft (914 to 1,524 m).
C. uniflora occurs in many forest types but it prefers a cool moist coniferous forest consisting of western red cedar (Thuja plicata), western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla), grand fir (Abies grandis), subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa), and Pacific silver fir (Abies amabilis). It is also associated with western white pine (Pinus monticola), Alaska cedar (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis), and noble fir (Abies procera). Companion species in the understory include threeleaf foamflower (Tiarella trifoliata), twinflower (Linnaea borealis), and Canadian bunchberry (Cornus canadensis).
The range of C. uniflora overlaps with that of C. andrewsiana in Humboldt County and Del Norte County in northwestern California and Curry County in southwestern Oregon, but the two species are readily distinguished by their overall size and their flowers. C. uniflora has a single flower with white tepals while C. andrewsiana has multiple flowers arranged in one or more umbels. The tepals of the latter are a deep claret red.


Clintonia uniflora is a perennial geophyte that can live up to 30 years (or more). The plant flowers between late May and July, and thereafter the fruit matures from late July to September. Citizen scientists observe flowering plants uniformly throughout June and July.
The plant is not considered palatable but it is of at least minor importance as food for some wildlife species including birds, elk, and deer. Frugivorous birds are the only reported dispersers of the seeds, which remain viable in the ground for at least a couple of years.


The indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest, including the Nuxalk, the Cowlitz, and the Haisla peoples, used the plant as a dermatological aid and eye medicine. The Nlaka'pamux (also known as the Thompson people) mashed the ripe blue fruit and used it as a dye or stain. Today Clintonia uniflora is used as a garden ornamental.


Clitoria ternatea, commonly known as Asian pigeonwings, bluebellvine, blue pea, butterfly pea, cordofan pea or Darwin pea is a plant species belonging to the family Fabaceae.
In India, it is revered as a holy flower, used in daily puja rituals. The flowers of this vine were imagined to have the shape of human female genitals, hence the Latin name of the genus "Clitoria", from "clitoris". The species name is thought to derive from the city of Ternate in the Indonesian archipelago, from where Linnaeus's specimens originated.


This plant is native to equatorial Asia, including locations in South Asia and Southeast Asia but has also been introduced to Africa, Australia and the Americas.


It is a perennial herbaceous plant, with elliptic, obtuse leaves. It grows as a vine or creeper, doing well in moist, neutral soil.
Its most striking feature is the color of its flowers, a vivid deep blue; solitary, with light yellow markings. They are about 4 cm (1+1⁄2 in) long by 3 cm (1+1⁄4 in) wide. Some varieties yield white flowers.
The fruits are 5–7 cm (2–2+3⁄4 in) long, flat pods with six to ten seeds in each pod. They are edible when tender.
It is grown as an ornamental plant and as a revegetation species (e.g., in coal mines in Australia), requiring little care when cultivated. As a legume, its roots form a symbiotic association with soil bacteria known as rhizobia, which transform atmospheric N₂ into a plant-usable form (a process called nitrogen fixing), therefore, this plant is also used to improve soil quality through the decomposition of nitrogen rich plant material.


C. ternatea does not suffer from any severe pest or disease problems.


Suffers from anthracnose and bacterial soft rot. Rarely suffers from fungal root rots.


In Southeast Asia, the flower is used as a natural food colouring to colour glutinous rice and desserts like the Eurasian putugal as well as an Ayurvedic medicine. In Kelantan, in the north-east of peninsular Malaysia, it is an important ingredient in nasi kerabu, giving it its characteristic bluish colour. In Burmese and Thai cuisines, the flowers are also dipped in batter and fried. It is also used to colour the Nyonya dish Pulot tartal.
Butterfly pea flower tea is made from the ternatea flowers and dried lemongrass and changes color depending on what is added to the liquid, with lemon juice turning it purple. In Thailand and Vietnam, this butterfly blue pea flower tea is commonly mixed with honey and lemon to increase acidity and turn the beverage a pink-purple color, to produce for a drink usually served after dinner, or as a refreshment at hotels and spas. The drink is a typical local drink like chamomile tea is in other parts of the world. The tea is found in both hot and cold varieties
The flowers have more recently been used in a color-changing gin. Blue in the bottle, it turns pink when mixed with a carbonated mixer such as tonic water due to the change in pH. As organic colours are not permanent, this type of gin is recommended to be stored in a dark place to maintain the effect.


In traditional Ayurvedic medicine, it is ascribed with various qualities including memory enhancing, nootropic, antistress, anxiolytic, antidepressant, anticonvulsant, tranquilizing, and sedative properties. In traditional Chinese medicine, the plant has been ascribed properties affecting female libido due to its similar appearance to the female reproductive organ. Using its extract have also shown its ability to reduce intensity of behavior caused by serotonin and acetylcholine.
Its extracts possess a wide range of pharmacological activities including antimicrobial, antipyretic, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, diuretic, local anesthetic, antidiabetic, insecticidal, blood platelet aggregation-inhibiting and for use as a vascular smooth muscle relaxing properties.  This plant has a long use in traditional Ayurvedic medicine for several diseases and the scientific studies has reconfirmed those with modern relevance.


The flower can be used to dye natural fibers and is used by traditional societies in Asia to do so.


Chemical compounds isolated from C. ternatea include various triterpenoids, flavonol glycosides, anthocyanins and steroids.  Cyclic peptides known as cliotides have been isolated from the heat-stable fraction of C. ternatea extract. The blue colour of C. ternatea is a result of various anthocyanins, most importantly ternatins - polyacylated derivatives of delphinidin 3,3', 5'-triglucoside (Da-T).


The species is green coloured as a nymph, but when they get to adulthood the colour changes to reddish brown. It does however, vary by territory; for example, specimens from northern Britain are brownish black. The prothorax has two spots, while its scutellum has dark marks.


They are found in most of Europe, in the eastern part of the Palearctic realm, and in the Near East.


These beetles inhabit wet forests, sunny forest edges, dry slopes and dry grasslands, but also floodplains and parks.


