#deerberry

Ship names; DeerBerry, Venison, AntlerDinner, DeerDinner, BakedDeer, NoseBerry, BerryNose, FruityNose, ChristmasDinner, FestiveDinner

  If you don't collect bees on Deerberry (Vaccinium staminium) you will never see this bee (Panurginus atramontensis).  It only gathers pollen and probably almost all of its nectar from this plant.  This plant is around, but often subsumed in the understory of acidic woodlands in the East and blooms only for a few weeks....and this bee is only out for a few weeks.  While there are very few records, we have found locations where there are literally 100's of nests.  So, plant a deerberry patch and then give it a watch...who knows, you may also get Melitta eickworti...another Deerberry specialist.  Photos by Brooke Goggins.

I've been on a mission to catalogue as many of Central Appalachia's summer wildflowers and berries as possible for an online project I'm starting up. Above is the haul from yesterday, including the stunning orange-fringed orchid (Platanthera ciliaris), a grand summer orchid of Appalachia's wet seeps and meadows. Downy rattlesnake plantain (Goodyera pubescens), another of our summer-blooming orchids, may not be quite as showy, but its intricately-patterned leaves are quite striking. Turk's-cap lily (Lilium superbum) is also in bloom in our local wet meadows and swamps. It's distinguished from its close cousin Canada lily by more strongly recurved petals and a green, star-like pattern in the center of its flowers. A single Turk's cap lily can produce dozens of flowers from its rangy stems. At home in moist woodland edges and streambanks, summer phlox (Phlox paniculata), sometimes also referred to as fall phlox and garden phlox, produces loads of gorgeous pink or white flowers from mid-July through September. Because this phlox is commonly planted in gardens nowadays, it's hard to know if plants in the wild are true natives or escapees.

From top: Wild sarsaparilla (Aralia nudicaulis), whose roots were once used as a substitute for true sarsaparilla in root beer; deerberry (Vaccinium stamineum); sulphur shelf fungus (Laetiporus sulphureus); Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) twins; a red eft, the juvenile stage of the eastern newt (Notophthalmus viridescens); and Indian cucumber (Medeola virginiana).

Mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia) is now in bloom throughout Central Appalachia. For many natives steeped in the region’s culture, this gnarled, tenacious evergreen shrub is emblematic of Appalachia’s resilient character and enduring will to survive under the toughest circumstances. The plant is celebrated throughout the region in place names and festivals. But mountain laurel isn’t the only beauty showing off its inflorescence in the local woods; deerberry (Vaccinium stamineum) and mapleleaf viburnum (Viburnum acerifolium) are both at peak gorgeousness. The flower longhorn beetle (Strangalepta abbreviata) with a face full of viburnum pollen made my week.