Mushrooms and Their Fly Associates

This cluster of mushrooms grew from our path wood mulch in early August. The long hyphae strands emerging from the mushroom gills caught my eye as I was walking by.

Upon closer inspection, I noticed tiny flies that were attracted to the sticky hyphae. These flies are a type of midge (most likely from the family Cecidomyiidae) with their characteristic tiny heads.

The midges will collect spores on their bodies and help in the propagation of these mushrooms (or whatever fungal species the hyphae belongs to).

Another type of mushroom that has emerged from the wood mulch in the yard in the last week is the Eastern Stinkhorn Mushroom (Phallus ravenelii). This photo shows the white egg-like cases in which the mature mushroom emerges from. These could be easy to mistake for snapping turtle eggs but it's the wrong time of year for those.

Here the Stinkhorn has emerged, with an older casing to its left.

Stinkhorns are aptly named for their strong mushroom-feces odor. This wonderful smell attracts flies and other carrion loving insects.

The slimy spore mass of the green Stinkhorn tip is a delicacy for the Vinegar Fly (Drysophila melanogaster). These flies will also help in the propagation of the Stinkhorn, carrying off the spores on their feet and limbs.

Discoveries Out & About: Packera aurea (Senecio aureus)

Golden Ragwort ~ Packera aurea (Senecio aureus)
We saw this native wetland plant while hiking in Sicca Hollow State Park in South Dakota in early June.

The basal leaves are round to heart shaped but the leaves on the flower stalk are pinnately lobed.

It was growing in several inches of water next to a spring as well as down a whole hillside where there were spring seeps. The bright yellow daisy like flowers were spectacular in a mass down the slope.

Plants growing in association with this Ragwort were Spotted Touch Me Not, Cow Parsnip and a Bittercress species (Cardamine) yet to be identified.

Golden ragwort is native to Eastern North American from Saskatchewan to Texas south and eastwards.

Native Plant of the Week: Canada Elderberry ~ Sambucus canadensis

Canada Elderberry ~ Sambucus canadensis (Sambucus nigra spp. canadensis)


Other Common Names: American Black Elderberry, American Elderberry

Canada Elderberry flowers from early July to mid August in Central Minnesota. This is one native shrub that was present in our yard when we purchased our home. It grows in the lowest lying (moistest) spot in the yard under mature black cherry trees in part sun.

The flat topped inforescence is very showy and fragrant - usually 6 or more inches in diameter made up of many 5 petalled tiny white flowers. Many nectaring insects (bee, fly and beetle species) as well as butterflies are attracted to the flowers.

One butterfly that seems to particularly like this plant is the Summer Azure (Celastrina ladon neglecta). This is often a difficult butterfly to photograph because they're very skittish. They do however spend quite a bit of time nectaring on the elderberry flowers. This photo shows the female depositing eggs on the inflorescence.

The other elderberry common in Minnesota is the Red Elderberry (Sambucus racemosa) which flowers much earlier in late May with more conical shaped inflorescences and bright red berries in late summer.

Canada Elderberry's native habitat is in low lying moisture rich soils along lakes and streams in sunny locations. The Red Elderberry is much more adaptable to dry woodland openings than the Canada Elderberry.

I chose to highlight it as the Native Plant of the Week because the ripening berries are very showy right now. They turn a shiny blue-black when mature and are held by bright pink petioles. The berries are highly sought by many bird species and thus the seed gets dispersed.

The berries are edibe and were used by early settlers for the use in pies and jams.

Elderberries provide a long season of interest from their early leaf buds swelling in late February to their showy flowers in July to their heavy deep blue black fruit set in September.

The one thing that frustrates gardeners with this plant is its weak woody stems that break easily and often die back substantially each season. It therefore needs a little extra attention in a managed landscape to keep it looking balanced. In a less formal wildlife garden, the pithy stems provide cavities for insect species to overwinter in.

Canada Elderberry is an native to most of North America except for the northwestern States and Provinces, northern Canadian territories and Newfoundland.

Discoveries Out & About: Verbesina alternifolia (Actinomeris alternifolia)

Wingstem ~ Verbesina alternifolia


Another local park discovery while walking the dog, but a first for me in sighting this plant in Minnesota.

This is a 3 to 6 foot native forb with bright yellow downward drooping petals. The ray florets in the center of the flower stick up giving it somewhat of a coneflower appearance.

