Sugarberry occurs primarily along streams and in moist soils on floodplains. Its sweetish fruit is eaten by birds and rodents, helping to disperse the seeds.  The leaves are eaten by a number of insects, for example caterpillars of the Io moth (Automeris io).
Sugarberry's leaf litter contains allelopathic chemicals that inhibit seed germination and growth in many other plant species.


Sugarberry mixed with hackberry supplies the lumber known as hackberry. Small amounts are used for dimension stock, veneer, and containers, but the main use of sugarberry wood is for furniture. The light-colored wood can be given a light- to medium-brown finish that in other woods must be achieved by bleaching.  The wood is also used to produce sporting goods and plywood.
Sugarberry is frequently planted as a shade-tree within its range.  It is well-adapted to urban areas; its elm-like shape and warty bark make it an attractive landscape tree.


Celtis occidentalis, commonly known as the common hackberry, is a large deciduous tree native to North America. It is also known as the nettletree, sugarberry, beaverwood, northern hackberry, and American hackberry. It is a moderately long-lived hardwood with a light-colored wood, yellowish gray to light brown with yellow streaks.
The common hackberry is easily distinguished from elms and some other hackberries by its cork-like bark with wart-like protuberances. The leaves are distinctly asymmetrical and coarse-textured.  It produces small fruits that turn orange-red to dark purple in the autumn, often staying on the trees for several months.  The common hackberry is easily confused with the sugarberry (Celtis laevigata) and is most easily distinguished by range and habitat.  The common hackberry also has wider leaves that are coarser above than the sugarberry.


The common hackberry is a medium-sized tree, 9 to 15 metres (30 to 50 ft) in height, with a slender trunk. In the best conditions in the southern Mississippi Valley area, it can grow to 40 metres (130 ft). It has a handsome round-topped head and pendulous branches. It prefers rich moist soil, but will grow on gravelly or rocky hillsides. The roots are fibrous and it grows rapidly. In the western part of its range, trees may still grow up to 29 m (95 ft). The maximum age attained by hackberry is probably between 150 and 200 years in ideal conditions.
The bark is light brown or silvery gray, broken on the surface into thick appressed scales and sometimes roughened with excrescences; the pattern is very distinctive. The remarkable bark pattern is even more pronounced in younger trees, with the irregularly-spaced ridges resembling long geologic palisades of sedimentary [layered] rock formations when viewed edge-wise [cross-section]. Coins as large as USA quarters can easily be laid flat against the valleys, which may be as deep as an adult human finger.
The branchlets are slender, and their color transitions from light green to red brown and finally to dark red-brown. The winter buds are axillary, ovate, acute, somewhat flattened, one-fourth of an inch long, light brown. The bud scales enlarge with the growing shoot, and the innermost become stipules. No terminal bud is formed.
The leaves are alternately arranged on the branchlets, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, often slightly falcate, 5–12 cm (2–4+3⁄4 in) long by 3–9 cm (1+1⁄4–3+1⁄2 in), very oblique at the base, with a pointed tip. The margin is serrate (toothed), except at the base which is mostly entire (smooth). The leaf has three nerves, the midrib and primary veins prominent. The leaves come out of the bud conduplicate with slightly involute margins, pale yellow green, downy; when full grown are thin, bright green, rough above, paler green beneath. In autumn they turn to a light yellow. Petioles slender, slightly grooved, hairy. Stipules varying in form, caducous.
The flowers are greenish and appear in May, soon after the leaves. They are polygamo-monœcious, meaning that there are three kinds: staminate (male), pistillate (female), perfect (both female and male). They are born on slender drooping pedicels.
The calyx is light yellow green, five-lobed, divided nearly to the base; lobes linear, acute, more or less cut at the apex, often tipped with hairs, imbricate in bud. There is no corolla.
There are five stamens, which are hypogynous; the filaments are white, smooth, slightly flattened and gradually narrowed from base to apex; in the bud incurved, bringing the anthers face to face, as flower opens they abruptly straighten; anthers extrorse, oblong, two-celled; cells opening longitudinally.
The pistil has a two-lobed style and one-celled superior ovary containing solitary ovules.
The fruit is a fleshy, oblong drupe, 1⁄4 to 3⁄8 in (0.64 to 0.95 cm) long, tipped with the remnants of style, dark purple when ripe. It is borne on a slender stem and ripens in September and October. It remains on the branches during winter. The endocarp contains significant amounts of biogenic carbonate that is nearly pure aragonite.


The common hackberry is native to North America from southern Ontario and Quebec, through parts of New England, south to North Carolina-(Appalachia), west to northern Oklahoma, and north to South Dakota.  Hackberry's range overlaps with the sugarberry (Celtis laevigata), making it difficult to establish the exact range of either species in the South. Although there is little actual overlap, in the western part of its range the common hackberry is sometimes confused with the smaller netleaf hackberry (Celtis reticulata), which has a similar bark. Hackberry grows in many different habitats, although it prefers bottomlands and soils high in limestone.  Its shade tolerance is greatly dependent on conditions.  In favorable conditions its seedlings will persist under a closed canopy, but in less favorable conditions it can be considered shade intolerant.


The leaves are eaten by four gall-producing insects of the genus Pachypsylla, which do not cause serious damage to the tree.  A number of insects and fungi cause rapid decay of dead branches or roots of the tree.
The small berries, hackberries, are eaten by a number of birds, including robins and cedar waxwings, and mammals. Most seeds are dispersed by animals, but some seeds are also dispersed by water.
The tree serves as a butterfly larval host, particularly the hackberry emperor.


Hackberry's wood is light yellow; heavy, soft, coarse-grained, not strong.  It rots easily, making the wood undesirable commercially, although it is occasionally used for fencing and cheap furniture.  Specific gravity, 0.7287; weight of cu. ft., 45.41 lb (20.60 kg).
Hackberry is only occasionally used as a street or landscape tree, although its tolerance for urban conditions makes it well suited to this role. Sombor in Serbia and Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, are known for the extensive use of hackberry (in the latter case along with closely related but Eurasian Celtis australis) as a street tree.
The tree's pea-sized berries are edible, ripening in early September. Unlike most fruits, the berries are remarkably high in calories from fat, carbohydrate, and protein, and these calories are easily digestible without cooking or preparation. Omaha Native Americans ate the berries casually, while the Dakota used them as a flavor for meat, pounding them fine, seeds and all. The Pawnee also pounded the berries fine, added a little fat, and mixed them with parched corn.


Cenchrus setaceus, commonly known as crimson fountaingrass, is a C₄ perennial bunch grass that is native to open, scrubby habitats in East Africa,  tropical Africa, the Middle East and south-western Asia.  It has been introduced to many parts of the world as an ornamental plant, and has become an invasive species in some of them. It is drought-tolerant, grows fast, reaches 3 feet in height, and has many purple, plumose flower spikes.


Fountaingrass has been introduced to the Canary Islands, Sicily, Sardinia, southern Spain, Australia, South Africa, Hawaii, the western United States, southern Florida and New Caledonia. It thrives in warmer, drier areas and threatens many native species, with which it competes very effectively as an invasive species. It also tends to increase the risk of intense wildfires, to which it is well adapted, thus posing a further threat to certain native species.
In Europe, Fountain grass is included since 2017 in the list of Invasive Alien Species of Union concern (the Union list). This implies that this species cannot be imported, cultivated, transported, commercialized, planted, or intentionally released into the environment in the whole of the European Union.


Centaurea cyanus, commonly known as cornflower or bachelor's button, is an annual flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to Europe. In the past, it often grew as a weed in cornfields (in the broad sense of "corn", referring to grains, such as wheat, barley, rye, or oats), hence its name. It is now endangered in its native habitat by agricultural intensification, particularly by over-use of herbicides. However, Centaurea cyanus is now also naturalised in many other parts of the world, including North America and parts of Australia through introduction as an ornamental plant in gardens and as a seed contaminant in crop seeds.


Centaurea cyanus is an annual plant growing to 40–90 cm tall, with grey-green branched stems. The leaves are lanceolate and 1–4 cm long. The flowers are most commonly an intense blue colour and arranged in flowerheads (capitula) of 1.5–3 cm diameter, with a ring of a few large, spreading ray florets surrounding a central cluster of disc florets. The blue pigment is protocyanin, which in roses is red. Fruits are approx. 3.5 mm long with 2–3 mm long pappus bristles. It flowers all summer.


Centaurea cyanus is native to temperate Europe, but is widely naturalized outside its native range. It has been present in Britain and Ireland as an archaeophyte (ancient introduction) since the Iron Age. In the United Kingdom, it has declined from 264 sites to just 3 sites in the last 50 years. In reaction to this, the conservation charity Plantlife named it as one of 101 species it would actively work to bring 'back from the brink'.
In the  County Clare (VC H9) in Ireland, Centaurea cyanus is recorded in arable fields as very rare and almost extinct, while in the North-East of Ireland, it was abundant before the 1930s.


Centaurea cyanus is a diploid flower (2n = 24). The genetic diversity within populations is high, although there could be a future decline in diversity due to population fragmentation and intensive agriculture. In general, Centaurea cyanus is a self-incompatible species. However, selfing still occurs occasionally, but results in inbreeding depression.


Several cultivars of Centaurea cyanus with varying pastel colours, including pink and purple, have been selected for ornamental purposes. The species is also grown for the cutflower industry in Canada for use by florists. Doubled blue cultivars (such as 'Blue Boy' or 'Blue Diadem') are most commonly used for this purpose, but white, pink, lavender and black (actually a very dark maroon) cultivars are also used, albeit to a lesser extent.


As for all ornamental plants, important goals of Centaurea cyanus breeding include the induction of phenotypic variation (e.g. in flower coloration, size and shape, foliage characteristics or plant height), higher flower yield, resistance to pests and diseases as well as tolerance to abiotic stress (e.g. extreme temperatures, drought or salinity).


Centaurea cyanus is considered a noxious weed in arable crops, especially cereals and rapeseed. In winter wheat, one plant per m² can cause a yield loss of up to 30 kg / ha. Centaurea cyanus produces around 800 seed per plant, which are either shed shortly before the harvest of cereals, or they are threshed together with the cereal grains, contributing to the further spread of the species by the harvesting machinery and contaminated seed. The occurrence of Centaurea cyanus strongly decreased during the last decades due to improved seed cleaning, more intensive nitrogen fertilization and herbicide use. However, Centaurea cyanus has become more common in cropland due to an increase in crop rotations dominated by winter cereals and rapeseed and the use of more selective herbicides with a low effectiveness against Centaurea cyanus. In addition, the emergence of resistance against the herbicide class of sulfonylureas has been reported recently. Due to its strong roots, Centaurea cyanus is difficult to control mechanically in spring.


