Bobo Brazil: NOT a taxonomist

In the previous blog post, read by many, there is a reference to the CocoBOP, also call the Coco Butt--a move where Bobo Brazil smashed his head into that of his opponent's. This man, called the "Jackie Robinson of Professional Wrestling" broke the color line in fake, TV, staged, totally fake wrestling. He was not Brazilian. He was born in Little Rock, and established a famous restaurant in Benton Harbor, Mi. He died from a series of strokes, which is the opposite of ironic. He was father to six children. He was not a plant taxonomist but he could kick the crap out of Linnaeus.

Tricky Taxonomy

The plant you see here is Euthamia gramifolia. It use to be a Solidago. So really when you get right down to it and put a taxonomist in the Claw or give him the CocoBOP, then he or she will tell you that yes, this is the seventh goldenrod at 42.31, -73.55.

A New Season: Solidago

Those of you who have been following the seasons here have realized that the season Day Lily is a long one, most of July in fact is Day Lily. But life goes on. And sometime in end of July the early goldenrod, Solidago juncea, blooms, followed by FIVE MORE species of goldenrod: S. gigantea at 8.4; S. bicolor at 8.27; S. canadensis on 8.28; and on 9.6 S. nemoralis and S. rugosa.

This is a season of yellow flowers, in which the whiteness of Queen's Anne's lace in fields gives way to a number of species with yellow flowers that persist to mid September. This is the season called Solidago. To me, even though it is August, it is a sign that summer is turning the corner. Welcome to Solidago. PS Solidago bicolor is white.

Philip Larkin poem

One of the legion of readers of this blog (actually 3 people) sent in this poem. And to that person, yes I was a professor of botany at UW Madison in the 1970s.

The Trees
By Philip Larkin

The trees are coming into leaf
Like something almost being said;
The recent buds relax and spread,
Their greenness is a kind of grief.

Is it they are born again
And we grow old? No, they die too.
Their yearly trick of looking new
Is written down in rings of grain.

Yet still the unresting castles thresh
In fullgrown thickness every May.
Last year is dead, they seem to say,
Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.

Day Lily: Queen Anne's Lace

As July rolls on the fields of the Taconics have a white cast because of so much Queen Anne's Lace. If you look closely at this picture you will see on tiny black flower right in the center? Why does this occur, you ask, pleading for knowledge. I don't know. I'll Google it and get back to you.

A lot of you (actually not a single human being on the face of the earth) have asked me why the season Day Lily has gone on so long. "Dan," you ask, " why had the season Day Lily has gone on so long?" July is actually, in my sense, a time of stability when compared to May and June. It really is a time of invertebrates, of insect such as wasps that build and flies that, ah, fly. But look, do you se that golden color here and there?

Invertebrate of the Year nominee: Hummingbird moth

You know how nature likes to fool you, like you have a meeting with your boss and you can't keep your hair from looking like a mop and you lose your job? You all know what I mean. Anyway, this is the humming bird moth--nature fools you in many ways. It LOOKS like a little hummingbird AND it is a moth that flies around in the day. So you go, "Neptune's Barcalounger! What a tiny bird." Then when you realize it's moth you look around to see if anyone heard you? You all know what I mean. Invertebrate of the Year Nomineee: the White-lined Sphinx Hummingbird Moth, Hyles lineata.

Plant of the Year Nominee: Galium verum

If there is any more beautiful yellow I'd like to see it. This is a great year for this plant, called lady bedstraw.