Clytra laeviuscula can reach a length of 7.5–11.5 millimetres (0.30–0.45 in) and a width of about 4 millimetres (0.16 in). These beetles have elongated bodies and shiny red-orange elytra with four black spots, two larger around the center  of the elytra and two smaller on the shoulders. The prothorax is black and shiny. The head and legs are black, as well as the antennae that are quite short.
Clytra laeviuscula  can be distinguished from ladybirds (family Coccinellidae) by its more elongated form and by its tarsi (ends of the legs) formed of five parts (three for ladybugs).
This species is rather similar to Clytra quadripunctata.


Adults occurs frequently from May to August. They are phytophagous. The feed on leaves, flowers and pollen of deciduous trees, mainly of Quercus robur, Salix, Populus, Betula, Fraxinus excelsior, Fagus sylvatica, Dorycnium, Prunus, Ulmus and Corylus avellana. They feed also on pollen of Rosa canina, Polygonum bistorta and Leucanthemum vulgare.
Clytra laeviuscula has a special relationship with ants. The females wrap each egg with their hind legs in a ball of about 2 mm of excrements/feces and leaves it in the vicinity of an anthill. The eggs are taken to the nest by ants, where the larvae made a kind of tube that serves to protect them from ants. They feed on the waste and other detritus left by the ants, on their eggs and on their larvae. The adults usually  emerge after about  two  weeks. The larval cycle lasts about two years.


Clytus arietis, the wasp beetle,  is a wasp-mimicking longhorn beetle species in the genus Clytus.


It reaches 9–18 millimetres (0.35–0.71 in) in length, and flies well in sunshine from May to July, often visiting flowers for pollen and nectar. It is harmless but is protected by its wasp-like colours and movements, making it a Batesian mimic. The larvae live in dead wood. It also emanates a wasp buzz-like noise when threatened. They can be seen wandering around on flowers from late spring to early summer, and they are easily mistaken for wasps. They are not to be confused with another wasp-mimicking longhorn beetle, Rutpela maculata.


Numerous chemicals have been isolated from this plant, including osthol, imperatorin, isoimperatorin, bergapten, isopimpinellin, xanthotoxin, justicidin A and marmesin. This plant is also capable of causing phytophotodermatitis on humans after skin contact, and it can sometimes be severe if exposure is for several hours. After the plant's foliage is contacted, light-sensitizing chemicals in the oils of the plant combined with ultraviolet radiation initiate an inflammatory reaction that can present as a burning, blistering rash. This effect is variable from person to person, with some people not blistering at all.


This species was first discovered to Western science by Thomas Nuttall, an English botanist and naturalist. Nuttalll had arrived in San Diego aboard the hide ship Pilgrim, staying in the harbor for three weeks as he waited for a Bryant and Sturgis ship to sail him back to Boston. Nuttall was one of few naturalists to step foot in the region at the time, being preceded by Menzies, Botta, Coulter, and Deppe, all of whom had only stopped in San Diego briefly. In Nuttall's stay in San Diego, he collected around 44 species of plants. Nuttall likely encountered this species on Point Loma, as he spent extensive time on the peninsula (for it was the original anchorage in the San Diego Bay) and it is home to an abundant population of this plant.
From Nuttall's work, eminent North American botanists John Torrey and Asa Gray described this species as Pitavia dumosa in their Flora of North America. However, the pair had failed to find Nuttall's notes on the plant, and had to describe this species based on incomplete specimens. The botanists also noted that this species appeared to differ from the Pitavia genus as circumscribed by Jussieu. Botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker later combined this species into Cneoridium dumosum, but he produced a nomen invalidum (invalid name) as he failed to specify the rank. Henri Ernest Baillon later corrected Hooker's mistake in 1873, with the fourth volume of his publication Histoire des Plantes, leading to the current name Cneoridium dumosum (Nutt.) Hook.f. ex Baill.
The genus Cneoridium is placed in the subfamily Amyridoideae, placing it as a close relative to Amyris, its sister clade, and Stauranthus. The three genera also share morphological features, such as their fleshy fruits, characterized in this genus by the berries.


The generic name Cneoridium derives from the diminutive form of Cneorum, the spurge olive, which in turn comes from the Greek kneoron, which was applied to some dwarf shrubs resembling the olive. The first letter of Cneoridium is silent, with the name pronounced like "Nee-oh-rí-di-um." The specific epithet dumosum is derived from the Latin dūmōsus, which means bushy or shrubby. The common name "spice bush" likely refers to the shrub's aromatic leaves.


Introduced into cultivation by Theodore Payne, this diminutive woody shrub has a reputation of being difficult to establish, but given proper care it is a long-lived, slow-growing plant that thrives on neglect. Native to a large number of habitats, from the moist coast to the dry inland hills, it is adaptable to irrigation. It tolerates hot, dry climates with some afternoon shade, often staying green with no water after establishment. It may be watered sparingly during the hot season to help keep the leaves more vibrantly green. It is also recommended to keep plants away from pathways because of the risk of phytophotodermatitis triggered by the foliage.
Although more commonly grown by nurseries for habitat restoration, bushrue can be utilized in local native gardens, with their moderate size compatible with small gardens. It often goes dormant in summer, with the leaves becoming dull green, and in the fall or winter they may turn yellow or orange with frost. This plant will frequently bloom in winter to spring, with rewarding January flowers.
This plant can be propagated by cuttings or seed. Cuttings must be taken in winter or spring from stems at least 1 year old, and treated with rooting hormone after the foliage is removed from the bottom half of the cutting. Cuttings are then placed in a mix of half peat and half moist perlite, watered, and situated in a plastic bag that is not entirely sealed. The plastic bag is then placed in a warm spot with indirect sunlight. To propagate from seed, berries must be picked when they are a distinctive chocolate-brown color at the end of summer. Seed germination rates can approach 100% when they are also stratified at 55°F for a couple of weeks.


This species was utilized for medicinal purposes by the indigenous Luiseño and Kumeyaay peoples for centuries. The Luiseño would make an infusion by boiling the leaves of this plant, noting that it had a blood-thinning effect that included diuretic action. They would also use it to cure earaches, by placing the raw leaves in the ear with a small amount of warm olive oil. Delfina Cuero of the Kumeyaay people reported using the boiled plant as a mouthwash and gargle, and also for toothaches.