The pollen of Centaurea cyanus is used by several different insect species. Insects of the orders Hymenoptera and Diptera are particularly attracted by the flower. As Centaurea cyanus is a self-incompatible species, it needs external pollination. The nectar of Centaurea cyanus is very sweet with a sugar content of 34%. Due to its high sugar production of up to 0.2 mg sugar per day and flower, the species is highly appreciated by beekeepers.
The seeds of Centaurea cyanus are one of the favourite foods of the European goldfinch.


Centaurea cyanus was found to produce volatiles attracting Microplitis mediator, which is a major parasitoid of the cabbage moth (Mamestra brassicae), which is the most important pest of cabbage (Brassica oleracea) in central Europe. Planting Centaurea cyanus in cabbage fields as a companion plant was thus suggested as an alternative to the widespread use of insecticides to control Mamestra brassicae. Field experiments showed that planting Centaurea cyanus in cabbage fields at a density of 1 plant / m² can result in a significant increase in parasitation of Mamestra brassicae larvae, predation of Mamestra brassicae eggs (e.g. by carabid beetles or spiders) and ultimately cabbage yield.


Centaurea cyanus requires full sun and neutral (pH 6.6–7.5) to mildly alkaline (pH 7.6–7.8), moist and well-drained soil. However, Centaurea cyanus is quite tolerant to drought once established.


For summer-blooming plants, sowing should be executed in late spring. In moderate climates, however, it is also possible to sow Centaurea cyanus in early fall. In this case, plants will already start to flower in the following spring. Recommended spacing between plants is approx. 20 to 30 cm. Centaurea cyanus can germinate from up to 10 cm depth, but the best result is obtained at 1 cm sowing depth. Germination occurs quickly after sowing.


High phosphorus fertilization in mid-summer will increase flower production. Mulching is recommended to prevent drying out of the soil and exposure of the root system to the sun.


In general, Centaurea cyanus is not very susceptible to pests and plant diseases. However, it may be affected by stem rot and stem rust if grown too tightly  or by powdery mildew. Furthermore, aphids and leafhoppers can cause relevant damage to Centaurea cyanus.


Seeds are harvested either by hand or, in an agricultural setting, with a seed harvesting machine. On average there are 97,000 seeds in a pound of cornflower seeds.
Hand collecting can be time-consuming and yields are rather low.
A seed harvesting machine is more efficient than collecting the seeds by hand, but it is costly. The main principle of such a machine is that it brushes the ripe seeds off the plant and creates a cross flow fan action that generates sufficient air velocity to hold and gather the seeds into the seed bunker.


Deadheading will encourage the plant to produce more blooms. Cornflowers are often used for ornamental purposes and by cutting them, up to their third leaves, they will produce more blooms and grow a bigger stem.


The flowers of Centaurea cyanus can be eaten raw, dried or cooked. Dried petals are used in foods, including in spices. Their main purpose is to add colour to food. There are cheeses or oils that contain raw petals. Petals can also be added to salads, drinks, or desserts for garnishing purposes in raw or dried form.


Dried petals are also used in teas and other beverages. Blue cornflower petals are sometimes one of the ingredients in Lady Grey tea.


Centaurea cyanus is used as an ornamental plant. There are varieties with blue, white, purple, pink or even black petals.


The blue color of Centaurea cyanus is due to protocyanin, an anthocyanin pigment that is also found in roses. Different anthocyanins derived from Centaurea cyanus are used as natural additives in food products, such as yoghurts.


Centaurea cyanus contains a wide range of pharmacologically active compounds, such as flavonoids, anthocyanins and aromatic acids. Especially the flower head finds application in herbal medicine, but leaves and seeds are also used for pharmacological purposes, albeit to a lesser extent.
In particular, extracts from the flower heads have anti-inflammatory properties used in the treatment of minor ocular inflammations. Antioxidant properties are high due to ascorbic acid and phenolic compounds. Furthermore, extracts of the flower head and vegetative parts of the plant were shown to have gastroprotective effects due to their content of quercetin, apigenin and caffeic acid derivates.


Centaurea cyanus has been evaluated for phytoremediation of soils contaminated with lead. Inoculation of the contaminated soil with Glomus spp. (fungus) and Pseudomonas spp. (bacterium) would significantly enhance the biomass production and lead uptake of Centaurea cyanus.


In folklore, cornflowers were worn by young men in love; if the flower faded too quickly, it was taken as a sign that the man's love was not returned.
The blue cornflower was one of the national symbols of Germany. This is partly due to the story that when Queen Louise of Prussia was fleeing Berlin and pursued by Napoleon's forces, she hid her children in a field of cornflowers and kept them quiet by weaving wreaths for them from the flowers. The flower thus became identified with Prussia, not least because it was the same color as the Prussian military uniform. After the unification of Germany in 1871, it went on to become a symbol of the country as a whole. For this reason, in Austria the blue cornflower is a political symbol for pan-German and rightist ideas. It was worn as a secret symbol identifying members of the then-illegal NSDAP in Austria in the 1930s. Members of the Freedom Party wore it at the openings of the Austrian parliament since 2006. After the last general election 2017 they replaced it with the edelweiss.
It was also the favourite flower of Louise's son Kaiser Wilhelm I. Because of its ties to royalty, authors such as Theodor Fontane have used it symbolically, often sarcastically, to comment on the social and political climate of the time.
The cornflower is also often seen as an inspiration for the German Romantic symbol of the Blue Flower.
Due to its traditional association with Germany, the cornflower has been made the official symbol of the annual German-American Steuben Parade.
The blue cornflower has been the national flower of Estonia since 1969 and symbolizes daily bread to Estonians. It is also the symbol of the Estonian Conservative People's Party.
It is also the symbol of the Finnish National Coalition Party, and the Liberal People's Party of Sweden, where it has since the dawn of the 20th century been a symbol for social liberalism.
It is the official flower of the Swedish province of Östergötland and the school flower of Winchester College and also of Dulwich College, where it is said to have been the favourite flower of the founder, Edward Alleyn.
In France the bleuet de France is the symbol of the 11 November 1918 armistice and, as such, a common symbol for veterans (especially the now defunct poilus of World War I), similar to the Remembrance poppies worn in the United Kingdom and in Canada.
The cornflower is also the symbol for motor neurone disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Cornflowers are sometimes worn by Old Harrovians, former pupils of the British Harrow School.
A blue cornflower was used by Corning Glass Works for the initial release of Corning Ware Pyroceram cookware. Its popularity in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia was so high that it became the symbol of Corning Glass Works.


Centaurium  pulchellum  is a species of flowering plant in the gentian family known by the common name lesser centaury, or slender centaury. It differs from Centaurium erythraea by lacking basal rosette of leaves and by having a developed peduncle below the flowers. It is often much smaller, less than ten centimetres. It is native to the southern temperate parts of Europe.


Lesser centaury is an erect annual herb branching from the base, often less than 10 cm (4 in) tall, and much smaller than common centaury (Centaurium erythraea). Sometimes it is reduced to a single stem with one flower. By the time it flowers, from June to September, there is no basal rosette. The leafy stem has opposite pairs of narrow oval leaves. The inflorescence is a group of a few pale pink star-like flowers, each with a short stalk, a tube and five narrow petals, about 1 cm (0.4 in) across, flat-faced with yellow anthers. Like other members of the family, the flowers close in the afternoon. The calyx is about as long as the fruit, which is a cylindrical capsule.


This plant is found in the southerly temperate zones of Europe. It occurs mainly in the southern half of the British Isles, especially near the south coast of England. It grows on a range of soil types, from calcareous to mildly acidic. On the coast it can be found in open sandy and muddy turf, often in saltmarshes, sand dunes and beside estuaries. Inland it inhabits lowland dry, open grasslands, heaths, woodland glades and rides, marl pits and other unshaded, disturbed ground. In Morecambe Bay, it is at the northern end of its range on the saltmarshes, growing with Juncus gerardii, Juncus maritimus, Blysmus rufus and Eleocharis quinqueflora.


The greater coucal or crow pheasant (Centropus sinensis), is a large non-parasitic member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes. A widespread resident in the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia, it is divided into several subspecies, some being treated as full species. They are large, crow-like with a long tail and coppery brown wings and found in a wide range of habitats from jungle to cultivation and urban gardens. They are weak fliers, and are often seen clambering about in vegetation or walking on the ground as they forage for insects, eggs and nestlings of other birds. They have a familiar deep resonant call which is associated with omens in many parts of its range.


This is a large species of cuckoo at 48 cm. The head is black, upper mantle and underside are black glossed with purple. The back and wings are chestnut brown. There are no pale shaft streaks on the coverts. The eyes are ruby red. Juveniles are duller black with spots on the crown and there are whitish bars on the underside and tail. There are several geographic races and some of these populations are sometimes treated as full species. Earlier treatments included the brown coucal (C. (s.) andamanensis) under this name. Rasmussen & Anderton (2005) suggest that the race parroti may be a full species – the southern coucal which is found in peninsular India (northern boundary unclear). The race intermedius of the Assam and Bangladesh region is smaller than the nominate race found in the sub-Himalayan zone. Songs of the races are said to vary considerably. Race parroti of southern India has a black head and the underparts glossed blue and has the forehead, face and throat more brownish. The sexes are similar in plumage but females are slightly larger.
Leucicistic specimens have been observed.


The greater coucal is a large bird which takes a wide range of insects, caterpillars, snails and small vertebrates such as the Saw-scaled vipers. They are also known to eat bird eggs, nestlings, fruits and seeds. In Tamil Nadu they were found to feed predominantly on snails Helix vittata. They are also known to feed on the toxic fruits of Cascabela thevetia (Yellow Oleander). In oil palm cultivation, they have been noted as an avian pest due to their habit of eating the fleshy mesocarps of the ripe fruits.
They sunbathe in the mornings singly or in pairs on the top of vegetation with their wings spread out. The territory of a nesting pair has been found in southern India to be 0.9 to 7.2 ha (mean 3.8 ha). They are most active in the warm hours of the morning and in the late afternoon.
The calls are a booming low coop-coop-coops repeated and with variations and some duets between individuals. When duetting the female has a lower pitched call. Other calls include a rapid rattling "lotok, lotok ..." and a harsh scolding "skeeaaaw" and a hissing threat call.


