224/366 Burdock beasties

11 Tuesday Aug 2020

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature, plants, wildflowers

Tags

Arctium minus, Banded burdock fly, British insects, Common Green Shieldbug, Lesser burdock, Palomena prasina, Terellia tussilaginis

Lesser burdock (Arctium minus) seems to be having a good year as I’ve been finding lots of vigorous, flowering plants during my local walks, and they’re home to some interesting mini-beasties. One I always look for is the Banded burdock fly (Terellia tussilaginis), and it also seems to be thriving locally.

200811 lesser burdock (4) 200811 lesser burdock (5) 200811 lesser burdock (6)

And, on one particular clump of burdock, I found a bounty of Common green shieldbugs (Palomena prasina), as I’ve done before (see my previous post Keeping it in the family, from September 2017). Once again, these were a mix of juvenile stages, 3rd and 4th instars, I think.

Of course, there are lots of other mini-beasties that also find Burdock flower nectar delicious – these two bees are just a couple of examples. What beasties have you seen on Burdock?

334/365 From burdock to velcro

30 Saturday Nov 2019

Posted by sconzani in nature, plants

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

British wildflowers, Burdock, burdock seed head, Burdock seed hooks, Lesser burdock, Velcro inspiration

Did you ever wonder who invented velcro? Maybe you already know this story? Here’s what the official VELCRO® website has to say:

It began with a burdock burr, a tiny seed covered in hundreds of ‘hooks’ that naturally catch onto the microscopic loops that cover fur, hair and clothing. The burr was an unassuming marvel of nature and a minor headache for man, until one day in 1941 when the burdock burr, Swiss engineer George de Mestral, and his dog crossed paths on a hunting trip in the Alps. … Inspired by the burr, de Mestral created the world’s first hook-and-loop fastener.

I got snagged by a couple of Burdock burrs when I was out walking today, which is what inspired me to prepare this blog.

191130 burdock

Keeping it in the family

12 Tuesday Sep 2017

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

British insects, Green shieldbug, Lesser burdock, shield bugs, shieldbug

I was checking out a Burdock plant the other day (I rather like their flowers and seed heads, and they have their own special fly) when I suddenly noticed this Green shieldbug and then another one, and another one, and another one …

170912 Green shield bug family (1)

Turns out there was at least one adult and six nymphs, though more may have been lurking undiscovered. I’m assuming they were all members of the same family, but that is pure surmise.

A bewilderment of thistles

12 Friday Aug 2016

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, wildflowers

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Common knapweed, Creeping thistle, Lesser burdock, Spear thistle, thistle, thistle lookalikes

Last Floral Friday I was confused about geraniums; this week it’s thistles and things that look like thistles that are causing my befuddlement.

160812 thistles (14)

It seems there are thistle lookalikes, like Lesser burdock (Arctium minus agg.) and Common Knapweed (Centaurea nigra), though admittedly, they don’t have thorns but the flowers are very similar. And then there are plants that have ‘thistle’ in their names that don’t look a bit like thistles to me: Smooth sow thistle (Sonchus oleraceus), for example, that looks more like a dandelion, and Globe thistle (Echinops sp.), which looks like a cross between a thistle, a teasel and an allium. And then there are the numerous varieties of actual thistles to decipher. Which genus is it: Cirsium, Carduus (Latin for ‘a kind of thistle’), Silybum (yes, really!) or Onopordum? And is it Spear thistle (Cirsium vulgare) or Creeping thistle (Cirsium arvense) or Milk thistle (Silybum marianum) or Scotch thistle (Onopordum acanthum)?

160812 thistles (13)

I think you can see why I’m not even going to try to identify these photos. I’m going to remain bewildered and simply enjoy their wonderful structures and gorgeous colours.