Cnidoscolus texanus, commonly known as Texas bullnettle (also Texas bull nettle and Texas bull-nettle), tread-softly, mala mujer, and finger rot, is a perennial herb covered with stinging hairs. The main stem, branches, leaves, and seed pods are all covered with hispid or glass-like bristly hairs that release an allergenic toxin upon contact. Contact with the plant results in intense pain: stinging, burning, and itching lasting for hours. It is native to the U.S. states of Texas, Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma and also native to the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, Mexico. It is an herbaceous flowering plant that grows between 30–80 cm (11.8–31.5 in) tall and as much as 1 m (3.3 ft) across. Texas bullnettle (Cnidoscolus texanus) has showy, fragrant white flowers that can bloom throughout the year in southern regions of its distribution, predominantly March to November in northern regions. It is a drought-tolerant plant, therefore making it a superb choice for xeriscaping. This plant is attractive to birds, bees, butterflies, and other insects. The seeds are known to be consumed by Rio Grande wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo intermedia) and mourning doves (Zenaida macroura).
The seeds, which are edible when ripe, are also consumed by humans.  Native Americans harvested bullnettle seeds in the past and some people still eat them today. Each seed pod contains three seeds, which are smooth, somewhat cylindrical, brownish white, and a half to three quarters of an inch long. When ripe, they are dispersed when the pod burst open, catapulting the seeds away from the plant. Great care and caution is advised in collecting the seeds. Tull suggested wearing long pants, long sleeves, boots, and gloves to pick the seed pods with a pair of tongs, then dropping them into a paper sack and waiting for the pods to ripen and burst in the sack to collect the seeds. They are said to be appetizing and tasty with a nutty flavor.


It is a perennial plant with erect or sprawling branching stems growing from thick root stock , up to 40 inches long and 8 inches thick. It has milky latex and stiff prickly glandular-based, stinging hairs. The stems and leaves are green. The leaves are three to six inches, simple, and are alternately arranged on the stem, and each leaf is deeply cut with 3 to 5 lobes. The lobes are typically roughly and irregularly toothed or lobed again. The flowers are in a few flowered terminal cymose inflorescences about one inch across. Flowers have five sepals and lack petals, the sepals are lobed, white, fragrant, and covered with hispid hairs. Each flower has 10 connate stamens. The male and female flowers separate but within the same cluster. The fruits are in prickly 3-seeded capsules.
It was first described by Johannes Müller Argoviensis in 1865 as Jatropha texana. It was then moved to the genus Cnidoscolus in 1903 by John Kunkel Small.


Coccinella californica is a ladybird beetle found in California commonly known as the California lady beetle. It has a red elytra that is usually spotless and a mostly black thorax. Its range is the coastal counties north of the Transverse Ranges.


Coccinella septempunctata, the seven-spot ladybird (or, in North America, seven-spotted ladybug or "C-7"), is the most common ladybird in Europe. Its elytra are of a red colour, but punctuated with three black spots each, with one further spot being spread over the junction of the two, making a total of seven spots, from which the species derives both its common and scientific names (from the Latin septem = "seven" and punctus = "spot").


C. septempunctata has a broad ecological range, generally living where there are aphids for it to eat. and including, amongst other biotopes, meadows, fields, Pontic–Caspian steppe, parkland, gardens, Western European broadleaf forests and mixed forests. Both the adults and the larvae are voracious predators of aphids, and because of this, C. septempunctata has been repeatedly introduced to North America as a biological control agent to reduce aphid numbers, and is now established in North America. It has been designated the official state insect of five different states (Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Tennessee).
Although C. septempunctata is mainly aphidophagous it also feeds  on Thysanoptera, Aleyrodidae, on the larvae of Psyllidae and Cicadellidae, and on eggs and larvae of some beetles and butterflies. There are one or two generations per year. Adults overwinter in ground litter in parks, gardens and forest edges and under tree bark and rocks.
In the United Kingdom, there are fears that the seven-spot ladybird is being outcompeted for food by the harlequin ladybird. Conversely, in North America, this species has outcompeted many native species, including other Coccinella. Massive swarms of C. septempunctata took place in the drought summer of 1976 in the UK. The species has undergone significant declines on the island of Malta, yet it is unclear whether this decline has occurred at the same rate elsewhere.


An adult seven-spot ladybird may reach a body length of 7.6–12.7 mm (0.3–0.5 in). Their distinctive spots and attractive colours apparently make them unappealing to predators. The species can secrete a fluid from joints in their legs which gives them a foul taste. A threatened ladybird may both play dead and secrete the unappetising substance to protect itself.  The seven-spot ladybird synthesizes the toxic alkaloids, N-oxide coccinelline and its free base precoccinelline; depending on sex and diet, the spot size and coloration can provide some indication of how toxic the individual insect is to potential predators.


It can be found in Europe, North Africa, Australia, Cyprus, European Russia, the Caucasus, Siberia, the Russian Far East,  Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, the Transcaucasia, Kazakhstan, Middle Asia, Western Asia, Middle East, Afghanistan, Mongolia, China, North and South Korea, Pakistan, Nepal, North India, Japan, Sri Lanka and southeast Asia. It can also be found in North America (the species was introduced to the United States) and tropical Africa.
The first record of successful establishment (after numerous failed attempts to introduce the species) in the United States was in 1973. It has since spread by natural dispersion to New York and Connecticut and to Oklahoma, Georgia and Delaware by recolonization.


These three subspecies belong to the species Coccinella trifasciata:
Coccinella trifasciata perplexa Mulsant, 1850
Coccinella trifasciata subversa LeConte, 1854
Coccinella trifasciata trifasciata Linnaeus, 1758


C. undecimpunctata is a lady beetle with eleven black spots found on its red/orange elytra. Its size can range from around 4.0 to 5.0mm. It may look like this beetle has six spots on each elytron, however the black spot in the center of the elytra, just behind the pronotum, counts as just one.


Endemic to the Palearctic - Europe, North Africa, European Russia, the Caucasus, Siberia, the Russian Far East, Ukraine, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Middle Asia, Western Asia, Afghanistan, Mongolia, China, Pakistan, North India.  C. undecimpunctata has been introduced to Australia as a biological control agent. It has been said that C. undecimpunctata was introduced to New Zealand as a form of pest control as well, however this has proven to be false.


