#my rattlesnake plant

[wigglebox]

Plants 🪴💖 [§]

[planty-gal]

Guys… I got a calathea…

My one plant rule was “no calatheas” but I got a calathea. Now, in all fairness, it was $3 and was on the sale table outside. So if it dies I feel like I can blame it on that

[alcnfr]

I just happened to notice some Rattlesnake Root (Nabalus altissimus) popping it's lovely leaves up in the backyard. I will likely go down later and try to move it into the woodlot area so it will avoid the mower...

[ihateclaws]

I present to you: Eiden in Symbolism

Blank template under the cut

Thanks @bokatan for the tag!

No pressure tagging @holathewhale @residentdormouse and whoever that wants to do it!

[wolverinepng]

went out for a quick ride, the plants have grown so much that the trails were almost unrideable

[rebeccathenaturalist]

This FB post (which was public at the time I grabbed this screenshot) is Reason #90510 I teach nature identification classes and am SO adamant that my students look at ALL the details of a given animal/plant/fungus. Also, I ran the photo through iNaturalist just for the heck of it. Its first suggestion was timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus), but its second was western rat snake (Pantherophis obsoletus). This is why you never, ever, ever use an app as our only tool for identification, because you need to also have the critical thinking and observation skills to be able to differentiate between species, to include when the app offers up two similar species where the difference can be a serious matter.

I hope the OP makes a quick and full recovery, because I can't imagine getting tagged by a venomous snake is much fun. Please skip any judgemental comments about Darwin Awards, etc.--I have seen plenty of intelligent people make bad mistakes, and have even made a few myself, though none with quite this level of consequence. It can happen to anyone; thankfully OP realized their error in time to get medical help.

[honoura]

Shaaloani: The Land of Enchantment Part Two

Hello again! First of all thank you so much for your responses to these posts -- I've really enjoyed reading your reblogs. I'm glad folks are enjoying this!

As I mentioned in the first post -- here is the second half! It's covers the plants and animals I thought worth special distinction. By that I mean animals that communicate how much research was done regarding this zone. So no rroneek, no uxtena. It's pretty clear they are both meant to be buffalo and rattlesnakes.

And if you're somebody who hadn't caught that, um... surprise! That's what they're based on.

If you're somehow getting this post without reading or seeing Part One first, here is a link to Part One. I'd recommend giving it a read first.

With that taken care of, let's pick up where we left off before!

Shaaloani Flora

Aside from the cacti, there are a lot of plants I recognize as native to the regions discussed in Part One! First is this scrubby, short and wide tree. It took a few screenshots and a lot of scrutiny. I was torn for a bit thinking it was a creosote bush, but upon zooming in close I'm of the mind it's a redberry juniper tree instead!

The leaves are long and thing, and the shape gives to mind of juniper needles more. Juniper 'leaves' kind of scale over each other and between texture resolution and my horrible eye sight I can't tell if this does the same. Still! There's a photo below my two screenshots for further emphasis:

These are also the trees turned red near the ceruleum fields -- junipers tend to do that when they are dying. They are also incredibly hardy so typically when you've managed to kill one it's likely not good.

I will say when I was out here I noticed the botanist gathering log has mesquite beans on it -- and you harvest them from these trees! Which is too silly for me; so here's a link to the the wiki about honey mesquite, and a photo of the beans on a tree.

It's probably a reach to try and ID this grass in the Yawtanane Grasslands, but given that it caught my eye I felt inclined to make a pitch. For context child me thought a fun and engaging after school club project was to learn how to identify grass and other plants native to Texas. So when I looked at it I wanted to take a guess based on other regional clues:

To me I think it could be cane bluestem, a grass that's drought tolerant and popular for grazing animals. And its seeds are dispersed from these little fluffy heads like this.

I will say as a caveat that a lot of grass in this area can be dispersed by wind. So it might not be cane bluestem -- hell it's a stretch to even try this. But I like to think they also considered the grass.

The bush above I also hmmed and hrmmed about for a bit before positing if it was meant to be black persimmon. It's commonly called Texas persimmon or Mexican persimmon -- and it's found in Coahuila, Tamaulipas and Neuvo León. They generally just look like big shrubs instead of trees.