The breeding season is after the monsoon in southern India but varies in other parts of its range but chiefly June to September.
Greater coucals are monogamous, and the courtship display involves chases on the ground and the male brings food gifts for the female. The female lowers her tail and droops her wings to signal acceptance. The nest is built mostly by the male over about three to eight days. The nest is a deep cup with a dome in dense vegetation inside tangles of creepers, bamboo clump or Pandanus crowns. They can be built as high as 6m above the ground and the typical clutch is 3–5 eggs. The eggs (of size 36–28 mm weighing 14.8 g ) are chalky white with a yellow glaze when laid that wears off. Both the male and the female take part in nest building. They lay 2 to 4 eggs that hatch after 15–16 days of incubation. The chicks take 18–22 days to fledge. A study in southern India found that 77% of the eggs hatched and 67% fledged. Nests with eggs were sometimes abandoned or marauded by the Indian jungle crow Corvus macrorhynchos culminatus.
Haemosporidia closely related to those that cause malaria have been found in their red blood cells. One species, Haemoproteus centropi, is described from cuckoos such as Clamator jacobinus and Centropus sinensis and is spread by mosquitoes. Immature Haemaphysalis ticks have been found feeding on greater coucals.


The bird is associated with many superstitions and beliefs. The deep calls are associated with spirits and omens.
In British India, it was noted that new-recruits to India often mistook it for a pheasant and shot it to find it "evil flavoured" giving it the nickname of "Griff's pheasant".
The flesh was once eaten as a folk cure for tuberculosis and pulmonary ailments.


Centrosema virginianum is known by the common names of Spurred Butterfly Pea, wild blue vine, blue bell, and wild pea. C. virginianum is a member of the family Fabaceae, it is identified by its trailing and twining vine and showy flowers. C. virginianum habitats are in sunny areas within pine lands, and coastal uplands.


Centrosema virginianum is a perennial herbaceous vine  growing procumbently or twining to a height approaching two meters. It has alternate pinnately divided leaves, 3 to 10 centimeters long. Leaflets are lanceolate or ovate, 1 to 4 cm long, Stipules are often deciduous, and mostly setaceous. There is a wide range of leaflet forms, from linear to ovate to oblong or lanceolate-oblong, acute or acuminate at the apex. Flowering occurs in the spring and summer.
Flowers of Centrosema virginianum, are highly specialized, with an inverted (resupinate) banner to accommodate pollinators (bees).  The inflorescence consists of one to four bisexual flowers on an axillary peduncle; the calyx is deeply five-lobed, and the acute lobes are longer than the tube. The corolla is purplish or lavender-blue to nearly white; the fruit contains four to ten dark brown seeds.  The diversity of leaflet shapes and corolla size and color can lead to confusion with C. pubescens. C. virginianum's roots are capable of nitrogen fixation.


C. virginianum ranges more or less continuously from Uruguay and northern Argentina to the eastern United States and Bermuda in tropical and subtropical areas. It is widely distributed throughout the West Indies and has become naturalized in tropical West Africa.


Cephalanthera damasonium, the white helleborine, is a species of orchid. It is widespread across much of Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Cephalanthera damasonium is the type species of the genus Cephalanthera.


Cephalanthera damasonium is a herbaceous plant, reaching a maximum height of about 60 cm. Leaves are ovate, becoming narrower higher up the stem, with parallel venation. It has white flowers which never fully open. Each shoot can carry up to 16 flowers. Across its range this species flowers May–June. It is a perennial species which tends not to spread vegetatively.
This species is differentiated from the similar and closely related Cephalanthera longifolia, by comparing the leaves. The rarer Cephalanthera longifolia has longer, narrower leaves.


Found in shady lowland forest with little undergrowth, especially under beech trees, occasionally spreads onto chalk scrub. Can colonise new beech forest quite quickly. Requires a well-drained soil above chalk or oolitic limestone.
This species is found in Europe from England and Sweden to Russia and Iran; also Bhutan, India, Myanmar and Yunnan.


The flowers of this species hardly open, because they are autogamous (self-pollinating). Before anthesis, the opening of the flower, the anther opens and the pollinia directly sink onto the stigmatic surface. Then pollen tubes start growing. This pollination mode enables the white helleborine to grow in deep shade, where the pollinators are almost absent.
Cephalanthera damasonium has been indicated to be a mycorrhizal generalist. A 2017 investigation found that in Italy mycorrhizal associations are formed with Agaricomycetes, Ascomycota, Cadaphora luteo-olivacea, Cenococcum geophilum, Ceratobasidium including C. cornigerum, Cryptococcus carnescens, Exophiala salmonis, Hymenogastraceae including Hymenogaser cytrinus and H. bulliardii., Pezizomycetes, Sebacina sp. and Tetracladium furcatum.
It has been suggested that the presence of this orchid species in a woodland is an indicator that edible truffles can be found there, but this is not always the case.


Globally, the conservation status of this species is vulnerable. In the United Kingdom this species is abundant but declining, and mainly a southern English species.


Cephalanthera comes from the Greek κεφαλή ανθηρός, meaning "head flowering", thought to be a reference to the protruding position of the anthers. The species epithet damasonium also comes from Ancient Greek and means 'I take away/diminish', possibly referring to a medical use for the plant.
"Helleborine" may refer to deer using the orchid for food (many conservationists have noted that helleborine orchids are grazed by deer ). Alternatively it may denote that the plants are similar to hellebores (a group of species in the family Ranunculaceae). "Hellebore" comes from the Greek "álkē" and "bora", translating as "fawn" and "food of beasts".


Claessens, J. & J. Kleynen: The flower of the European Orchid – Form and function, 2011. ISBN 978-90-9025556-9.
 Media related to White Helleborine (Cephalanthera damasonium) at Wikimedia Commons
 Data related to White Helleborine (Cephalanthera damasonium) at Wikispecies


Cephalanthera longifolia, the narrow-leaved helleborine, sword-leaved helleborine or long-leaved helleborine, is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial plant in the family Orchidaceae. It is native to light woodland, and widespread across Europe, Asia and North Africa from Ireland and Morocco to China. This includes the United Kingdom, Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Algeria, India, Pakistan, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and many other countries.


Cephalanthera longifolia reaches on average 20–60 centimetres (7.9–23.6 in) in height in typical conditions. This orchid has erect and glabrous multiple stems. The leaves are dark green, long and narrowly tapering (hence the common name "sword-leaved helleborine"). The inflorescence is a lax, 5-20 flowered spike with the bell-shaped flowers ascending in an oblique spiral. The flowers are white, about 1 cm (0.4 in) long, with a yellow-edged labellum and they usually open only during the warmest and brightest hours of the day. This plant can be found in bloom from April to June, depending on location and altitude. The fruit is a dry capsule and the dust-like seed is dispersed by the wind.
One unusual characteristic of this species is that some individuals are achlorophyllous (lacking green pigment) and take all their nutrition from mycorrhizal fungi.


The flowers are pollinated by solitary burrowing bees. The flowers produce little nectar and the yellowish dust on the labellum which the insects collect is of little nutritional value. The actual pollen is contained in  two pollinia which adhere to the hairs on the bee's back.
An investigation in Estonia determined that the mycorrhizal partners of this orchid species include Thelephoraceae and Helotiales. Another investigation indicated 9 mycorrhizal partners (still fewer than those recorded for Cephalanthera damasonium): Bjerkandera adusta, Phlebia acerina, Sebacinaceae, Tetracladium sp., and Tomentella sp.
Cephelanthera longifolia is vulnerable to grazing by deer.


Cephalanthera longifolia is common in some parts of its European range, such as southern France and Spain, but endangered particularly in northern areas such as Belgium. In Britain and Ireland it is a quite uncommon and declining species, and conservation work is being carried out at a number of sites to safeguard it (see also Galley Down Wood). In 2007 it was listed as a priority species under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan. The charity Plantlife International is leading this work in the United Kingdom.


Cephalanthera rubra, known as red helleborine, is an orchid found in Europe, North Africa and southwest Asia. Although reasonably common in parts of its range, this Cephalanthera has always been one of the rarest orchids in Britain.


Each flowering shoots reach 20–70 cm height. The shoots grow from a creeping rhizome. The stem is smooth at the base and densely covered with short glandular hairs higher up. The shoots have between 2 and 8 lanceolate leaves which range in size from 5 to 14 cm long and from 1 to 3 cm wide. Each shoot may carry up to 20 flowers, which may be pink to red or rarely white. They are up to 5 cm wide. The petals are curved and lanceolate. Flowers are produced from May to July. It is known to sometimes go many years without flowering. Chromosomes 2n=36
Not to be confused with Epipactis atrorubens (dark red helleborine).


The red helleborine is found throughout most of Europe, east to the Urals and as far as 60 degrees north. It is however rare in Britain, the Low Countries and western France. It also occurs in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia and in various parts of southern Asia as far east as Iran.
Found in light, dry forest, particularly among beech trees, pines and spruces. grows to an altitude of 2,600 m (8,500 ft), especially on calcareous soils with a pH between 5.9–8.2. Flower colour is an indicator of the soil qualities, with darker blooms on more calcareous ground.
Red helleborine is a very rare plant in Britain. It is found only at the following sites:
Workman's Wood, Sheepscombe, Gloucestershire
Hawkley Warren, Hampshire, where it was first found in 1986.
Windsor Hill SSSI, a woodland just to the east of Princes Risborough in the Chilterns, Buckinghamshire
During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the species was recorded from single sites in Somerset, Sussex and Kent, and a second Hampshire site (in the upper Test Valley). The species was also recorded at additional Gloucestershire sites (including Stanley Wood, King's Stanley, now a Woodland Trust woodland), and persisted at some of these into the 1970s. It became a protected species in the UK in 1975 under the Conservation of Wild Creatures and Wild Plants Act.


Cephalanthera rubra is thought to be mainly pollinated by flies, although often self-pollination is triggered by rainfall. Pollination may also be carried out by Chelostoma bee (Chelostoma campanularum?) and the weevil Miarus campanulae, both of which are thought to mistake the flowers for Campanula persicifolia, a wildflower found on mountains in continental Europe. It is theorised that C. rubra mimics C. persicifolia to increase pollination early in the year.
As the flowers are frequently visited by flies, crab spiders have been observed hunting in them.
C. rubra forms a mycorrhizal relationship with species in the genera Leptodontidium, Phialophora and Tomentella. This enables it to access soil nutrients which would otherwise be unavailable.