C. undecimpunctata  feeds on aphids associated with grasses - in fields, in ruderal biotopes, on steppe (including Pannonian steppe), stone quarries,  wastelands, dry forest edges in meadows and coastal meadow, in open habitats with grasses, and near rivers. Frequently in biotopes with Ammophila arenaria it also  occurs on alluvial soils, detritus, on dead grass and in biotopes with Salix purpurea.  It is salt resistant and can feed on aphids inhabiting Atriplex tatarica and  other grasses associated with saline areas.


C. undecimpunctata reproduces sexually, and has a tendency to cannibalize other individuals/pairs eggs. They do this because it improves their own eggs viability, increases their fecundity, and decreases development time of remaining offspring. However, these benefits depend on which sex is cannibalizing eggs—paternal cannibalization increases fecundity and egg viability, where maternal cannibalization only increases egg viability. If both parents cannibalize eggs, pupation and general developmental time decreases.


Lady beetles are used as a form of pest control for various pests as well as by various modes, whether they be used within a house for hobby plants, in a garden for food, or for more industrial-like settings. Biological forms of pest control are used because they are less harmful than insecticides, which can have negative or even dangerous effects on the plant, beneficial insects, and even humans. C. undecimpunctata has been proven to be an excellent measure of pest control for cotton mealybugs (Phenacoccus solenopsis), though females tend to eat more over their lifespan than males did. Another pest C. undecimpunctata has been known for being used as pest control for is aphids. Rather than just using the beetles as adults for pest control, it has been shown that they eat just under 1.5 times more in their fourth instar than they do as adults. It is best to release C. undecimpunctata populations when pest populations are low.


While some prefer to use biological pest control such as releasing predators into an area to get rid of pests, insecticides are still used widely. Sometimes biological pest control as well as chemical pest control are used simultaneously, or the natural fauna in the area are not accounted for when insecticides are used—chlorpyrifos, deltamethrin, and spinosad are insecticides used on a common prey of C. undecimpunctata, the cabbage aphid (Brevicoryne brassicae) While these insecticides are much more effective on the prey, B. brassicae, both chlorpyrifos and spinosad were still much more unsafe for C. undecimpunctata than deltamethrin is. Other insecticides like pirimicarb and pymetrozine are recommended as they do not have significant impact on C. undecimpunctata, where buprofezin, when sprayed on larvae, decreased survival rate to adulthood by 33%.


Coccoloba uvifera is a species of flowering plant in the buckwheat family, Polygonaceae, that is native to coastal beaches throughout tropical America and the Caribbean, including southern Florida, the Bahamas, the Greater and Lesser Antilles, and Bermuda. Common names include seagrape and baygrape.


In late summer, it bears green fruit, about 2 cm (0.79 in) diameter,  in large, grape-like clusters. The fruit gradually ripens to a purplish color. Each contains a large pit that constitutes most of the volume of the fruit.


Although it is capable of surviving down to about 2 °C (35.6 °F), the tree cannot survive frost. The leaves turn reddish before withering. The seeds of this plant, once gathered, must be planted immediately, for unlike most plants, the seeds cannot withstand being stored for future planting.
C. uvifera is wind-resistant, moderately tolerant of shade, and highly tolerant of salt, so it is often planted to stabilize beach edges; it is also planted as an ornamental shrub. The fruit is very tasty, and can be used for jam or eaten directly from the tree.
Sea grape is a dioecious species, that is, male and female flowers are borne on separate plants, and cross-pollination is necessary for fruit to develop. Honey bees and other insects help pollinate these plants; male and female plants can be distinguished by the appearance of their flowers, as males usually show dead flower stalks.
Hardiness: USDA zone 9B–11
Propagation: seeds and cuttings
Culture: partial shade/full sun, drought tolerance


Coccoloba uvifera  is a popular ornamental plant in south Florida yards. It serves as a dune stabilizer and protective habitat for small animals. Tall sea grape plants behind beaches help prevent sea turtles from being distracted by lights from nearby buildings. The sap has been used for dyeing and tanning leather. The wood has occasionally been used in furniture, as firewood, or for making charcoal. The fruits of the sea grape may be eaten raw, cooked into jellies and jams, or fermented into sea grape wine.


The first botanical names of the plant were assigned in 1696 by Hans Sloane, who called it Prunus maritima racemosa, "maritime grape-cluster Prunus", and Leonard Plukenet, who named it Uvifera littorea, "grape-bearer of the shore", both of which names reflect the European concept of "sea-grape", expressed in a number of languages by the explorers of the times. The natives viewed it as a large mulberry.
The first edition of Linnaeus's Species Plantarum (1753), based on Plukenet, assigned the plant to Polygonum uvifera and noted flores non vidi, "I have not seen the flowers."  Subsequently, Patrick Browne, The Civil and Natural History of Jamaica (1756) devised Coccoloba for it. Relying on Browne, Linnaeus' second edition (1762), changed the classification to Coccolobus uvifera, citing all the other names. Coccoloba comes from the Greek kokkolobis, a kind of grape, literally, "berry pod".


The hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes) is a passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It is the only species placed in the genus Coccothraustes. Its closest living relatives are the Chinese grosbeak (Eophona migratoria) and Japanese grosbeak (Eophona personata) of East Asia, and the evening grosbeak (Hesperiphona vespertina) and hooded grosbeak (Hesperiphona abeillei) of North America.
This bird breeds across Europe and temperate Asia (Palearctic). It is mainly resident in Europe, but many Asian birds migrate further south in the winter. It is a rare vagrant to the western islands of Alaska.
Deciduous or mixed woodland, including parkland, with large trees – especially hornbeam – is favoured for breeding. The hawfinch builds its nest in a bush or tree, and lays 2–7 eggs. The food is mainly seeds and fruit kernels, especially those of cherries, which it cracks with its powerful bill. This large finch species is usually seen in a pair or small group.
The 16.5–18 cm long hawfinch is a bulky bull-headed bird, which appears very short-tailed in flight. Its head is orange-brown with a black eyestripe and bib, and a massive bill, which is black in summer but paler in winter. The upper parts are dark brown and the underparts orange.
The white wing bars and tail tip are striking in flight. The sexes are similar. The call is a hard chick. The song of this unobtrusive bird is quiet and mumbled.