I mentioned this in part one, but I'll go ahead and reiterate here a few things:

One is I think Lake Taori's about the only place that reads as specifically Texas

Two is it's not a bayou. That's an East Texas ecosystem and way too wet for Shaaloani

Three is there are cypress trees west of San Antonio growing along the Frio river, and doing quite well! Garner State Park has quite a few of them

I stand by this because these trees are show to be reproducing by making 'knees' -- offshoots from their root system. Think of it like Pando.

I also feel cypress is correct; the trunks are wider at the base than higher up, and the leaves are the right shape. I also appreciate there's Spanish moss hanging from them, which is also pretty common.

The last plant I want to cover is this flowering bush -- I'm going to admit this one was a struggle because I don't know of a lot of bushes with large white flowers like this. I've seen flowers of this shape, but most tend to be ground cover plants that grow very low to the soil.

What I think it might be, which would feel appropriate, is a take on the datura. They can get a bit higher off the ground than most wildflowers. And they were used by several native tribes for cultural practices.

The flowers are bigger in real life than depicted here -- so this is a reach! If someone has a better suggestion I'm open to it.

Shaaloani Fauna

When Fate farming out here, I've seen several players comment like 'huh, there sure are a lot of dinosaurs on this map'. And you're right! Because a lot of this region is home to some incredibly rich fossil formations.

Big Bend National Park contains part of the Javelina Formation -- home to large creatures such as the Quetzalcoatlus, a pterosaur that boasted a 39 foot wingspan. You can read about fossils found in Big Bend here. The Javelina Formation has its own wiki article that details some of the specimens found within it, including the Bravoceratops and the Torosaurus. The Ojo Alamo Formation in New Mexico is home to the Ojoceratops. Just south of these is the Aguja Formation in the Mexican states of Coahuila and Chihuahua. These formations are home to fossils of all three types of scalekin above -- as well as alligators, who are also on this map!

Other Formations in the Southwest home to great fossil finds are:

Kayenta Formation (Colorado & Utah)

Tepetate Formation (Mexico)

Black Peaks Formation (Texas)

There's even a fun sightseeing lore blurb which acknowledges this!

I think this is a fun addition to the zone that strengthens the real world inspiration sources and have fun with world building -- a lot of the formations near the Permian Basin were along the shore or under the waves of the Permian Sea!

And that's all I have! Thank you all for indulging me, and by all means take any and all of this to do with what you will in roleplay. Have fun with it!

[feraltuxedo]

Crowley's plants

For no particular reason, here's a rundown of the plants Crowley keeps in his Bentley:

Calathea Lancifolia also known as a Rattlesnake plant

Monstera Deliciosa the ever popular Swiss Cheese plant

Apidistra Elatior this one is a guess, lots of house plants have leaves that shape.

Ficus Lyrata also known as a Fiddle Leaf Fig. Crowley's specimen here is tiny, these can grow huge

Ficus Elastica also known as a Rubber Tree

Kind of hard to tell because we see so little of it, but my guess would be Calathea Corona

What does that tell us about Crowley's taste in house plants?

They're all fairly common and popular choices, certainly not designer or collector's pieces.

They're all varying degrees of finicky to keep alive, and I suspect none would appreciate living in a cramped cardboard box inside a car (looking at you calatheas, no wonder one of them has started to go crispy).

It's very much giving 2010's Pinterest board aesthetic.

In conclusion: Crowley is a basic bitch (affectionate)

[ataliagold]

But My Heart Is Just A Little Boy

Pairing: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson

Rating: Teen (swearing)

W/C: 2012

Tags: Established Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson, hurt/comfort, Steve Harrington has dyscalculia, Steve Harrington has self esteem issues, Steve Harrington needs a hug, fluff, light angst, DnD, Mike and Dustin are a little mean here

Notes: Just slowly posting some of my AO3 stuff here as well :) Title from Rattlesnake by Jack Van Cleaf.

___

Steve joining in on Eddie’s campaign was supposed to be a nice surprise for his boyfriend.

And it was; Eddie’s face had lit up with joy when Steve had walked in and sat down with the kids around the table. Steve had taken the dice Dustin had loaned him and lined them up in front of him, from the D4 (the funny triangle one) up to the D20 (the one with heaps of sides, Steve reminded himself.)