Cephalanthera comes from the Greek κεφαλή ανθηρός, meaning "head flowering", thought to be a reference to the protruding position of the anthers. The species epithet rubra comes from the Latin for red, referring to the colour of the flowers. The Latin binomial was chosen by a French botanist named Professor Louis Claude Marie Richard.
"Helleborine" may refer to deer using the orchid for food (many conservationists have noted that helleborine orchids are grazed by deer ). Alternatively it may denote that the plants are similar to hellebores (a group of species in the family Ranunculaceae). "Hellebore" comes from the Greek "álkē" and "bora", translating as "fawn" and "food of beasts".
In German, Cephalanthera are referred to as Waldvöglein, meaning little birds of the wood, a reference to the winged appearance of the flowers.


Cephalanthus occidentalis is a species of flowering plant in the family Rubiaceae, that is native to eastern and southern North America. Common names include buttonbush, common buttonbush, button-willow, buck brush, and honey-bells.


Cephalanthus occidentalis is a deciduous shrub or small tree that averages 1–3 m (3.3–9.8 ft) in height, but can reach 6 m (20 ft). The leaves are opposite or in whorls of three, elliptic to ovate, 7–18 cm (2.8–7.1 in) long and 4–10 cm (1.6–3.9 in) broad, with a smooth edge and a short petiole. The flowers are arranged in a dense spherical inflorescence 2–3.5 cm (0.79–1.38 in) in diameter on a short peduncle. Each flower has a fused white to pale yellow four-lobed corolla forming a long slender tube connecting to the sepals. The stigma protrudes slightly from the corolla. The fruit is a spherical cluster of achenes (nutlets).


There are two varieties, not considered distinct by all authorities:
Cephalanthus occidentalis var. occidentalis (syn. var. pubescens) – common buttonbush. Eastern North America from Nova Scotia west to Minnesota and south to Florida and east Texas.
Cephalanthus occidentalis var. californicus – California button-willow. Southwestern North America, from west Texas west to California (Sierra Nevada foothills, San Joaquin Valley, Sacramento Valley, and the Inner North Coast Ranges) and south to Mexico and Central America.


Buttonbush is a common shrub of many wetland habitats in its range, including swamps, floodplains, mangrove, pocosin, riparian zones, and moist forest understory. It is a member of the flora in the Everglades.


Waterfowl and other birds eat the seeds. Wood ducks utilize the plant as nest protection, and mallards eat the fruit. Deer browse the foliage, which is poisonous to livestock. Insects and hummingbirds take the nectar, with bees using it to make honey.  It is a larval host to the hydrangea sphinx, the royal walnut moth, and the titan sphinx.


The species occurs in eastern North America with disjunct populations occurring in the west. In Canada, it occurs from southern Ontario and Quebec east to New Brunswick and south-western Nova Scotia. Besides the eastern United States, and eastern regions of the Midwest, notable areas range into Arizona, the Mogollon Rim, and other mountain ranges; in California, the entire San Joaquin Valley West of the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains, only western Texas, Arizona, and California find C. occidentalis.


Cephalanthus occidentalis has a number of historical medicinal uses, but it is also toxic due to the presence of cephalanthin.


Buttonbush is cultivated as an ornamental plant for a nectar source or 'honey plant' and for aesthetics in gardens and native plant landscapes, and is planted on slopes to help control erosion. Buttonbush is a suitable shrub for butterfly gardens.


The town of Buttonwillow, California was named for the buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis). A lone buttonbush served as a landmark on an old trans-San Joaquin Valley trail, and was used by ancient Yokut as a meeting place. It later became the site of settlers' stock rodeos. This buttonbush tree is listed as California Historical Landmark No. 492, and is now known as the "Buttonwillow Tree."


The black guillemot or tystie (Cepphus grylle) is a medium-sized seabird of the alcid family, Alcidae, native throughout northern Atlantic coasts and eastern North American coasts. It is resident in much of its range, but large populations from the high arctic migrate southwards in winter. The bird can be seen in and around its breeding habitat of rocky shores, cliffs and islands in single or smalls groups of pairs. They feed mainly by diving towards the sea floor feeding on fish, crustaceans or other benthic invertebrates. They are listed on the IUCN red list as a species of least concern.
Both sexes have very similar appearances with black plumage and a large white patch on the upper side of their wings in summer. The bill is also black, being rather long and slender, while the feet are coral-red. In winter adult underparts are white and the upperparts are a pale grey with the back and shoulders exhibiting barred light grey and white patterning.
The birds breed in solitary pairs or small groups during their breeding season starting in late February and early May. Breeding pairs will typically lay 2-egg clutches and raise 2 chicks to fledging. Incubation typically lasts 28 to 32 days, once hatched chicks receive care from the parents until they fledge aged 30 – 40 days. Once fledged chicks are totally independent and by age three or four years they will begin to re-join their natal colony.
The genus name Cepphus is from Ancient Greek kepphos, a pale waterbird mentioned by Greek authors including Aristotle. The species name grylle was the local dialect name for this bird in Gotland at the time of Linnaeus's visit there in 1741. The English word "guillemot" is from French guillemot probably derived from Guillaume, "William".


The Black guillemot is a medium-sized bird with adults normally 30 to 32 centimetres (12 to 12+1⁄2 inches) in length and with wingspans of 52 to 58 cm (20+1⁄2 to 23 in). The bodyweight can range from 300 to 460 grams (10+1⁄2 to 16 ounces). Adults have both summer and winter plumage and there is no sexual difference in this that can be identified in the field. The English common name “Black Guillemot” references their strikingly black breeding summer plumage which is totally black except for a large white patch on the upper side of their wings. During the summer plumage, their legs, feet and inside of the mouth are all a bright coral-red, and their beak is a black. Adults lose their summer plumage in an early fall moult where their upper plumage become barred with light grey and white, their head is a pale grey, their underparts white, and legs and feet a pale red. They retain their white wing patch, black beak and red inside their mouth. The call in the breeding season is a high whistle. The red gape is also prominent then.
Juveniles and immatures can easily be identified by the spotting of the white wing patch with grey or brown feathers and is easy to see even at far distances in the field.


There are five listed subspecies of the black guillemot:
C. g. mandtii – (Lichtenstein, 1822): northeast Canada to Svalbard to northern Siberia and northern Alaska
C. g. arcticus – (Brehm, 1824): northeast United States, southeast Canada and south Greenland to Ireland and Britain, southern Scandinavia and the White Sea
C. g. islandicus – (Hørring, 1937): Iceland
C. g. faroeensis – (Brehm, 1831): Faroe Islands
C. g. grylle – (Linnaeus, 1758): Baltic Sea


The Black Guillemot is a circumpolar species distributed in the boreal, low arctic and high arctic regions of the north Atlantic and arctic oceans and breeding between 43° and 82°N. The 5 listed subspecies inhabit different parts of this range. In North America they can be found as far south as the Gulf of Maine and New England and across parts of the northern coast of North America as far as Alaska, where they are replaced by the pigeon guillemot in the North Pacific. In Europe and Asia they are found from the British Isles and Northward across the northern coast of Asia. They are one of the few birds to breed on Surtsey, Iceland, a new volcanic island. In the UK it is a fairly common breeding bird in western and northern Scotland and Ireland. In the rest of Great Britain they only breed at St. Bees Head in Cumbria, the Isle of Man and on east Anglesey in north Wales. Approximately 40% of the population breeds in the high arctic where the largest colonies are found, 30% in the low arctic, and 30% in boreal waters. In the winter some of the birds in the high arctic waters are forced south by the winter ice making them seasonal migrants, but in more temperate zones the species is essentially resident.
Typically restricted to rocky shores, black guillemots utilize the cliffs, crevices and boulders for their nests, hunting the inshore waters for benthic prey. Compared to other auks they forage fairly close to the colony, in the breeding season mostly in inshore waters more than 50m in depth, farther afield in the winter months.


One of the early ornithologists that described aspects of the behaviour of the black guillemot was Edmund Selous (1857-1934) in his book The Bird Watcher in the Shetlands (1905). In the chapter titled 'From the Edge of a Precipice' he writes for instance that sometimes the black guillemots carry a fish they have caught in their beak for hours. He also gives further details about the behaviour.
They dive for food from the surface, swimming underwater. They mainly eat fish and crustaceans, also some mollusks, insects and plant material.


Leonard, K. 2008. Black Guillemots on the Copeland Islands in 2008. Annual Report for 2008. Copeland Bird Observatory. p. 50.
Selous, Edmund (1905). The Bird Watcher in the Shetlands  – via Wikisource.


Cerastium arvense is a species of flowering plant in the pink family known by the common names field mouse-ear and field chickweed. It is a widespread species, occurring throughout Europe and North America, as well as parts of South America. It is a variable species. There are several subspecies, but the number and defining characteristics are disputed.


Cerastium arvense is a perennial herb growing up to 30 to 45 centimeters tall. It takes the form of a mat, clump, creeper, or upright flower, and may grow from a taproot or tangled system of rhizomes. It is usually somewhat hairy in texture, often with glandular hairs. The leaves are linear, lance-shaped, or oblong, and a few centimeters in length. The inflorescence may consist of a single flower to a dense cluster of many. The flower has five white petals, each with two lobes, and five hairy green sepals at the base. The fruit is a capsule up to 1.5 centimetres (0.59 in) long with ten tiny teeth at the tip. It contains several brown seeds.


Cerastium fontanum, also called mouse-ear chickweed, common mouse-ear, or starweed, is a species of mat-forming perennial or, rarely, annual plant. It is native to Europe but introduced elsewhere. Its identifying characteristics are tear-shaped leaves growing opposite one another in a star pattern, hairy leaves, and small white flowers. Mouse-ear chickweed typically grows to 4"-8" tall and spreads horizontally along the ground via the formation of roots wherever the stem falls over and contacts the ground.


Cerastium fontanum is a low growing plant covered with small hairs which are not sticky, that is, without glandular tips. The erect flowering stems up to 45 cm (18 in) long and leaves, opposite, up to 20 mm (0.79 in) long without stalks. It has prostrate branches which do not bear flowers. The petals are shorter than the sepals or a little longer and are deeply divided. The flowers have 10 stamens with 5 styles.


It is common in grassland and along roadsides.


It is common throughout Great Britain and Ireland.


Cerastium is derived from the Greek word for 'horned', in reference to the shape of its fruit capsule.
Fontanum means 'of fountains', 'of springs', or 'of fast-running streams'. It is a cognate with 'fountain' and 'font'.