The hawfinch was described and illustrated by Swiss naturalist Conrad Gesner in his Historiae animalium in 1555.
He used the Latin name Coccothraustes which is derived from the Greek: kokkos is a seed or kernel and thrauō means to break or to shatter. In 1758 Carl Linnaeus included the species in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Loxia coccothraustes. The hawfinch was moved to a separate genus Coccothraustes by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760. The English name 'hawfinch' was used by the ornithologist Francis Willughby in 1676. Haws are the red berries of the common hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna).
Molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that the hawfinch is closely related to other grosbeaks in the Eophona, Hesperiphona and Mycerobas genera. Finches with large beaks in the Rhynchostruthus and Rhodospiza genera are not closely related. The similar bill morphology is the result of convergence due to the similar feeding behaviour.
Fossil record:
Coccothraustes balcanicus (Late Pliocene/Late Villafranchian of Slivnitsa, western Bulgaria)
Coccothraustes simeonovi (Late Pliocene/Middle Villafranchian of Varshets, western Bulgaria)
There are six recognised subspecies:
C. c. coccothraustes (Linnaeus, 1758) – Europe to central Siberia and northern Mongolia
C. c. buvryi Cabanis, 1862 – Northwest Africa
C. c. nigricans Buturlin, 1908 – southern Ukraine, the Caucasus, northeastern Turkey and northern Iran
C. c. humii Sharpe, 1886 – southern Kazakhstan, eastern Uzbekistan and northeastern Afghanistan
C. c. schulpini Johansen, H, 1944 – southeastern Siberia, northeastern China and Korea
C. c. japonicus Temminck & Schlegel, 1848 – the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Kuril Islands, Sakhalin and Japan


The hawfinch has an overall length of 18 cm (7.1 in), with a wingspan that ranges from 29 to 33 cm (11 to 13 in). It weighs  46–70 g (1.6–2.5 oz) with the male being on average slightly heavier than the female. It is a robust bird with a thick neck, large round head and a wide, strong conical beak with a metallic appearance. It has short pinkish legs with a light hue and it has a short tail. It has brown eyes.
The plumage of the female is slightly paler than that of the male. The overall colour is light brown, its head having an orange hue to it. Its eyes have a black circle around them, extending to its beak and surrounding it at its edge. Its throat is also black.
The sides of its neck, as well as the back of its neck, are gray. The upper side of its wings are a deep black colour. The wings also have three stripes from approximately the middle till their sides: a white, a brown and a blue stripe.
Adults moults between July and September.


The hawfinch is distributed in the whole of Europe, Eastern Asia (Palearctic including North Japan), and North Africa (Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria). It has also been sighted in Alaska, but this is reported as an accidental presence.
It is not found in Iceland, parts of the British Isles, or certain Mediterranean islands. It is however found in southern Europe, such as in Spain and Bulgaria, as well as in central Europe, including parts of England and southern Sweden. The hawfinch's range has extended further north since the 1950s, and is now found as far north as Northern Norway.
In Asia it can be found in the Caucasus, northern Iran, Afghanistan, Turkistan, Siberia, Manchuria and North Korea.
The hawfinch typically inhabits deciduous forests during the spring to have offspring, often in trees that bear fruit, such as oak trees. They also incur into human areas, such as parks and gardens. They can also be found in pine woods, as long as there is a source of water in the vicinity.
During autumn and winter they seek food-providing forests, especially those with cherry and plum trees. As for height, the hawfinch is present in any altitude up to that which is limited by the size of the trees.


In the 18th century, the hawfinch was recorded as only a rare winter visitor in Britain. The first breeding record was early in the 19th century; by the early 1830s, a well-documented colony was established at Epping Forest in Essex, and breeding was also recorded in other counties east and south of London. Further expansion of the range continued through the 19th and 20th centuries, with breeding occurring as far north as Aberdeenshire by 1968–1972. Peak numbers were in the period 1983–1990. Subsequently, there has been a significant decline of between 37% and 45% between 1990–1999.
Southeastern England is the stronghold of the hawfinch in Britain. One well-known site is Bedgebury Pinetum, where flocks gather to roost in winter. The species is also found in the New Forest; a central roost site exists here, at the Blackwater Arboretum. The only Sussex stronghold is at Westdean Woods in West Sussex, while in Surrey they are regularly seen at Bookham Common in winter. Formerly, hawfinches were regularly encountered in the Windsor Great Park area in winter, though no sizeable gatherings have been reported since the mid-1990s. The recent (2007–11) BTO Bird Atlas shows no evidence of the hawfinch breeding anywhere in this area; the reasons why are unclear.
In Devon (southwestern England), the hawfinch is largely confined to the upper Teign Valley. In western England and Wales, two areas in which hawfinches reliably occur are the Forest of Dean and the Wyre Forest. In Eastern England, the hawfinch is present in the Breckland of East Anglia. In northern England, hawfinches are regularly found in a small number of locations. Prime sites include Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire and Hulne Park in Northumberland.
Hawfinches can be seen at Cromford Derbyshire near the canal and at Clumber Park (Nottinghamshire) near the chapel. In Scotland, Scone Palace near Perth is the most well-known site in Scotland for hawfinches. Formerly, they also occurred in the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. In Ireland, they are an annual winter visitor in small numbers: they are most often seen at Curraghchase Forest Park in County Limerick, where a flock of between 15 and 30 birds occurs each winter. A few birds also turn up in Dublin most years.


The hawfinch is a shy species, and therefore difficult to observe and study. It spends most of the day on top of high branches, above all during breeding season. During the course of the hawfinch's life it can only be seen on the ground while looking for seeds or drinking water, always near trees.
While drinking and eating it is fairly aggressive and dominant, towards both its same species or different ones, even bigger birds.
It guards a quite small territory when its chicks are born; however, when not bearing any offspring it is known to guard entire woods. This is interpreted as an evolutionary advantage, given colony rearing is seen as safer against nest predators.