If he kept them in that order it would help him pick the right dice quickly, he’d decided.

Because he wanted this to go to perfectly.

Eddie had been asking him to join in on a game for months, but Steve had so far refused, only coming along sometimes to watch quietly. There were parts of it that piqued his interest – namely the combat and the creatures Eddie planted into the game, because some of them were so damn cool even if Steve wouldn’t readily admit it out loud. A small part of him, a much younger part that had loved fairy tales and stories about knights and dragons and sword fights before his father had confiscated those books, deeming them too childish, watched with a quiet giddiness as the kids battled all manner of beasts.

But much of the game was so complicated - there were so many numbers, and Steve had no idea how Eddie and the kids managed to keep track of everything, how they added dice values together so damn quickly and kept track of a seemingly endless list of stats and bonuses and modifiers, whatever the hell they were.

Eddie knew about his difficulty with numbers. He’d seen the way Steve had to count with his fingers, how it took him far too fucking long to do a simple equation, how he stood in Melvald’s staring at the price of something just trying to make the numbers make sense so they wouldn’t blow their grocery budget.

And Eddie was patient, always. But D&D was Eddie’s realm, his place to shine, and Steve was so worried about holding him back and ruining the game every time he had to pause to add two fucking dice together.

Finally, he’d caved. Secretly, with Dustin’s help, he’d put a character sheet together. He’d made a paladin because Dustin had told him it suited him. Steve made him strong and lawful good, just like the knights he used to read about as a little boy. Dustin had rolled his eyes a little at that but Steve had been quite proud of what he’d put together.

Plus, Dustin had promised to help him with the math.

But here Steve was, well over an hour into the campaign, and he was struggling.

Cheeks burning, he turned to Dustin yet again.

“Wait, which one am I rolling?” he whispered.

Dustin rolled his eyes. The kid had been patient at first, but it was beginning to wear thin.

Steve was beginning to wear thin.

“The D10, Steve,” Dustin hissed.

“Right,” Steve nodded, grabbing for one of the dice.

“That’s the D8, Steve,” Mike said wearily.

Steve’s cheeks flushed even hotter, and he grabbed the other dice, rolling it quickly.

“Ahhh...seven,” Steve announced.

“You slash at the goblin, your blade cutting deep into its chest, the creature gurgling and reeling backwards…” Eddie leant over the table, giving a dramatic recount of events.

Steve smiled, unable to help it. His boyfriend was having such a good time, and even if Steve wasn’t enjoying himself so much, well, that was ok. He could do this, for Eddie.

“…but it scrabbles back to its feet, weak but alive,” Eddie finishes.

Mike groaned and slapped the table.

“It has to be almost dead,” Lucas announced.

“Yeah, but there’s still four others,” Mike pointed out.

“This one must be on two hit points or less,” Will surmised.

How did he know that? Steve frowned, let the kids talk amongst themselves. His gaze wandered over to Eddie, watching him lean back in his chair, eyes shining. He shot a wink at Steve when he caught him looking, then frowned a little, obviously noticing Steve wasn’t looking all that comfortable.

You ok? He mouthed at him.

Steve nodded quickly.

But he felt small.

Grow the fuck up, you’re fine.

“…Steve!” Mike groaned.

Steve’s attention snapped back to the kids. “What?”

“Stop staring at Eddie and tell us how many hit points you’ve got left.”

“Um…” Steve glanced down at the piece of paper in front of him. He’d scribbled some numbers down like Dustin had told him to every time his character had taken damage, but there were a lot of numbers there and he wasn’t sure they all actually related to his hit points…

“Give it here,” Dustin snatched the paper from him impatiently, peering down at it.

Steve waited while Dustin assessed his work, the feeling vaguely reminiscent of being back in school, his teachers reading over his work with a disappointed shake of their heads.

“This can’t be right, Steve,” Dustin sighed. “It says you’re on twelve hit points…is that a twelve? Your writing’s messy.”

Steve nodded. “Yours isn’t much better, pea-brain,” he mumbled, just to shoot something back at the kid.

Dustin narrowed his eyes at him. “You must have less than that because of the damage you took in the last round. You’re probably down to…eight at the most, by now.”

“Just make it eight, then,” Steve grumbled.