Ceratocephala testiculata (syn. Ceratocephala orthoceras, Ranunculus testiculatus) is a flowering plant that is native to Eurasia. Common names include bur buttercup and curveseed butterwort. It is very small, usually only about an inch or two tall, but potentially growing to four inches.  The flowers are small and dull yellow.  The leaves are hairy and somewhat dissected. It produces a cluster of hard, spiny fruits (the 'burs').  Like other members of the buttercup family, they are poisonous.  Where they are present in large numbers, it is usually an indication of excessive disturbance to the land.
The species is considered to be invasive in the northern and western United States. In the sagebrush country, it is one of the first plants to flower after the snow melts.


Ceratomia amyntor, the elm sphinx or four-horned sphinx, is a North American moth in the family Sphingidae. The species was first described by Carl Geyer in 1835. It has a wingspan of 3+1⁄4-4+1⁄2 inches (8.2 - 11.5 cm). As the name suggests, the larvae (caterpillars) feed on elm trees (Ulmus), but they can also be found feeding on birch (Betula), basswood (Tilia), and cherry (Prunus). When the caterpillars are ready, they crawl to the bottom of the host tree, where they crawl underneath the soil and pupate and may overwinter underground if late enough into the year. Vegetable growers should be aware of this larvae due to its insatiable appetite. One of these larvae are capable in devouring huge amounts of plant's foliage and even succulent stems.


Larvae come in two different color phases; a green phase, and a dark phase which differs in shades of brown, orange, and somewhat of a pinkish brown. Larvae complete all five instars within approximately one month. The first instar is the same shade of green as its egg. As the larva progresses through its instars, change in structure is noticeable. The caterpillar sports four, long, horn-like projections - in addition to the tail horn - from above its head, which is why the elm sphinx is sometimes called the four-horned sphinx.


Ceratophyllum demersum, commonly known as hornwort, rigid hornwort, coontail, or coon's tail, is a species of Ceratophyllum. It is a submerged, free-floating aquatic plant, with a cosmopolitan distribution, native to all continents except Antarctica. It is a harmful introduced weed in New Zealand. It is also a popular aquarium plant.


An aquatic plant, Ceratophyllum demersum has stems that reach lengths of 1–3 m (3–10 ft), with numerous side shoots making a single specimen appear as a large, bushy mass. The leaves are produced in whorls of six to twelve, each leaf 8–40 mm long, simple, or forked into two to eight thread-like segments edged with spiny teeth; they are stiff and brittle. It is monoecious, with separate male and female flowers produced on the same plant. The flowers are small, 2 mm long, with eight or more greenish-brown petals; they are produced in the leaf axils. The fruit is a small nut 4–5 mm long, usually with three spines, two basal and one apical, 1–12 mm long. Plants with the two basal nut spines very short are sometimes distinguished as Ceratophyllum demersum var. apiculatum (Cham.) Asch., and those with no basal spines sometimes distinguished as Ceratophyllum demersum var. inerme Gay ex Radcl.-Sm. It can form turions: buds that sink to the bottom of the water that stay there during the winter and form new plants in spring.


Ceratophyllum demersum grows in lakes, ponds, and quiet streams with summer water temperatures of 15-30 °C and a rich nutrient status. In North America, it occurs in the entire US and Canada, except Newfoundland. In Europe, it has been reported as far north as at a latitude of 66 degrees in Norway. Other reported occurrences include China, Siberia (at 66 degrees North), Burkina Faso and in the Volta River in Ghana (Africa), Vietnam, and New Zealand (introduced). Ceratophyllum demersum grows in still or very slow-moving water.


C. demersum has allelopathic qualities as it excretes substances that inhibit the growth of phytoplankton and cyanobacteria (blue-green algae). Its dense growth can outcompete native underwater vegetation, leading to loss of biodiversity. In New Zealand, it has caused problems with hydroelectric power plants.


This species is often used as a floating freshwater plant in both coldwater and tropical aquaria. Though without roots, it may attach itself to the substrate or objects in the aquarium. Its fluffy, filamentous, bright-green leaves provide excellent cover for newly hatched fish. It is propagated by cuttings. It is frequently used as a model organism for studies of plant physiology. One of the reasons for this is that it allows studies on shoot effects without influence of a root, which often makes interpretation of nutrition and toxicity experiments difficult in terrestrial plants. As it is free floating and therefore does not require a solid substrate, it has been used successfully in the biological life support systems "Aquarack/CEBAS" and "Omegahab" on space flights  Hornwort plants or the epiphytes they support have been shown to degrade the herbicide atrazine.
In aquaria this plant appears to drop all its leaves when exposed to products designed to kill snails. The stems can recover relatively quickly, growing new leaves within a few weeks.


Ceratostoma foliatum is a species of medium to large sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae, the rock snails.
This species lives in the Eastern Pacific.


Cercis canadensis, the eastern redbud, is a large deciduous shrub or small tree, native to eastern North America from southern Michigan south to central Mexico, east to New Jersey. Species thrive as far west as California and as far north as southern Ontario, roughly corresponding to USDA hardiness zone 6b. It is the state tree of Oklahoma.


The eastern redbud typically grows to 6–9 m (20–30 ft) tall with an 8–10 m (26–33 ft) spread. It generally has a short, often twisted trunk and spreading branches. A 10-year-old tree will generally be around 5 m (16 ft) tall. The bark is dark in color, smooth, later scaly with ridges somewhat apparent, sometimes with maroon patches. The twigs are slender and zigzag, nearly black in color, spotted with lighter lenticels. The winter buds are tiny, rounded and dark red to chestnut in color. The leaves are alternate, simple, and heart shaped with an entire margin, 7–12 cm (3–4.5 in) long and wide, thin and papery, and may be slightly hairy below.
The flowers are showy, light to dark magenta pink in color, 1.5 cm (1⁄2 in) long, appearing in clusters from spring to early summer, on bare stems before the leaves, sometimes on the trunk itself. There are cultivars with white flowers. The flowers are pollinated by long-tongued bees such as blueberry bees and carpenter bees. Short-tongued bees cannot reach the nectaries. The fruit are flattened, dry, brown, pea-like pods, 5–10 cm (2–4 in) long that contain flat, elliptical, brown seeds 6 mm (1⁄4 in) long, maturing in August to October.
Bark: Red brown, with deep fissures and scaly surface. Branchlets at first lustrous brown, later become darker.
Wood: Dark reddish brown; heavy, hard, coarse-grained, not strong. Sp. gr., 0.6363; weight of cu. ft. 39.65 lbs.
Winter buds: Chestnut brown, obtuse, one-eighth inch long.
Cotyledons oval, flat
Leaves: Alternate, simple, heart-shaped or broadly ovate, two to five inches long, five to seven-nerved, cordate or truncate at the base, entire, acute. They come out of the bud folded along the line of the midrib, tawny green; when they are full grown they become smooth, dark green above, paler beneath. In autumn they turn bright clear yellow. Petioles slender, terete, enlarged at the base. Stipules caducous.
Flowers: April, May, before and with the leaves, papilionaceous. Perfect, rose color, borne four to eight together, in fascicles which appear at the axils of the leaves or along the branch and sometimes on the trunk itself.
Calyx: Dark red, campanulate, oblique, five-toothed, imbricate in bud.
Corolla: Papilionaceous, petals five, nearly equal, pink or rose color, upper petal the smallest, enclosed in the bud by the wings, and encircled by the broader keel petals.
Stamens: Ten, inserted in two rows on a thin disk, free, the inner row rather shorter than the others.
Pistil: Ovary superior, inserted obliquely in the bottom of the calyx tube, stipitate; style fleshy, incurved, tipped with an obtuse stigma.
Fruit: Legume, slightly stipitate, unequally oblong, acute at each end. Compressed, tipped with the remnants of the style, straight on upper and curved on the lower edge. Two and a half to three inches long, rose color, full grown by midsummer, falls in early winter. Seeds ten to twelve, chestnut brown, one-fourth of an inch long.


The leaves are eaten by the caterpillars of some Lepidoptera—for example, Henry's elfin, the redbud leaffolder, the red-humped caterpillar (which can cause extensive defoliation in late summer but generally does no lasting harm to a healthy tree), the fall webworm (also a late-season defoliator), the white flannel moth, the American dagger moth, the grape leaffolder, and the Io moth.


Cercis canadensis is grown in parks and gardens, with several cultivars being available. The cultivars 'Forest Pansy'
and 'Ruby Falls'
have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit (confirmed 2017). Both are cultivated for their showy purple leaves, which turn brilliant shades of red and orange in the fall (autumn). 'Ruby Falls' is a weeping form.
In the wild, eastern redbud is a frequent native understory tree in mixed forests and hedgerows. It is also much planted as a landscape ornamental plant.
In the United States, this tree is difficult to grow farther west into arid areas west of western Kansas and Colorado, as there is not enough rain. There has been success growing the tree in Columbus, Wisconsin, whose cultivar has become known as the "Columbus strain" and is a seed source for nurseries. Seeds can be made to germinate by first dipping in boiled (99 °C) water for one minute and then sowing in a pot (do not boil the seeds).


The flowers can be eaten fresh or fried.
In some parts of southern Appalachia, green twigs from the eastern redbud are used as seasoning for wild game such as venison and opossum. Because of this, in these mountain areas the eastern redbud is sometimes known as the spicewood tree.
Native Americans consumed redbud flowers raw or boiled, and ate roasted seeds. Analysis of nutritional components in edible parts of eastern redbud reported that the flower extract contains anthocyanins, green developing seeds contained proanthocyanidin, and linolenic, α-linolenic, oleic and palmitic acids are present in seeds.


Cercocarpus betuloides is a shrub or small tree in the rose family. Its common names include  mountain mahogany and birch leaf mountain mahogany The common name "mahogany" comes from the hardness and color of the wood, although the genus is not a true mahogany.


The plant is native to California, Baja California, Oregon, Arizona, and northwestern New Mexico. It typically grows in summer dry areas of the foothills and mountains of California, often in chaparral communities.


Cercocarpus betuloides is a shrub or small tree growing from 3 feet (0.91 m) to 30 feet (9.1 m). Its branches are incised and muscular in appearance from the side. In cross section they appear lobed.
Common shrub associates within the chaparral community include toyon.


The leaves are distinctive in that they have smooth edges from the base to about half way up, then are wavy or toothed to the rounded tip.
Betula is the birch genus, and the species name refers to the birch-like leaves.


The white flowers are small, clustered, and mildly scented, similar to acacia.
The fruit is a tubular achene with the long, plumelike flower style still attached.
The genus name comes from the Greek kerkos ("tail"), referring to the tail-like appearance of the fruit; and carpus ("fruit"), thus, "fruit with tail".