The former Genus name Actinomeris in Greek refers to the irregularily of the size of the ray florets. (Source) The plant is very showy with numerous flowers on the branching stems.

This particular grouping of Wingstem was growing along the edge of a wetland in moist, rich soil.

Wingstem gets its common name from the wings or flares on the stem (somewhat like that of Helenium or Euonymus species).

I almost walked by this plant thinking it was Rudbeckia laciniata (Wild Golden Glow) which is common in our area along wetland edges but the spikey florets caught me eye.

As it turns out, it is not listed in Minnesota in the USDA Plants Database distribution maps. It is in Wisconsin eastwards so we're on the northwestern fringe of its native range.

There were several bumble bees nectaring on the flowers and I'm sure it is a valuable late season nectar source for many insects.

Another Native Vine & Its Invasive Cousin

Related Posts:
Local Native Vines
Native Vines in Our Yard

American Bittersweet Vine ~ Celastrus scandens
I just found a small 3 foot long American Bittersweet Vine this week at a local park. I wasn't sure if this was in fact the native American Bittersweet or the invasive Oriental Bittersweet Vine (Celastrus orbiculatus) because both exist in Central Minnesota.

One problem with the native and invasive species co-existing is that "it appears that successful cross-pollination occurs in the wild, leading some to fear that the native genotype will soon disappear". (University of Rhode Island Control Fact sheet)

An excellent Fact Sheet by the USGS (no longer available) on identifying the differences between the American and Oriental Bittersweet is worth referencing for identification and control.

Some of the things to look for for the Fact Sheet Key are the flower pollen color, leaf shape, fruit color, the flower and fruit position on the stem and the number of seeds in each fruit.

The vine I found this week is the native American Bittersweet. Pictured in the first photo, the berries are clustered at the end of the vine instead of being arranged along the stem as in the Oriental Bittersweet.

It also has longer than wide shaped leaves, the Oriental Bittersweet often has elliptical shaped leaves (but not always).

The other factor that leads me to believe this is the native one is that it was relatively small. The Oriental Bittersweet is a much more rapid grower and can girdle trees as it wraps around the trunks.

American Bittersweet flowers from late May through June in Central Minnesota. The following yellow-orange seed capsules are very showy as they dry and the outer skin peels back like the petals of a flower. They can persist throughout the winter on the vine providing some colorful interest.

All of the photos on this posting are of the native American Bittersweet.

For photos of the invasive Oriental Bittersweet go to the Invasive Plant Atlas.

Native Plant of the Week: Silky Aster ~ Symphyotrichum sericeum (Aster sericeus)

Other Common Name: Western Silver Aster

Silky Aster is aptly named for its soft violet pink flowers and silvery leaves. We planted a large amount of Silky Aster in our yard this year with the Grant Project.

It just started to flower in amongst the Little Bluestem and Side Oats Grama grasses. This area is extremely sandy, well drained and dry.

Silky aster "habitats include dry gravel prairies, dolomite prairies, sand prairies, hill prairies, scrubby barrens, limestone glades, and prairie remnants along railroads (rarely)". (Illinois Wildflowers)

"An especially noticeable feature of this plant is the uniformity with which it occurs in the vegetation of hill after hill. As a consequence, the entire floral covering of such situations takes its complexion from the silvery stems and leaves and bright purple flowers of this species."  The Botanical Survey of Nebraska by Pound & Clements, 1900

You can see in the photo of the close up of the hairy leaves that the stem has been nipped by a rabbit. So, yes, unfortunately this is one prairie native that the bunnies love.

Silky Aster reaches about 2 feet tall but does not have an overly upright habit, it tends to splay out so interplanting it with grasses or other stiff stemmed plants helps to prop it up.

The bees and syrphid flies like to nectar on this plant as it flowers from August through October.

If you have a dry, sunny and well drained spot in your yard for this well behaved Aster, I would highly recommend it.

Discoveries Out & About: Gentiana andrewsii

Closed Bottle Gentian ~ Gentiana andrewsii

I discovered this plant last year at my local park and went back to photograph it in late August. It is growing in very rich moist soil at the edge of a creek wetland in part sun.

The City did an extensive burn this spring in the park including where these few plants are. There doesn't seem to be any more plants this year compared to last; I was expecting more due to the amazing amount of rainfall we've had this summer.