“Eight it is, big boy,” Eddie agreed.

“It doesn’t work like that, though,” Mike huffed. “You actually have to keep track of this stuff Steve, there’s no point playing if you just make the numbers up.”

“It doesn’t matter, really,” Will tried to intervene quietly. “It can just be eight.”

Dustin picked up his pencil, drawing some columns on Steve’s paper. “Ok, so just use this one column to keep track of damage, don’t write all over the page. There’s your total hit points at the top, and every time you take damage, write it down under there, ok? And then just take it off the total. Simple.”

Like it was that fucking easy. Maybe for them, it was. They didn’t get every number mixed up in their brain, they didn’t stare at a single digit trying to put some numeric value behind it and coming up with zilch.

Dustin was trying to help, Steve knew. But his tone of voice was so fucking condescending that it had Steve squirming in his seat, wishing he was anywhere else.

He felt Eddie’s eyes on him.

“Come sit by me, Stevie, I’ll help you keep track.” Eddie said gently.

“You’ll just go easy on him, and that’s not fair!” Mike whined.

“Can it, Wheeler,” Eddie snapped at him.

“Just because he can’t do basic math.”

“Right, you get to roll with disadvantage now, just for that,” Eddie told him smugly.

Mike was retorting with something, but Steve didn’t hear it.

His pulse was thumping in his ears, his cheeks on fire. The years were stripped from him, the sensitive child he’d tucked away inside a long time ago forced to the surface.

“Look, just carry on without me,” Steve muttered, and stood up quick enough that his chair scraped on the floor.

“Steve -” Dustin started, but Steve was finished, striding towards the stairs and blinking back tears.

He wasn’t going to cry in front of the kids, not over a fucking game, not over something his boyfriend loved so much.

But they were coming faster than he could blink them back as he headed out of Mike’s stuffy basement and out to the driveway, the cold night air caressing his flushed face.

This was supposed to have been a treat for Eddie. It was supposed to be fun, and Steve had ruined the night by being fucking stupid.

A tear tracked down his cheek , Steve losing the battle against them. He’d just drive home, he decided. Steve had come straight from work that day, so Eddie had come separately in his van, he wouldn’t be inconvenienced.

And then they could finish their game in peace, without having to treat Steve like a five-year-old.

He was getting in the driver’s seat when Eddie ran to him, both hands reaching for him.

“Stevie…” Eddie murmured softly.

“I’m sorry,” Steve mumbled, dragging his sleeve across his face, smudging the tears there.

“Why? The kids were being assholes, I’ve already yelled at them.”

Steve shook his head. “I was just slowing everyone down, they were getting frustrated, I get it.”

“No, sweetheart, they were being rude,” Eddie corrected him. “Especially Wheeler.” Eddie brushed his thumbs across Steve’s cheeks, crouching down beside the open driver’s door. “I’ve told them to pull their heads in. Do you…do you want to come back inside?”

“Eds…” Steve leant into his hands a little. “I’m no good at it. I really wanted to try, for you, and I’m so sorry I ruined it, but there’s too many numbers and I can’t keep track of everything and it takes me so fucking long and it’s embarrassing because I can’t even keep up with a bunch of kids, and I just feel like I’m back at school again.”

Eddie cupped his cheeks again, tilting Steve’s head to look at him. “Hey. You haven’t ruined anything, they did. I’m so happy you came along tonight, because I know you did it for me. But look, D&D doesn’t have to be your thing -”

“But -”

“It doesn’t,” Eddie cut in. “Just like…your balls in laundry basket games aren’t mine. But I like hanging around while you and Wayne watch them, and I love how excited you get about it, and how you sit there with that fucking pretty smile…”

Steve huffed out a small laugh, and Eddie grabbed his wrist to press a kiss to the inside of it.

“But I don’t know what’s going on most of the time,” Eddie continued. “It makes you happy, and that’s enough for me. So, I don’t want you to feel like you have to play D&D just for me if it’s not something you enjoy. It’s more than enough that you listen to my ideas, that you help me write -”

“I don’t really,” Steve said quietly.

“You do! Or have you forgotten who came up with that fucking amazing twist with the elven prince?”

“I got it from a movie,” Steve argued.