Varieties
There are three varieties:
Cercocarpus betuloides var. betuloides, rangewide
Cercocarpus betuloides var. blancheae – Catalina mahogany, island mountain mahogany, limited to California, especially the Channel Islands
Cercocarpus betuloides var. macrourus – few flowered mountain mahogany, California and Oregon
Cercocarpus betuloides is sometimes treated as a part of Cercocarpus montanus, var. glaber in particular.


Deer, cattle and sheep browse the plant.
The reddish wood of the shrub is very hard and was traditionally used by the indigenous peoples of California to make arrow tips, fishing spears, and digging sticks.
Cercocarpus betuloides is cultivated as an ornamental plant by specialty nurseries for planting in native plant, drought tolerant, and wildlife gardens; and in designed natural landscaping projects and habitat restoration programs.


Cercocarpus montanus  is a North American species of shrub or small tree in the family Rosaceae native to northern Mexico and the western United States. It is known by the common names alder-leaf mountain-mahogany, alder-leaf cercocarpus, and true mountain-mahogany. The variety argenteus is commonly known as silverleaf mountain-mahogany.


Cercocarpus montanus is common in chaparral scrub, on mesas, the lower foothills of the Rocky Mountains, and the Great Plains in the United States. Its range extends from Montana, Idaho, and South Dakota south as far as Sonora, Durango, and Nuevo León.


Cercocarpus montanus often remains under 1 metre (3.3 ft) in height because of browsing by elk and deer, but can reach 20 feet (6.1 m). It has thin and smooth bark. The species is considered to be long lived.
It is also eaten by yellow-haired porcupine.


Ceriagrion auranticum is a species of damselfly in the family Coenagrionidae. it is commonly known as orange-tailed sprite. This species can be found in south and southeast Asia.
Fraser described this species in 1922. Hämäläinen (1987) considered Ceriagrion latericium Lieftinck, 1951, described from Sumatra, as a junior synonym of C. auranticum.
It breeds in slow running streams, ponds, and swamps.


Ceriagrion cerinorubellum, commonly known as the orange-tailed marsh dart or bi-coloured damsel, is a medium-sized damselfly in the family Coenagrionidae. It is a very common species of damselflies in Asia.


This species can be found in Asia: Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Malaysia, Philippines, Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam.


It is a medium sized damselfly with greenish eyes, bluish above. Its thorax is yellowish green. Segments 1,2 and basal half of three and apical half of 7 to 10 are in brick red color. Other segments are black on dorsal half and pale blue on the ventral half. Female is similar to the male; but more robust and with dull colors.
It breeds in weeded ponds, marshes and other stillwater forms.


Cerotoma trifurcata (also known as the bean leaf beetle) is a species of beetle in the Chrysomelidae family that can be found in the Eastern and West United States.


Adult beetles are 3.5–5.5 millimeters (0.14–0.22 in) in length, and have a punctated elytron at their posterior region. Morphs can occur with red or yellow elytra and four black spots as well as a non-spotted morph. The head is always black.


The beetle feeds mostly on vegetables that are in the cotyledon-stage, such as cucumbers, cucurbits, pumpkin, and squash. It also can be a pest of legumes such as soybean. In early spring, adult beetles emerge to feed on legumes, such as alfalfa, before crops such as soybeans and green beans are available.
Multiple generations occur per year depending on growing season length with one generation in northern climates, such as Ontario, one to two generations in the Upper Midwest US, and three generations in the southeastern US.
Bean leaf beetle mostly overwinters in woodlot leaf litter, but can also be found in crop fields under soybean debris. Significant mortality can occur below 14 °F (−10 °C)


Larvae feed in the soil on plant roots, while adults consume vegetative tissue on host plants. Bean leaf beetle can also transmit bean pod mottle virus to beans through feeding. Feeding can significantly affect crop yield in some cases, although such damage is highly dependent on beetle densities in a field. Insecticides, such as pyrethroids, and delayed planting dates have been used to manage bean leaf beetle populations, but conditions when such measures are effective vary. Insecticidal seed treatments alone do not increase yield in areas prone to bean leaf beetle feeding or virus transmission.


The yellow-chinned spinetail (Certhiaxis cinnamomeus) is a passerine bird found in the tropical New World from Trinidad and Colombia south to Argentina and Uruguay. It is a member of the South American bird family Furnariidae.


The yellow-chinned spinetail is typically 15 cm long, and weighs 15 g. It is a slender bird with a long tail. The upperparts and head are chestnut brown, and the underparts are whitish apart from the pale yellow throat. The sexes are similar, but there are several subspecies, differing in forecrown colour or upperparts tone.
Its call is a shrill rattling.


The yellow-chinned spinetail is found in all contiguous regions of Brazil, except specific parts of the Amazon Basin. In northern South America, the species is mainly found along the coast, in a continuous coastal strip that extends from the mouth of the Amazon River's mouth through northern Brazil's Amapá state, the Guianas – extending to the headwaters of the south-flowing Branco River in the north central of Brazil's Roraima state as it borders the Guiana Highlands –, Venezuela, where its range extends more widely inland along the Orinoco River, to northern Colombia where it ranges up the Madeira River valley beyond the Serranía de las Quinchas.
Further south, like its sister species, the red-and-white spinetail (C. mustelinus) it is found along the Amazon River corridor. From the upper Amazon exiting the Andes, it only occurs in the river corridor, then bifurcating up the Madeira River, southwestwards into Bolivia. From there, it ranges along the Andean foothills to northwestern Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay and finally the Rio de la Plata. It is apparently absent from much of Pará and northern Mato Grosso states, essentially between the Madeira and Araguaia River corridors. But apart from that region it occurs in most of South America in the area enclosed by – running counterclockwise – the lower Amazon and the Madeira river, the Andes, the Paraguay and lower Paraná rivers, and the Atlantic Ocean.
This species is a common resident breeder in marshes and the edges of mangrove swamps; in general its habitat is open woodland in the vicinity of rivers. The yellow-chinned spinetail feeds on insects and spiders, keeping low and often in the open. It is a conspicuous, confiding and noisy bird. Unlike the related ovenbirds, the yellow-chinned spinetail constructs a large spherical stick nest, usually low in a mangrove or other marsh vegetation. The tubular entrance tunnel rises almost vertically from the base to the top of the nest. The normal clutch is three, sometimes four, greenish white eggs.
This spinetail is parasitised by the striped cuckoo (Tapera naevia), which lays one or two eggs in the nest, but it is not known how the cuckoo enters the nest or whether it or its offspring eject the host's young.
This widely ranging bird is not considered threatened by the IUCN.


The pied kingfisher (Ceryle rudis) is a species of water kingfisher widely distributed across Africa and Asia. Originally described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, it has five recognised subspecies. Its black and white plumage and crest, as well as its habit of hovering over clear lakes and rivers before diving for fish, make it distinctive. Males have a double band across the breast, while females have a single gorget that is often broken in the middle. They are usually found in pairs or small family groups. When perched, they often bob their head and flick up their tail.


The pied kingfisher was one of the many bird species originally described by Linnaeus in the landmark 1758 10th edition of his Systema Naturae, who noted that it lived in Persia and Egypt. He named it Alcedo rudis. The German naturalist Friedrich Boie erected the genus Ceryle in 1828. The name is from classical Greek kērulos, an unidentified and probably mythical bird mentioned by Aristotle and other authors. The specific epithet rudis is Latin for "wild" or "rude".
The pied kingfisher is the only member of the genus Ceryle. Molecular analysis shows it is an early offshoot of the lineage that gave rise to American kingfishers of the genus Chloroceryle. The pied kingfisher was initially believed to be descended from an ancestral American green kingfisher which crossed the Atlantic Ocean about one million years ago. A more recent suggestion is that the pied kingfisher and the American green kingfishers are derived from an Old World species, with the pied kingfisher or its ancestor losing the metallic colouration afterwards.
There are five subspecies:
C. r. syriacus Roselaar, 1995 – Turkey to Israel east to southwest Iran (some ornithologists do not recognise this subspecies)
C. r. rudis (Linnaeus, 1758) – Egypt and Africa south of the Sahara
C. r. leucomelanurus Reichenbach, 1851 – east Afghanistan through India to south China and north Indochina
C. r. travancoreensis Whistler, 1935 – southwest India
C. r. insignis Hartert, 1910 – east and southeast China, Hainan Island


It is common throughout sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia from Turkey to India to China. It is resident, and most birds do not migrate, other than short-distance seasonal movements. In India it is distributed mainly on the plains and is replaced in the higher hills of the Himalayas by the crested kingfisher (Megaceryle lugubris).
The pied kingfisher is estimated to be one of the three most numerous kingfishers in the world; the other two are the common kingfisher and collared kingfisher. It is a noisy bird, making it hard to miss.


When perched the pied kingfisher often bobs its heads up and down and will sometimes raise its tail and flick it downwards. It calls often with sharp chirruk chirruk notes. Unlike some kingfishers, it is quite gregarious, and forms large roosts at night.


This kingfisher feeds mainly on fish, although it will take crustaceans and large aquatic insects such as dragonfly larvae. It usually hunts by hovering over the water to detect prey, before diving vertically bill-first to capture fish. When not foraging, it has a straight rapid flight and have been observed flying at speeds approaching 50 km/h.
In Lake Victoria in East Africa, the introduction of the Nile perch reduced the availability of haplochromine cichlids which were formerly the preferred prey of these birds.
It can consume prey without returning to a perch, often manipulating the subject with its bill and swallowing in flight, and so can hunt over large water bodies or in estuaries that lack perches required by other kingfishers.


The breeding season is February to April. Its nest is a hole excavated in a vertical mud bank about five feet above water. The nest tunnel is four to five feet deep and ends in a chamber. Several birds may nest in the same vicinity. The usual clutch is three to six white eggs. The pied kingfisher sometimes reproduces cooperatively, with young non-breeding birds from an earlier brood assisting parents or even unrelated older birds. In India, nestlings have been found to be prone to maggot infestations (probably by Protocalliphora sp.) and in some areas to leeches. Nest holes may sometimes be used for roosting.
In 1947, British zoologist Hugh B. Cott noticed while skinning birds that hornets were attracted to certain birds but avoided the flesh of pied kingfishers. This led to a comparative study of edibility of birds and he suggested that more conspicuously plumaged birds may be less palatable. This suggestion was, however, not supported by a subsequent reanalysis of his data.