Hawfinches first breed when they are 1 year old. They are monogamous, with a pair-bond that sometimes persists from one year to the next. Pair-formation takes place before the breakup of the wintering flocks. The date for breeding is dependent on the spring temperature and is earlier in southwest Europe and later in the northeast. In Britain, most clutches are laid between late April and late June.
Hawfinches engage in an elaborate series of courtship routines. The two birds stand apart facing one another and reach out to touch their bills. The male displays to the female by standing erect, puffing out the feathers on his head, neck and chest and allowing his wings to droop forward. He then makes a deep bow. The male will also lower a wing and move it in a semi-circular arc, revealing his wing bars and modified wing feathers.
The breeding pairs are usually solitary, but they occasionally breed in loose groups. The nest is normally located high in a tree on a horizontal branch with easy access from the air. The male chooses the site of the nest and builds a layer of dry twigs. After a few days, the female takes over. The nest is untidy and is formed of a bulky twig base and a shallow cup lined with roots, grasses and lichens. The eggs are laid in early morning at daily intervals. The clutch is normally 4–5 eggs. There is considerable variable in the colour and shape of the eggs. They have purple brown and pale grey squiggles on a background that can be buff, grey-green or pale blueish. The average size is 24.1 mm × 17.5 mm (0.95 in × 0.69 in) with a calculated weight of 3.89 g (0.137 oz). The eggs are incubated for 11–13 days by the female. The nestlings are fed by both parents, who regurgitate seeds but also bring mouthfuls of caterpillars. Initially, the male normally passes the food to the female who feeds the chicks, but as they grow bigger both adults feed them directly. The female broods the chicks while they are in the nest. They fledge after 12–14 days and the young birds become independent of their parents around 30 days later. The parents generally only raise a single brood each year.
The hawfinch is highly unusual among cardueline finches in that the male bird chooses the nest site and starts the construction. In other species the female performs these roles. The hawfinch is also unusual in that the nest is kept clean by the parents removing the faecal sacs of the nestlings right up to the time when the chicks fledge. This behaviour is shared by the Eurasian bullfinch, but most finches cease to remove the faecal material after the first few days.
The annual survival rate is not known. The maximum age obtained from ring-recovery data is 12 years and 7 months for a bird in Germany.


The hawfinch feeds primarily on hard seeds from trees, as well as fruit seeds, which it obtains with the help of its strong beak with accompanying jaw muscles. Its jaw muscles exert a force equivalent to a load of approximately 30–48 kg. Thus it can break through the seeds of cherries and plums. Other common sources of food include pine seeds, berries, sprouts and the occasional caterpillar and beetle. They can also break through olive seeds.
The bird is known to eat in groups, especially during the winter.


The hawfinch is a partial migrant, with northern flocks migrating towards the South during the winter, as shown by ringing techniques. These same studies showed that those hawfinches inhabiting habitats with a temperate climate would often have sedentary behaviour. A few migrants from northern Europe reach Britain in autumn and some are seen on the Northern Isles in spring.


The European population of the hawfinch is estimated to be between 7,200,000 and 12,600,000 individuals. Assuming that the European range is between 25 percent and 49 percent of the global range, a tentative figure for the global population size is 14,700,000–50,400,000 individuals.  States with large populations include Romania (500,000–1,000,000 pairs), Croatia (250,000–500,000 pairs) and Germany (200,000–365,000 pairs). Although the global population appears to be stable, the population within the United Kingdom underwent a 76 percent reduction between 1968 and 2011. In 2013 it was estimated that there were only 500–1000 breeding pairs. The reasons for this decline are not understood. Given the high numbers and huge breeding area, the hawfinch is classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being of least concern.


The evening grosbeak (Hesperiphona vespertina) is a passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae found in North America.


The IOC checklist and the Handbook of the Birds of the World place the evening grosbeak and the closely related hooded grosbeak in the genus Hesperiphona. However, the Clements Checklist and the AOS checklist place the evening and hooded grosbeaks in the genus Coccothraustes with the hawfinch.
The genus Hesperiphona was introduced by Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1850. The name is from Ancient Greek hesperos, "evening", and phone "cry", and the specific vespertina is Latin for "evening".


The evening grosbeak is similar in appearance to the Eurasian hawfinch, both being bulky, heavily built finches with large bills and short tails. The evening grosbeak ranges in length from 16 to 22 cm (6.3 to 8.7 in) and spans 30 to 36 cm (12 to 14 in) across the wings. In a large sampling of grosbeaks in Pennsylvania during winter, males weighed from 38.7 to 86.1 g (1.37 to 3.04 oz), with an average of 60 g (2.1 oz), while females weighed from 43.2 to 73.5 g (1.52 to 2.59 oz), with an average of 58.7 g (2.07 oz). Among standard measurements, the wing chord is 10.45 to 11.6 cm (4.11 to 4.57 in), the tail is 6 to 6.95 cm (2.36 to 2.74 in), the bill is 1.6 to 2 cm (0.63 to 0.79 in) and the tarsus is 1.95 to 2.2 cm (0.77 to 0.87 in). The adult has a short black tail, black wings and a large pale bill. The adult male has a bright yellow forehead and body; its head is brown and there is a large white patch in the wing. The adult female is mainly olive-brown, greyer on the underparts and with white patches in the wings.


The breeding habitat is coniferous and mixed forest across Canada and the western mountainous areas of the United States and Mexico. It is an extremely rare vagrant to the British Isles, with just two records so far. The nest is built on a horizontal branch or in a fork of a tree.
The migration of this bird is variable; in some winters, it may wander as far south as the southern U.S.
These birds forage in trees and bushes, sometimes on the ground. They mainly eat seeds, berries, and insects. Outside of the nesting season they often feed in flocks. Sometimes, they will swallow fine gravel.
The range of this bird has expanded far to the east in historical times, possibly due to plantings of Manitoba maples and other maples and shrubs around farms and the availability of bird feeders in winter.


Cocculus carolinus is a climbing vine reaching 5 meters or more. It produces ovate or triangle-shaped leaves. The male and female flowers are small and green, appearing on different plants. The bright red fruit, a drupe, appears from June to August. It reaches 8 mm in size. Each fruit has a single seed that resembles a small snail shell, protected by the hard endocarp or the inner section of the ovary wall.


This species is native from northern Florida to Mexico, north to North Carolina, Kentucky, southern Illinois and southeast Kansas. Its natural habitat is in rocky woodlands and streamside thickets, particularly in calcareous areas. It is a weedy species, and can also be found in disturbed habitats such as fencerows and waste areas.