“So? I didn’t think of it, and it had the little shrimps completely stumped.”

Steve managed a small smile. “I do like some of the stories,” he admitted quietly. “But I think…I just wanna go home, ok? You can carry on.”

Eddie shook his head. “I’m gonna get them to pack up in there. I’ll drop them home, then follow you back, ok?”

“Steve?” came Dustin’s voice from behind Eddie, small and hesitant.

Steve quickly straightened up in his seat, wiping a hand across his face.

“Yeah, buddy?” he replied, his voice a little hoarse.

“I’m…I’m sorry. That we weren’t more patient. It’s ok if you struggle with numbers, and we should’ve helped more.”

“It’s ok, Dusty,” Steve told him.

Eddie frowned, reached down to squeeze Steve’s hand, then turned to Dustin. “It isn’t ok,” he argued. “But it was nice of you to apologize.”

Dustin nodded. “If you want to try again sometime, I promise I’ll help more. I…I really liked having you play.”

“Thanks,” Steve managed.

“Tell Wheeler to start crafting his apology too,” Eddie said firmly, still cradling Steve’s hand in his own. “Otherwise he’s rolling with disadvantage for the whole next session.”

Dustin’s eyes widened a little before he nodded.

After packing up, the kids waited sheepishly by Eddie’s van. Eddie stayed crouched next to Steve a moment longer.

“Go home, get comfy on the couch, and pick out any movie you want to watch, ok?” Eddie murmured to him. “When I get home I’m gonna order us some pizza, and I’m gonna cuddle the shit out of you, understand?”

Steve laughed softly. “Sounds perfect.”

“Good. I’ll see you soon, sweetheart.”

___

[prismaticpichu]

One day, deciding that ShinRa’s finest SOLDIERs are far too distracted during work hours, Lazard decides to implement a security browser that allows him to see what the Firsts are searching for online. Just to make sure they’re staying on track. Just to make sure they know their own intelligence and don’t need to rely on the World Wide Web.

Morbidly curious, he decides to take a look at the results after the first day.

~~~

Genesis’s Search History:

• Is Mona Lisa dead?

• Is the color red better than silver?

• Is WWE real?

• is the color brown better than silver

• what’s the adjective for one without love?

• How to be emo

• What’s the first book in the Bible

• Are rapiers better than katanas

• Does ice expire

• why do people tell me to shut up

• Are phoenixes better than cats

• is it illegal to steal a street sign

• How to put out a microwave fire

• can metal go in the microwave

• why the hell does my friend have slitted pupils

• how can I get slitted pupils?

• contacts with slitted pupils low price

• silver elite homepage

Angeal’s Search History:

• my kids are fighting what do I do

• my adult kids are fighting what do I do

• seafood pasta recipes

• my teenager won’t stop eating cinnamon dog biscuits what do I do

• is it practical to carry a sword you never use

• what temperature should cacti be kept at

• where is the internet

• do sunglasses make you cool

• honor synonyms

• what is lucid dreaming

• Kraft mac and cheese

• is ShinRa ethical

• is “puppy” considered derogatory

• is it normal for your friend to growl

• are plants good listeners

• what are phoenixes

• why does my teenager never listen

• local diners help wanted

• is it possible to send two adults to military school

• how do I delete my last search

Sephiroth’s Search History:

• is it normal to growl

• Why are my pupils slitted

• is silver hair natural

• chemical composition of a single strand of spaghetti

• cute panda videos

• are sprinkles edible

• is it normal to hear voices in my sleep

• is silver a better color than red

• how to tell someone to shut up in a language they do not speak

• are trees sentient

• cute seal videos

• is my father my father

• is it incorrect to be shirtless

• why is it incorrect to be shirtless

• is it normal to be able to lift a jeep

• can the human body handle the consumption of a mole of spaghetti noodles

• current day slang

• loveless SparkNotes

• how to tell my friends that I love them

Zack’s Search History:

• What do anteaters eat

• What is a city people live in called

• Sodium chloride

• What is the square root of one

• who invented walking

• Loveless SparkNotes

• Does General Sephiroth like hugs?

• world squat record

• Are sombreros allowed in the military

• How many marshmallows can fit inside of a whale

• I GOT MY FRIEND’S SWORD DIRTY DO I TAKE IT TO THE DRY CLEANERS

• where does the word laptop come from

• how much water is too much

• how to make my mentor proud

• Do rattlesnakes actually have beans in their tails

• how many pounds of pepperoni is unhealthy

• How much of Dr Dolittle is true

• How to tell someone they are loved and wanted

• sophisticated words of today

• why are they called graham crackers

• toaster alarm clocks

~~~

Lazard closes the computer, letting his head fall into his hands.