The chimney swift (Chaetura pelagica) is a bird belonging to the swift family Apodidae. A member of the genus Chaetura, it is closely related to both the Vaux's swift and the Chapman's swift; in the past, the three were sometimes considered to be conspecific. It has no subspecies. The chimney swift is a medium-sized, sooty gray bird with very long, slender wings and very short legs. Like all swifts, it is incapable of perching, and can only cling vertically to surfaces.
The chimney swift feeds primarily on flying insects, but also on airborne spiders. It generally mates for life. It builds a bracket nest of twigs and saliva stuck to a vertical surface, which is almost always a human-built structure, typically a chimney. The female lays 4–5 white eggs. The altricial young hatch after 19 days and fledge a month later. The average chimney swift lives 4.6 years.


When Carl Linnaeus first described the chimney swift in 1758, he named it Hirundo pelagica, believing it to be a swallow. This misconception continued well into the 1800s, with ornithologists calling it "American Swallow" (e.g. Mark Catesby) or "Chimney Swallow" (e.g. John James Audubon). In 1825, James Francis Stephens moved this and other small, short-tailed New World swifts to the genus Chaetura, where it has since remained, although some authorities in the 1800s assigned it to a variety of now obsolete genera. It has no subspecies. The chimney swift's closest relative is Vaux's swift. Scientists believe that the two species evolved from a common ancestor that was forced to North America's southeastern and southwestern corners by glacial advances. Separated for millennia by vast ice sheets, the survivors evolved into two species which are still separated by a wide gap across the continent's midsection. It is also closely related to the Chapman's swift; in the past, the three were sometimes treated as a single species.
The chimney swift's genus name, Chaetura, is a combination of two Ancient Greek words: chaite, which means "bristle" or "spine", and oura which means "tail". This is an apt description of the bird's tail, as the shafts of all ten tail feathers (rectrices) end in sharp, protruding points. The specific name pelagica is derived from the Greek word pelagikos, which means "of the sea". This is thought to be a reference to its nomadic lifestyle rather than to any reference to the sea, a theory strengthened by the later assignment of the specific name pelasgia (after the nomadic Pelasgi tribe of ancient Greece) to the same species by other ornithologists. Its common name refers to its preferred nesting site and its speedy flight.


This is a medium-sized swift, measuring from 12 to 15 cm (4.7 to 5.9 in) in length, with a wingspan of 27 to 30 cm (11 to 12 in) and a weight ranging from 17 to 30 g (0.60 to 1.06 oz). The sexes are identical in plumage, though males average slightly heavier than females. The adult's plumage is a dark sooty olive above and grayish brown below, with a slightly paler rump and uppertail covert feathers, and a significantly paler throat. Its upperparts are the most uniformly colored of all the Chaetura swifts, showing little contrast between back and rump. Its beak is black, as are its feet and legs. Its iris is dark brown. Juvenal plumage (that held by juvenile birds) is very similar to that of adults, but with whitish tips to the outer webs of the secondaries and tertials.
The chimney swift's wings are slender, curved and long, extending as much as 1.5 in (3.8 cm) beyond the bird's tail when folded. Its wingtips are pointed, which helps to decrease air turbulence (and therefore drag) during flight. Its humerus (the bone in the inner part of the wing) is quite short, while the bones farther out (more distally) along the wing are elongated, a combination which allows the bird to flap very quickly. In flight, it holds its wings stiffly, alternating between rapid, quivering flaps and longer glides. Its flight profile is widely described as a "cigar with wings"—a description first used by Roger Tory Peterson. Although the bird often appears to beat its wings asynchronously during flight, photographic and stroboscopic studies have shown that it beats them in unison. The illusion that it does otherwise is heightened by its very fast and highly erratic flight, with many rapid changes of direction.
The legs of the chimney swift, like those of all swifts, are very short. Its feet are small but strong, with very short toes that are tipped with sharp, curved claws. The toes are anisodactyl—three forward, one back—like those of most birds, but the chimney swift can swivel its back toe (its hallux) forward to help it get a better grip. Unlike the legs and feet of most birds, those of the chimney swift have no scales; instead, they are covered with smooth skin.
Its tail is short and square, measuring only 4.8 to 5.5 cm (1.90 to 2.15 in) in length. All ten of its tail feathers have shafts which extend as much as 1.3 cm (0.5 in) beyond the vanes, ending in sharp, stiff points. These help the bird to prop itself against vertical surfaces.
The chimney swift has large, deep set eyes. These are protected by small patches of coarse, black, bristly feathers, which are located in front of each eye. The swift can change the angle of these feathers, which may help to reduce glare. It is far-sighted and, like some birds of prey, this swift is bifoveal: each eye having both a temporal and a central fovea. These are small depressions in the retina where visual acuity is highest, and help to make its vision especially acute. Like most vertebrates, it is able to focus both eyes at once; however, it is also able to focus a single eye independently.
Its bill is very small, with a culmen that measures a mere 5 mm (0.20 in) in length. However, its gape is huge, extending back below its eyes, and allowing the bird to open its mouth very widely. Unlike many insectivorous birds, it lacks rictal bristles at the base of the beak.


The chimney swift looks very much like the closely related Vaux's swift, but is slightly larger, with relatively longer wings and tail, slower wingbeats and a greater tendency to soar. It tends to be darker on the breast and rump than the Vaux's swift, though there is some overlap in plumage coloring. It can be as much as 30 percent heavier than Vaux's swift, and its wings, which are proportionately narrower, show a pronounced bulge in the inner secondaries. The chimney swift is smaller, paler and shorter tailed than the black swift. In Central America, it is most similar to Chapman's swift, but it is paler (matte olive rather than glossy black) and has a stronger contrast between its pale throat and the rest of its underparts than does its more uniformly colored relative.


A widespread breeding visitor to much of the eastern half of the United States and the southern reaches of eastern Canada, the chimney swift migrates to South America for the winter. It is a rare summer visitor to the western U.S, and has been recorded as a vagrant in Anguilla, Barbados, Greenland, Jamaica, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It is found over open country, savanna, wooded slopes and humid forests.
The chimney swift's wintering grounds were only discovered in 1944, when bands from birds banded (ringed) in North America were recovered in Peru. An indigenous Peruvian had been wearing the bands as a necklace.


The chimney swift is a gregarious species, and is seldom seen alone. It generally hunts in groups of two or three, migrates in loose flocks of 6–20, and (once the breeding season is over) sleeps in huge communal roosts of hundreds or thousands of birds. Like all swifts, it is a superb aerialist, and only rarely seen at rest. It drinks on the wing, skimming the surface of the water with its beak. It also bathes on the wing, gliding above the surface of a body of water, briefly smacking its breast into the water, then flying off again, shaking its feathers as it goes. It has been recorded by pilots flying more than a mile above the surface of the earth, including one seen at 7,300 ft (2,200 m). It is incapable of perching upright like most birds do; instead, it clings to vertical surfaces. If it is disturbed while at rest, the chimney swift will clap its wings loudly once or twice against its body; it does this either in place, or while dropping down several feet to a lower location. This behavior can result in a loud "thundering" sound if large roosts of the birds are disturbed. The sound is thought to be the bird's way of scaring away potential predators.


Like all swifts, the chimney swift forages on the wing. Studies have shown that 95 percent of its food items are flying insects, including various species of flies, ants, wasps, bees, whiteflies, aphids, scale insects, stoneflies and mayflies. It also eats airborne spiders drifting on their threads. It is an important predator of pest species such as the red imported fire ant and the clover root curculio. Researchers estimate that a pair of adults provisioning a nest with three youngsters consume the weight equivalent of at least 5000–6000 housefly-sized insects per day. Like many bird species, the chimney swift periodically coughs up pellets composed of indigestible bits of prey items.
During the breeding season, at least half of the chimney swift's forays occur within 0.5 km (0.3 mi) of its nest; however, it ranges up to 6 km (3.7 mi) away. While most of its food is seized following aerial pursuit, some is gleaned from the foliage of trees; the bird hovers near the ends of branches or drops through upper canopy levels. The chimney swift generally flies quite high, though it descends during cold or rainy weather. When feeding, it regularly occurs in small groups, and sometimes hunts with swallows, particularly barn swallows and purple martins; in mixed-species flocks, it is typically among the lower fliers. There is at least one record of a chimney swift attempting to steal a dragonfly from a purple martin, and it has been observed chasing other purple martins. In general, it is a diurnal feeder which remains active into early evening. However, there are records, particularly during migration periods, of chimney swifts feeding well after dark over brightly lit buildings.
The species shows two-weight peaks each year: one at the start of the breeding season, and a higher one shortly before it begins its migration south in the autumn. Its lowest weights are typically recorded during the breeding season, when it also begins a complete molt of its plumage. The chimney swift's weight gain before migration is smaller than that of some passerines, suggesting that it must refuel en route at various stopover points.


The chimney swift is a monogamous breeder which normally mates for life, though a small percentage of birds change partners. Pairs perform display flights together, gliding with their wings upraised in a steep "V", and sometimes rocking from side to side. Breeding birds arrive as early as mid March in the southern U.S., and as late as mid-May in the Canadian provinces.
Before the arrival of European colonists into North America, the chimney swift nested in hollow trees; now, it uses human-built structures almost exclusively. While the occasional nest is still built in a hollow tree (or, exceptionally, in an abandoned woodpecker nest), most are now found inside chimneys, with smaller numbers in airshafts, the dark corners of lightly used buildings, cisterns, or wells. The nest is a shallow bracket made of sticks, which the birds gather in flight, breaking them off trees. The sticks are glued together (and the nest to a vertical surface) with copious amounts of the bird's saliva. During the breeding season, each adult's salivary glands more than double in size, from 7 mm × 2 mm (0.276 in × 0.079 in) in the non-breeding season to 14 mm × 5 mm (0.55 in × 0.20 in) during the breeding season.
Unlike some swift species, which mate in flight, chimney swifts mate while clinging to a vertical surface near their nest. They copulate daily, until the clutch is complete. The female typically lays 4–5 eggs, though clutch sizes range from 2 to 7. The eggs, which are long and elliptical in shape, are moderately glossy, smooth and white, and measure 20 mm × 13 mm (0.79 in × 0.51 in). Each weighs nearly 10 percent of the female's body weight. Incubated by both parents, the eggs hatch after 19 days. Baby chimney swifts are altricial—naked, blind and helpless when they hatch. Fledglings leave the nest after a month.
The average chimney swift's life span is 4.6 years, but one is known to have lived more than 14 years. It was originally banded as an adult, and was recaptured in another banding operation some 12.5 years later.