The flowers are small and plentiful. At a young age Carolina coralbead appear greenish. The seeds need cold stratification of three months. Seeds germinate in 21 to 30 days at 68 °F. The plant blooms in late spring and the fruits, abundant bright red berries, are mature by late summer. Admiring its scarlet fruits, landscapers sometimes allow it to grow on trellises, fences or let it naturally spread among other weeds and shrubs.
This plant can be fast-growing and difficult to eradicate.


Through photochemical analysis using spectral and mixed-melting comparison, the stems and leaves of Cocculus carolinus were found to contain the following compounds: two cyclitols, (+)quercitol and (−)viburnitol; a lactone, loliolide; and three alkaloids, sinoacutine, magnoflorine, and palmatine.


The yellow-billed cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) is a cuckoo. Common folk-names for this bird in the southern United States are rain crow and storm crow. These likely refer to the bird's habit of calling on hot days, often presaging rain or thunderstorms. The genus name is from Ancient Greek kokkuzo, which means to call like a common cuckoo, and americana means "of America".


The yellow-billed cuckoo was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. He placed it with all the other cuckoos in the genus Cuculus and coined the binomial name Cuculus americanus. Linnaeus based his description on the "Cuckow of Carolina" that had been described and illustrated in 1729-1732 by the English naturalist Mark Catesby in his The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands. The yellow-billed cuckoo is now placed with 12 other species in the genus Coccyzus that was introduced in 1816 by the French ornithologist Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot. The genus name is from the Ancient Greek kokkuzō meaning "to cry cuckoo". The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.


Their breeding habitat is deciduous woods from southern Canada to Mexico  and the Caribbean. They migrate to Central America, and as far south as northern Argentina. This bird is a rare vagrant to western Europe.


These birds forage in dense shrubs and trees, also may catch insects in flight. They mainly eat insects, especially tent caterpillars and cicadas, but also some lizards, eggs of other birds and berries. Cuckoos sometimes congregate near insect outbreaks or emergences, including outbreaks of exotic gypsy moth caterpillars.


They nest in a tree or shrub, usually up to 2–12 feet (1–4 meters) above the ground. The nest is a flimsy platform of short twigs placed on a horizontal branch. The 3-4 eggs are incubated for 14 days or less. The chicks are able to climb about with agility at 7–9 days of age. At about this same time, the feathers of the chicks burst out of their sheaths and the young are able to fly. The entire time from egg-laying to fledging may be as little as 17 days. Yellow-billed cuckoos occasionally lay eggs in the nests of other birds (most often the closely related black-billed cuckoo), but they are not obligate brood parasites of other birds as is the common cuckoo of Eurasia.


There is an ongoing debate regarding the taxonomic status of the western race and if it is distinct from those birds in the east. This question is significant to the conservation status of this species in the west, where it has declined to a tiny fraction of its population a century ago. Populations of this species in western North America are in steep decline. The bird disappeared from British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon during the first half of the twentieth century. Eastern populations have declined as well, though not as precipitously. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service listed the western Distinct Population Segment (DPS) of Yellow-billed Cuckoos as threatened under the Endangered Species Act on 11/3/2014, and the service also has established 546,335 acres in nine western states as critical habitat for the western DPS of the yellow-billed cuckoo. Controversy over the taxonomic status and heavy pressure from livestock and mining industries caused the Trump administration to attempt to end the species' protections, and the FWS reviewed the bird's listing. In September 2020, the USFWS determined that the western DPS of yellow-billed cuckoo is distinct, and the listing as Threatened is warranted.


The black-billed cuckoo (Coccyzus erythropthalmus) is a New World species in the Cuculidae (cuckoo) family. The scientific name is from Ancient Greek. The genus name, kokkuzo, means to call like a common cuckoo, and erythropthalmus is from eruthros, "red" and ophthalmos, "eye".
It is very similar and overlaps in range with the closely related yellow-billed cuckoo. A distinguishing characteristic of family Cuculidae is laying eggs in the nests of other birds. Although many cuckoos are obligate brood parasites, C. erythropthalmus often incubate their own chicks.


Adults have a long, graduated brown tail and a black, slightly downcurved bill. The head and upper parts are brown and the underparts are white. The feet are zygodactylous. Juveniles are drabber and may contain some rufous coloration on the wing. The adults have a narrow, red orbital ring while the juveniles' is yellow. Black-billed cuckoo chicks have white, sparsely-distributed, sheath-like down that contrasts heavily with their black skin. They also have complex, creamy-colored structures on their mouth and tongue, which may appear like warts or some type of parasitic infection however they are normal for the species.


These birds forage in shrubs or trees. They mainly eat insects, especially tent caterpillars, but also some snails, eggs of other birds and berries. It is known to beat caterpillars against a branch before consuming them to remove some of the indigestible hairs. Remaining hairs accumulate in the stomach until the bird sheds the stomach lining and disgorges a pellet in a manner similar to owls.
Invasive spongy moths may also serve as an important food source for black-billed cuckoos. Most birds cannot consume spongy moth caterpillars because of their hair-like setae however, cuckoos can consume them because of their ability to shed their abdominal lining. During outbreak years of these insects, the abundance of black-billed cuckoos increased on Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) routes. This increase is not due to higher reproductive rate because then the black-billed cuckoo populations would only increase the next year. The abundance is higher because the cuckoos flock towards the outbreak areas. This is supported by the fact that cuckoo abundance is actually lower than average in the areas surrounding the outbreaks, suggesting a large influx of the birds towards outbreaks. They are able to find these areas due to post-migratory nomadic behavior. Once reaching their breeding ground, they search vast expanses of forest for the most suitable breeding area, in this case, where there is an abundance of food. Similar patterns have also been observed during outbreaks of tent caterpillars, fall webworms and cicadas.


Prior to copulation, the male lands on a branch near the female with an insect in its beak. The female will then flick her tail up and down intermittently for about 15 minutes while the male sits there motionless. The male then mounts the female, with the insect still in its mouth, and the two copulate. The male then either eats the food item or gives it to the female for her to eat.
Females usually lay 2-3 blue-green eggs, sometimes 4 or 5, which may take on a marbled appearance after a couple days of incubation. Adults incubate the eggs for 10–13 days. The young black-billed cuckoos, as well as others cuckoos in the genus Coccyzus, leave the nest 7–9 days after hatching, which is quite young when compared to other birds. The young are not able to fly right away however they can still move quite large distances by jumping between tree branches. During this period, they are more vulnerable to predators because they cannot fly away as the adults could. Due to this vulnerability, the juveniles can slowly assume an erect posture to conceal themselves. They stretch their neck out and point their bill upwards, while keeping their eyes open and remaining motionless. If the threat starts to back off, the cuckoo will relax its pose.
Outbreaks of tent caterpillars can have a positive effect on black-billed cuckoo populations. During these outbreaks, the adults begin laying eggs earlier in the season. They can also produce larger clutches and may even increase their parasitic activities.