[mod2amaryllis]

How are your fishies doing?

AWW thank you for asking!!!

my life has been such a fatigued whirlwind the last few months that I'll fully admit the tanks have gotten less attention. fortunately that's not a huge deal when you have planted tanks, they just chug along.

the community tanks are great, i had issues with guppies dying but i think that was just unfortunate genetic bottlenecking. :/ the deaths have stopped and there's a big new population of fresh blood fry to add to the gene pool. the little rasbora 5g is overrun with algae but the fish don't care, they're great. 40g community is as stable as ever, with the last batch of kribensis growing up peacefully.

but the sad news is Plinko. i euthanized him a few months ago when his quality of life just continued to drop. i never posted about it because i was sad. :/

i buried him in my favorite rattlesnake plant which, at the time, was dropping leaves til there were like 3 left, then after burying him it came back strong. I'm choosing to believe these things are related haha 💙

everyone else on the rack is good tho! hubble, bug, and peel. thread algae is winning the war rn but whatever

plus Plinko's successor....so.. i was at petco for something unrelated, of course, and all the bettas were in horrible shape. the clerk told me something had gone wrong with the last water change and they were dying left and right. so i go through them, not really in the headspace for a fixer upper, and there's one single boy who looks back at me with that regular betta brightness as if to say "hey. psst. get me outta here." this was Chicken the day i brought him home:

and this is him today

another pleasant big finned boy ❤️❤️❤️ awesome personality, love him. i got an adorable video the day i got him of seeing duckweed for the first time, I'll post that too

and the last update was an ill advised impulse buy who's been living in my qt tank. another, separate, petco situation. I'd seen him and left him, couldn't stop thinking about him for a week, then came back to a morbidly EMPTY betta display except for a few cups shoved on the bottom shelf, thankfully including my dude.

this is Tatters:

he's a veiltail but his tail was in, yknow, tatters, when i got him. it was another one of those betta-looks-at-me-brightly things, like his tail's gone but he's in good shape. he's a cool spunky dude and this is him today, fins have made a big ol recovery:

he's still just in the ugly little qt tank and I'm debating whether it would be a good idea to give him a scaped tank in the nursery...👀

but yes! thank you for checking on my fishventures!

[galacticnikki]

A Baby Witch's First Grimoire

Grimoire Entry 14 - Protection Herbs

A:

Acacia

African Violet

Agrimony

Ague Root

Aloe

Althea

Alyssum

Amaranth

Angelica

Anise

Arbutus

Asafetida

Ash

B:

Balm of Gilead

Bamboo

Barley

Basil

Bay

Bean

Betony, Wood

Birch

Bittersweet

Blackberry

Bladderwrack

Bloodroot

Bluebell

Bodhi

Boneset

Briony

Bromeliad

Broom

Buckthorn

Burdock

C:

Cactus

Calamus

Caraway

Carnation

Cascara Sagrada

Castor

Cedar

Celandine

Chrysanthemum

Cinchona

Cinnamon

Cinquefoil

Clove

Clover

Club Moss

Coconut

Cohosh, Black

Cotton

Cumin

Curry

Cyclamen

Cypress

D-G:

Datura

Devil's Bit

Devil's Shoestring

Dill

Dogwood

Dragon's Blood

Ebony

Elder

Elecenpane

Eucalyptus

Euphorbia

Fern

Figwort

Fleabane

Frankincense

Galangal

Garlic

Geranium

Ginseng

Gorse

Gourd

Grain

Grass

H-K:

Hazel

Heather

Holly

Honeysuckle

Horehound

Houseleek

Hyacinth

Hyssop

Irish Moss

Ivy

Juniper

Kava-Kava

L-M:

Lady's Slippers

Larch

Larkspur

Lavender

Lekk

Lettuce

Lilac

Lime

Linden

Loosestrife

Lotus

Lucky Hand

Mallow

Mandrake

Marigold

Masterwort

Meadow Rue

Mimosa

Mint

Mistletoe

Molluka

Mugwort

Mulberry

Mullein

Mustard

Myrrh

N-Q:

Nettle

Norfolk Island Pine

Oak

Olive

Onion

Orris

Papaya

Papyrus

Parsley

Pennyroyal

Peony

Pepper

Periwinkle

Pilot Weed

Pimpernel

Pine

Plantain

Plum Purslane

Quince

R-S:

Radish

Ragwort

Raspberry

Rattlesnake Root

Rhubarb

Rice

Roots

Rose

Rosemary

Rowan

Sage

St. John's Wort

Sandalwood

Sloe

Snapdragon

Southernwood

Spanish Moss

Squill

Sweetgum

T-Z:

Tamarisk

Thistle

Ti

Toadflax

Tomato

Tormentil

Tulip

Turnip

Valerian

Venus' Fly Trap

Vervain

Violet

Wax Plant

Willow

Wintergreen

Witch's Hazel

Wolf's Bane

Yerba Santa

Yucca

Feel free to check out my master post for more information!

[onenicebugperday]

@flawlesschowchow submitted: Hey, I found this millipede in the potting soil of one of my tropical plants and I was wondering if I could get an id on it. I live in [removed] (please remove location), but considering that this plant is not native to my region, this location might not help with IDing. It was found in the Rattlesnake plant (Goeppertia insignis) pot, if that information helps.

Also, any advice on what to do with it would be helpful. I don't want to release a potentially non-native species into my area, but I also don't want the poor thing to just live in there without any food. Any help is appreciated, thanks!

It's a flat-backed/polydesmid millipede. It looks to me like a greenhouse millipede, which is not native but was introduced a long time ago and is now common so releasing one individual isn't gonna hurt anything. On the off chance it's not a greenhouse millipede, rattlesnake plants are common enough house plants that I'd bet it was grown locally unless you ordered it from out of state, but to be safe, you can leave the pede in the plant if you don't want to kill it or feel weird about releasing it. It will have all it needs to eat in there as they feed on decomposing organic matter and there's plenty of stuff in the dirt + old leaves from the plant itself that it could happily eat for the rest of its life. It may come out when you water the plant, but otherwise you wouldn't see it much.

[bethanythebogwitch]

Native Wildflowers collection

Native wildflowers from my previous job. All pics by me. Not an exhaustive list. Split into multiple posts due to the image limit.

Starting off with everyone's (read: monarch butterflies') favorite: milkweed. Common milkweed is on the left. I think what we called common milkweed was actually 2 closely-related species. On the right is swam milkweed, which likes wetter soil. Butterfly weed in the bottom is a milkweed, but its sap is clear instead of white so some people don't realize that. It's also much shorter than most milkweeds.

We have 2 main gentian species. These flowers don't open all the way and only larger insects like bees can force their way in. These bees then seek out gentians as an exclusive food source, making it more likely for them to pollinate the gentians. Cream gentian (left) is white and can get very tall on good years. Bottle gentian (right) is a small, low-lying plant that hides under other plants. This picture was taken early in the season so they're pretty pale. They turn bright blue when they're in bloom.

Yellow (left) and purple (right) coneflower

Mountain mint (right) and downy wood mint (left)

Wild raspberry (left) and dewberry (right). My personal nemeses when I was moving through the prairie. Thorns are not my friend

Foxglove beardtongue, which comes in a common white color (right) and a rarer purple variant (left). Below is false foxglove, which is a hemiparasite (plant that gains nutrition through parasitism and photosynthesis) that leaches off of oak roots

Bee balm, this one has a lot of ornamental cultivars

Rattlesnake master, a badass name for a weird and spiky plant

Ironweed. We have a few species and I don't know how to tell them apart

Wild quinine. In the 3 growth seasons I worked here, this one became much more common.

Prairie coreopsis (left) and tall coreopsis (right). Guess what the difference between these two is

Rosinweed (left) and cup plant (right). Two closely related species.

Maryland senna (left) and partridge pea (right). Similar (but not closely related) species that grow pods full of seeds. As they dry, the pods peel open and send the seeds flying out.