Mississippi kites, peregrine falcons and merlins are raptors that are known to take adult chimney swifts in flight, being among the select few avian hunters fast enough to overtake the appropriately named swift on the wing. Eastern screech-owls have been seen attacking colonies, as have non-avian predators including eastern rat snakes, northern raccoons and tree squirrels. These are most likely to take nestlings but may take some nesting adults as well. When disturbed by potential predators (including humans) at the colony, adult chimney swifts slap their wings together after arching back and taking flight, making a very loud noise known either as "booming" or "thunder noises". When disturbed, nestlings make a loud, raspy raah, raah, raah sound. Both sounds seem designed to startle potential predators.
The chimney swift carries a number of internal and external parasites. It is the type host for the nematode species Aproctella nuda, the feather mite species Euchineustathia tricapitosetosa, and the biting lice species  Dennyus dubius, and is also known to carry the tapeworm species Pseudochoanotaenia collocaliae. Its nest is known to host the Hemiptera species Cimexopsis nyctali, which is similar to the bed bug and can (on rare occasions) become a pest species in houses.


The chimney swift has a twittering call, consisting of a rapid series of hard, high-pitched chirps. It sometimes gives single chirps.


In 2010, the International Union for Conservation of Nature changed the chimney swift's status from least concern to near threatened. In 2018, the IUCN changed the chimney swift's status from near threatened to vulnerable. Although the global population is estimated at 7,700,000, it has declined precipitously across the majority of its range. The causes of population declines are largely unclear, but may be related to the alteration of the insect community due to pesticide use in the early half of the 20th century. In Canada, they were listed as threatened by COSEWIC for several years with a likely future listing as a Schedule 1 species of the Species at Risk Act. In the U.S., the chimney swift is protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. Neither birds nor nests can be removed from chimneys without a federally-issued permit. Populations may have increased historically with the introduction of chimneys to North America by European settlers, providing plentiful nesting opportunities.
After sudden temperature drops, the chimney swift sometimes hunts low over concrete roads (presumably following insect prey drawn to the warmer road), where collisions with vehicles become more likely. Severe storms, such as hurricanes, encountered during migration can seriously impact the chimney's swift's survival rates. Swifts caught up in 2005's Hurricane Wilma were swept as far north as Atlantic Canada and Western Europe. More than 700 were found dead. The following year, roost counts in the province of Quebec, Canada showed a decrease of 62 percent, and the overall population in the province was halved.


In 1899, Mary Day of New Jersey observed a pair of chimney swifts nesting in a chimney, and noted the incubation period was 19 days. The first detailed study of chimney swifts began in 1915 by self-taught ornithologist Althea Sherman in Iowa. She commissioned a 28 foot tall tower, of a similar design to a chimney, with ladders and peep holes installed to facilitate observation. Chimney swifts nested in her tower, and for over fifteen years, she meticulously recorded her observations, filling over 400 pages. Sherman remarked that although the tower had been designed with a limited knowledge of the nesting behaviour of chimney swifts, after many years of observation she believed that the original design was ideal.


Chalcolestes viridis, formerly Lestes viridis, is a damselfly of the family Lestidae. It has a metallic green body and at rest it holds its wings away from its body. Its common name is the willow emerald damselfly or the western willow spreadwing.


C. viridis is found across southern and central Europe. In the eastern mediterranean it is replaced by C. parvidens with areas of overlap in Italy and the Balkans. C. viridis is found on many mediterranean islands including Corsica, Sicily, Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza, in the Maghreb in North Africa, Turkey and the Middle East. However many of the old records for C. viridis in the east of its range could be for C. parvidens. It occurs in still or slow flowing water in ditches, ponds, lakes and canals, with overhanging willows, alders or birches, which are used for breeding. Of all the European Lestes it is the species, along with C. parvidens, that will lay eggs in where there is running water. The adults are often found in the bushes which grow over or alongside water.


In Britain it was a rare vagrant and is now a new colonist. It is widespread on Jersey.


In the field it is not possible to reliably distinguish C. viridis from C. parvidens. Both species are mainly metallic green, like other Lestes damselflies, but larger and darker but they do not have a powder blue pruinescence which is common in other Lestes. The pterostigma is pale brown and outlined in black. The thorax has thin yellow antehumerals and broader yellow stripe above a thin black line on each side; the upper edge of the stripe is irregular. Both C. viridis and C. parvidens have a prominent spur-like marking on the side of the thorax.
Male - The abdomen is very long. The lower anal appendages are less than half the length of the upper which are a distinctive pale yellow with black tips.
Female - The ovipositor is longer than in Lestes dryas.


Flight period is late from August to October although in the southernmost parts of its range it can occur as early as May and persist until November.
Mature males defend vertical territories in marginal shrubs and small trees where they find and mate with females in the normal damselfly manner forming the wheel position. Egg laying occurs with the pair in tandem, the eggs being laid into incisions in the bark of overhanging branches, not into submerged vegetation as is the case in many damselflies.  Egg laying can result in distinct oval galls forming in the shrub's bark. The eggs develop rapidly for a few weeks and then enter a diapause state. In this state the eggs development is very slow and it is in this state that the eggs overwinter. The following spring the eggs hatch, the larvae drop into the water and start to develop. Growth is rapid and adults can emerge in a couple of months. After emerging the adults move away from water to mature. In this stage of their life-cycle the immature adults cannot breed. The adults need a period of time for their reproductive organs to develop and this non-breeding period also stops the adults breeding too early in the season. If the females lay eggs early in the year the eggs will develop when it is to warm to for them to enter diapause. They might hatch out before winter and the resultant larva will die when winter temperatures occur. When fully mature the adults return to water and start breeding.


The scarlet-chested sunbird (Chalcomitra senegalensis) is a species of bird in the family Nectariniidae.


In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the scarlet-chested sunbird in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in Senegal. He used the French name Le grimpereau violet du Sénégal and the Latin Certhia Senegalensis Violacea. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the scarlet-chested sunbird. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Certhia senegalensis and cited Brisson's work. This species is now placed in the genus Chalcomitra that was introduced by the German naturalist Ludwig Reichenbach in 1853. Six subspecies are recognised.


The wrentit (Chamaea fasciata) is a small bird that lives in chaparral, oak woodlands, and bushland on the western coast of North America. It is the only species in the genus Chamaea.
Its systematics have been the subject of much debate, the wrentit having been placed in many different families by different authors for as long as it has been known to science. Its common name reflects the uncertainty, and its external resemblance to both tits and wrens. It is by no means closely related to either, however, and more recent and comprehensive phylogenetic studies support it belonging to the parrotbills.


The wrentit is a small, 15 cm (5.9 in) bird with uniform dull olive, brown, or grayish plumage. It has short wings and a long tail often held high (hence the comparison to wrens). It has a short bill and a pale iris. Given its retiring nature and loud voice, the wrentit is more likely to be detected by its call than by sight. The distinct sound that it makes is similar to the sound of a ping-pong ball falling on the table.


The wrentit is a sedentary (non-migratory) resident of a narrow strip of coastal habitat along the western coast of North America, being found from Oregon south through California, to Baja California, the northern state of the Baja California peninsula.
It is usually restricted to certain chaparral and woodland habitats. It nests in 1 metre (3 ft) high shrubs such as poison oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum), coyote bush (Baccharis pilularis) and California blackberry (Rubus ursinus). Logging and other changes in habitat have led to this species expanding its range recently, particularly northwards.


Wrentits mate for life, forming pair bonds only a few months after hatching. Both sexes sing; the faster rhythm of the male's song is one of the few ways to differentiate the sexes. Both sexes also defend their territory year-round and participate in building the nest, a four-stage process that takes about two weeks. The three or four eggs are incubated for 14 days, again by both sexes. The chicks fledge after 15 days (at which stage they are unable to fly) and are fed by their parents for another 40 days.
The wrentit feeds by skulking through dense scrub gleaning exposed insects found by sight. It feeds primarily on beetles, caterpillars, bugs, and ants, but also takes small berries and seeds.


Chamaecrista fasciculata, the partridge pea, is a species of legume native to most of the eastern United States.  It is an annual which grows to approximately 0.5 meters tall.  It has bright yellow flowers from early summer until first frost, with flowers through the entire flowering season if rainfall is sufficient.
The flowers are hermaphroditic, although a fraction of plants, less than 5%, do not produce sufficient pollen to reproduce as males. This phenomenon has been studied in a variety of plants as a possible evolutionary step towards dioecy, in which male and female flowers occur on separate plants. C. fasciculata is pollinated only by bees.
The flowers have yellow anthers that produce reproductive pollen, and purple anthers that produce food pollen, but no nectar. Long-tongued bees such as bumblebees, honey bees, long-horned bees, and leafcutting bees pollinate the flowers. There are extrafloral nectaries on the leaf stems, which attract a different set of insects: sweat bees, flies, wasps, and ants.
It thrives in areas that have been burned recently before declining in number in the following years.  It is considered an excellent choice for planting in disturbed areas, as it will quickly cover an area, preventing erosion, while still allowing other plants to become established.  It is also grown as an ornamental or for honey production.


The leaves consist of 10 to 15 pairs of small, narrow leaflets that are somewhat delicate to the touch. Like other legumes, the plant displays nyctinasty, which is a  circadian rhythmic nastic movement wherein the leaves open and close in response to day and night cycles. The showy yellow flowers, about 1 inch across, grow 2 to 4 together in clusters on the stem. Flowers normally bloom July-September. The fruit is a straight, narrow pod 1½ to 2½ inches long, which splits along 2 sutures as it dries; the pod sides spiral to expel the seeds some distance from the parent plant.


The seed is one of the major food items of northern bobwhite and other quail species because it remains in sound condition throughout the winter and early spring. Partridge pea was found to be one of the most important fall and winter foods of bobwhite quail in Alabama. Partridge pea seeds are high in phosphorus content and protein value, and low in crude fiber and lignin making digestibility generally high. Seeds of this legume are also eaten by the greater and lesser prairie-chicken, ring-necked pheasant, mallard, grassland birds, and field mice. Partridge pea often grows in dense stands, producing litter and plant stalks that furnish cover for upland game birds, small mammals, small non-game birds, and waterfowl. Partridge pea is considered an important honey plant, often occurring where few other honey plants are found. Nectar is not available in the flowers of showy partridge pea but is produced by small orange glands at the base of each leaf. Ants often seek the nectar and are frequent visitors. The common sulfur butterfly lays its eggs on the leaves, and the larvae use the leaves as a food source.


The flap-necked chameleon (Chamaeleo dilepis) is a species of arboreal chameleon, a lizard in the family Chamaeleonidae. The species is native to sub-Saharan Africa. There are eight recognized subspecies, including the nominotypical subspecies.