Black-billed cuckoos generally build their own nests, weaving loose structures of twigs, dried leaves and pine needles about 2 metres (6.6 ft) above the ground. However, in years with an abundance of food sources (such as outbreaks of periodical cicadas), the species may engage in brood parasitism. They can lay eggs in the nests of other black-billed cuckoos, called conspecific parasitism, or in the nests of other birds, known as interspecific parasitism. The females will usually parasitize nests in the afternoon because the nests are often unguarded at this time. This cuckoo species is thought to have a laying interval of about a day so if two eggs show up in a nest on the same day, you can rightfully assume that one is a parasitic egg.


The black-billed cuckoo was originally placed in genus Cuculus. This genus comprises Old World cuckoos that are all obligate brood parasites. Upon further genetic testing, it was placed into genus Coccyzus that comprises nine species of New World cuckoos. The black-billed and yellow-billed cuckoos are the only two that migrate into North America while the other seven are permanent residents of either Central or South America. Even though these two cuckoos overlap in range, they are not sister taxa. This suggests that the two species invaded North America separately. Although family Cuculidae is monophyletic, the genus Coccyzus was found to be polyphyletic.


Although the black-billed cuckoo is classified as Least Concern (LN) on the IUCN red list, its population is still on the decline. It faces many of the same challenges as many other North American songbirds. Pesticides are having a large effect on them because the chemicals are depleting their food resources. Other threats include the loss of habitat, especially in their wintering tropical habitats, as well as urbanization. As with other migratory birds, they frequently encounter large buildings on their migratory routes which they may collide with, resulting in death.


It is a tropical, evergreen, monoecious shrub growing to 3 m (9.8 ft) tall and has large, thick, leathery, shiny evergreen leaves, alternately arranged, 5–30 cm (2.0–11.8 in) long and 0.5–8 cm (0.20–3.15 in) broad. The leaf blades can, for example, be ruler-lanceolate, oblong, elliptic, lanceolate, ovate inverted, ovate spatulate, or violin-shaped and coloured green, yellow, or purple in various patterns, depending on the variety. The petiole has a length of 0.2 to 2.5 cm. The inflorescences are long racemes, 8–30 cm (3.1–11.8 in) long, with male and female flowers on separate inflorescences; the male flowers are white with five small petals and 20–30 stamens, pollens are oval approximately 52x32 microns in size. The female flowers yellowish, with no petals. The flowering period is usually in early autumn. The fruit is a capsule 9 mm (0.35 in) in diameter, containing three seeds that are  6 mm (0.24 in) in diameter. When cut, stems bleed a milky sap like many of the Euphorbiaceae.


In tropical climates, crotons make attractive hedges and potted patio specimens, valued for their striking foliage. They only survive outdoors where temperatures do not normally drop below 10° to 13 °C in winter; colder temperatures can cause leaf loss. In colder climates, the plants are grown in greenhouses or as house plants. The cultivated garden crotons are usually smaller than the wild plant, rarely over 1.8 m tall, and come in a wide diversity of leaf shapes and colours. They are sometimes grouped under the name Codiaeum variegatum var. pictum (Lodd.) Müll. Arg., though this is not botanically distinct from the species and usually treated as a synonym of it.


As with many of the Euphorbiaceae, the sap can cause eczema in some people. The bark, roots, latex, and leaves are poisonous. The toxin is the chemical compound 5-desoxyingenol.  The plant contains an oil which is violently purgative and is suspected of being a carcinogen.  Consumption of the seeds can be fatal to children.


The variable damselfly or variable bluet (Coenagrion pulchellum) is a European damselfly. Despite its name, it is not the only blue damselfly prone to variable patterning.
Its behaviour is much like that of the azure damselfly; it usually stays close to vegetation. Immatures are often found in adjacent meadows or uncut grassy areas.


The male variable damselfly has a distinctive "wine glass" marking on the second segment of the abdomen. This is a black U-shaped mark with a black line joining the segment's narrow terminal black band. (This distinguishes it from the Azure Damselfly which has the U-shape but no line connecting it to the terminal band.)
Male forms
Female forms


The variable damselfly occurs throughout Europe. Scattered and uncommon in mainland Britain but widespread and common in Ireland.


Coenonympha arcania, the pearly heath, is a butterfly species belonging to the family Nymphalidae. It can be found in Central Europe. It resembles Coenonympha hero. Seitz describes it thus C. arcania L. (48 d). Forewing fiery reddish yellow with black distal margin, hindwing dark brown. Easily recognised by the underside of the hindwing, whose marginal portion is occupied by a broad white band, which in the nymotypical form interrupts the row of ocelli below the apical eye, the latter therefore appearing to be placed on the inside of the white band. All Europe except great Britain, from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean sea and from Spain and France to the Black sea and Armenia. — Specimens
with a very broadly black margin to the forewing and a narrowed and slightly dentate band on the underside of the hindwing, which probably occur among nymotypical specimens everywhere, but especially in the South, are considered as ab. insubrica Frey (48 d). — Larva green with dark dorsal stripe bordered with a yellowish tint, light subdorsal stripe and pale yellow lateral stripe; head blue-green, mouth and anal fork red. Until May on grasses. Pupa brown, with whitish wing-cases edged with red. Butterflies very common in June and July and often flying together in large numbers. At the edge of woods full of undergrowth, but also in the open country and on hills. They affect flying round bushes and settle on the tip of low twigs, but sometimes also fly up into the higher branches of trees. The females are much less numerous than the males and appear later.
The butterflies fly in one generation from May to August.
The larvae feed on various grasses.


Coenonympha glycerion, the chestnut heath, is a butterfly species belonging to the family Nymphalidae. It can be found in Eastern Europe and east across the Palearctic to Siberia and the Caucasus to North Korea.