Prairie dock. These grow very tall and have huge leaves that are cool because the roots bring up water from deep underground

Ashy sunflower, a hemiparasite that kills goldenrod and tall grasses. As those two are very aggressive plants that can take over whole fields. ashy sunflower seeds are a great way to fight back against them and help increase biodiversity.

Cardinal flower. This one is endangered so its great that it's doing well and even spreading where I worked.

Common thistle. This one is unfortunately losing ground to invasive Canada thistle (not actually from Canada) and isn't very popular, but bugs love it.

Black-eyed Susan (left) and sweet black-eyed Susan (right). The latter is larger and doesn't tolerate shade as well.

Continued in part 2

[ghostoffuturespast]

19 July 2024 - Friday Field Notes

The sky doing some half and half. This was a storm front that ended up rolling further north. I will attest, every time, that the sky here just hits different.

On the left, the baby Robins at work. It's only been a week/week and a half but it's crazy to see how much they've grown! Mama has been feeding them well.

On the right, Robin fledgling that was hanging out by the side of my house. Still trying to figure out how to fly, but they're getting there. Tail feathers haven't fully grown in yet. Watched Mom feed them a grasshopper a little later.

Playtime with Bullsnake. He did not want to hold still for pictures.

First time in a month that I've gone out to do some field restoration work. Of course, ten minutes after I say I haven't seen a snake all season I get rattled at by this Prairie Rattlesnake.

Swainson's Hawk eating breakfast off the side of the trail.

Ten-lined June Beetle! A type of scarab beetle, they hiss if you bother them.

Forgot I planted this Rocky Mountain Bee Plant at work and didn't realize what it was (but I kept watering it) until the flowers started forming last week lol. It's ginormous. Anyone else see the lil green solitary bee?

I don't care what anyone says, I think watching grass grow is pretty exciting.

First one is Blue Grama (aka Grandma's Eyelashes and the state grass of Colorado - the flowers once they've gone to seed do look like false eyelashes). The second is some Buffalo Grass that I planted around the patio area I installed in my front yard. I slapped some concrete pavers down and seeded grass in between them, so once the grass gets established it should help stabilize the soil, keep the pavers in place, and help keep that area cooler. I put jute down for erosion control in the meantime but the grass is doing a bang up job of making it obsolete.

Anyway, hope you all are getting some rest. Feels like it's been a rough week for everyone, so hang in there. Catch you next time on the prairie!

[tkingfisher]

Someone asked: Ooooh, Do you know of any deer resistant types of, well anything? I haven't been able to grow so much as a tomato cause the suckers here know no one's gonna cap their fluffy ass

(And I don’t know how to do this as a reply to a question thing, because I am old and the buttons have all moved.)

But yes! There are many deer-resistant plants, though very few deer-proof ones, because a sufficiently hungry deer will eat anything, including small animals. If you are somewhere with an overpopulation of deer—i.e. most of the Eastern Seaboard—during a hard winter or any other lean time, deer will go for anything they can get their teeth into. And even on moderately toxic stuff, they’ll often just bite flowers off and spit them out. Deer are dicks.

That said, from my own experience, almost all the Carex sedges are deer-resistant, I’ve had good luck with River Oats, they generally leave Rattlesnake Master and yuccas alone, Amsonia is usually a safe bet, most of the asters including Carolina climbing aster, oakleaf hydrangea, goldenrod, Joe Pye Weed, most of the glorious Salvia genus, our native passionflowers, the fabulous and underused genus Pycanthemum, American spikenard…there’s a lot.

This does not, however, cover tomatoes, peppers, or other stuff you might actually want to grow to eat. For that, all I can really offer is a chicken wire cage. I fenced in my whole veggie garden with deer netting, and it works great, but that was a whole bigass project.

There are various forms of home remedy/folk magic that people swear by. None of them have ever worked very long for me. The only thing that DID work, weirdly enough, was getting chickens. Too much noise and movement in the crepuscular hours, I suspect, and a bantam rooster yelling at the deer to come fight him, do it, he’ll kill ‘em, he’ll tear off their head and shit down the stump, just try him! completely eliminated deer incursions in our front yard. Go figure.