Walk to work wildlife

I think this is trailing iceplant (Delosperma cooperi)

Might be a morning glory (Ipomoea sp?)

Another bee on coneflower photo

Daisy, black eyed susan (Rudbeckia hirta), and purple conflower (Echinacea sp?) Asteraceae (Aster Family)

Possibly a shasta daisy (Leucanthemum × superbum)

Unknown flowering shurb?

Might be white stonecrop (Sedum album)

Bee on coneflower

Hosta flower (Hosta sp?)

Bee (Apis sp?) on possibly Coreopsis, Moonbeam (Coreopsis sp?)

Unknown flower

Bee in flight over coreopsis flowers

White clouded sulphur (Colias philodice) on eastern purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) 2

Daylily (Hemerocallis sp?)

White clouded sulphur (Colias philodice) on purple coneflower (Echinacea sp?)

I get lots of bee butt shots

I get asked “what flower/plant is this” when people find out I have a biology degree and I have to remind people that I am not a botanist, horticulturalist or a naturalist, but an ecologist 🙂 All are excellent fields and I know enough about plant biology to help me figure things out with a picture, identification key, and the internet, but I did not specialize in plant identification beyond families. That special knowledge is one of the things I’m working on with this blog.

I’ve talked about this before, but horticultural varieties of plants are bred for showy flowers, leaves, etc. and so identifying them can be a challenge if you don’t regularly browse garden catalogs, due to characteristics not found in the wild. Characteristics include varigated colors, doubling of petals, varying petal morphology, etc. It should also be noted that my blanket labeling of the eastern purple coneflower may be erroneous as there are a number of species in the coneflower Echinacea genus that are similar or horticultural varieties, and so what I’m seeing may not be the purpurea species. I have spent the morning browsing catalogs and have figured out a few of the plants, thanks to my limited botanical background. Still there were a couple I’ll have to look at the whole plant to help guide my search. You can really narrow your search if you know that a plant is a shrub vs. a flower, if it’s a succulent, whether it’s an annual or perennial, etc.

In the altered words of Doctor Leonard McCoy “I’m an ecologist, not a [horticulturalist, naturalist, botanist]”  so just for kicks, some dictionary definitions.

Horticulture: the science and art of growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, or ornamental plants

Botany: a branch of biology dealing with plant life

Naturalist: a student of natural history; especially : a field biologist

Ecology: a branch of science concerned with the interrelationship of organisms and their environments

Year in Nature Photography – Day 125

Creosote bush (Larrea tridentata)

Prickly pear cactus fruit (Opuntia sp.?)

might be a Rawson’s metalmark (Calephelis rawsoni) Butterfly, definitely on desert ageratum (Ageratum corymbosum)

A whiptail of some sort can’t quite figure it out (Aspidoscelis (old genus Cnemidophorus) sp.?)

Bergaalwyn (Aloe marlothii)

Day 5 of Arizona backyard photography.

We had lunch at a botanical park in Tucson today, unfortunately we didn’t have time to go through beyond the plants they had out front. I managed to catch some butterflies and a lizard and was remarkably able to at least hazard educated guesses about the butterflies. Thankfully the plants were labeled so no problem there.

I had a hard time figuring out which whiptail lizard I saw as there was no exact or near match picture that I could find. Interestingly enough, some whiptail species found in the southwest are all female. They reproduce via parthenogenesis (parthenos = Greek for virgin and genesis = Greek for birth) which means they do not need a mate in order to reproduce. One of the “benefits” of sexual reproduction is in the mixing of genes which allows for adaptation and protection from genetic diseases. However, asexual/clonal reproduction can allow for rapid population growth, among other “benefits”. I put benefits in quotes because there is some subjectivity as to what are considered benefits within the scientific community. The linked article has some interesting information about the topic as well as current research. Some of it is rather complex if you’ve not studied methods of reproductions, but it seems that these species are products of hybridization which has given them increased genetic diversity to begin with. I find biology to be absolutely fascinating in the myriad of ways there seem to be to overcome adversity in the environment and is why it’s important to maintain species diversity.