As the common name suggests, the flower petals are fused/closed with a very small opening at the top. These particular flowers are a very light blue violet but they can also be a deep blue purple.

According to the Illinois Wildflowers website, "Bumblebees are the primary pollinators of the flowers, as they are one of the few insects that can force their way past the closed corolla."

In an 1884 book, this native plant was reported "frequent through the south half of the state and in the Red River Valley; extending northeast to the upper Mississippi River". (Catalogue of the Flora of Minnesota, by Warren Upham).

Ripening Woodland Native Seeds

Related Post: Ripening Nodding Trillium Seeds

Jack in the Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) was one of the few woodland natives that was present in our yard before we started our yard restoration. One reason is that they are not browsed by deer or rabbits and readily propagate from seed.

We have had very good success in adding more Jack in the Pulpits to our yard by collecting the seeds when the outer pulp turns red.

Inside each of the red fleshy pulp capsules are several seeds. According to William Cullina in his book Growing and Propagating Wildflowers, the pulp needs to be washed off because it contains germination inhibitors. It also has a skin irritant so wearing gloves is recommended when removing the pulp.

After we clean the seed, we plant it throughout the yard in 3 inch deep holes (a couple of seeds per hole). I will plant these in a triangular pattern or 3 holes about 1 foot apart.

This makes it easier to identify the first leaves emerging the following year which don't look anything like the true leaves. I then know not to weed these out when I see the triangular pattern.

We have several seedlings of various ages now in our yard after planting seeds for the last 3 years. The older ones should start flowering soon.

The other woodland native that has ripening white seeds that look like berries is the White Baneberry (Actaea pachypoda). A related species also native to our area is the Red Baneberry (Actaea rubra) but its red seeds ripen a little earlier than the White Baneberry.

This is another easy native to grow from seed. Like the Jack in the Pulpit, the fleshy pulp also needs to be removed.

It is also important to sow these seeds right away so they don't dry out (William Cullina, Growing and Propagating Wildflowers).

My success rate with these has been really high. They are easier to recognize the following spring too because they form their true leaves in the first season.

Native Plant of the Week: Stiff Goldenrod ~ Oligoneuron rigidum (Solidago rigida)

Stiff Goldenrod is a great colorful late summer to early fall nectar and larval host for many insect species.

In the cold mornings the last couple of days the bumble bees are perched frozen on top of the flowers waiting for the sun to warm up their bodies so they can move again.

In my opinion, it is one of the most attractive goldenrods, with light blue gray soft leaves and a very upright and sturdy (stiff) growing habit.


For this reason, it makes a great addition to any sunny, medium to dry place in the landscape. En masse, the blue gray leaves contrast very nicely with prairie grasses or forbs.

Monarch butterflies love to nectar on Stiff Goldenrod late into the season prior to their migration, often after their other favorites like the Milkweeds and Blazingstars are finished flowering.

There are also many other insect species that like Stiff Goldenrod including many moth species that feed on the flowers and foliage.

A recent new arrival on our Stiff Goldenrod which was a first for our yard is the Locust Borer Beetle (Megacyllene robiniae). This beetle is another bee or wasp mimic with its black and yellow coloring to ward off potential predators. The beetle buried himself head down in between the flowers overnight, and like the bumbles waited to warm up with the rising sun.

Stiff goldenrod is native to central North America from Alberta to Quebec southwards to Texas. It grows up to 4 feet tall in rich soils, shorter in drier, poorer soils.

In our area in Central Minnesota, Stiff Goldenrod can be seen growing along roadsides (not as abundantly as Canada Goldenrod) and in prairie remnants like the one in this photo.






I took these photos below in about 20 minutes in my yard on the Stiff Goldenrod to illustrate the amazing insect diversity.

Sphex ichneumoneus

Great Golden Digger Wasp

Helophilus species

Flower Fly

Eristalis dimidiata

Flower Fly

Apis mellifera

Honey Bee

Pieris rapae

Cabbage White Butterfly

Spilomyia species

Hover Fly

Polistes fuscatus

Northern Paper Wasp

Dolichovespula arenia

Aerial Yellowjacket

Agapostemon splendens

Splendid Metallic Green Bee

Syrphid species

Syrphid Fly

Jurinia pompalis

Tachinid Fly

Eumenes crucifer

Potter Wasp

Bombus citrinus

Cuckoo Bumble Bee

Diabrotica undecimpunctata

Spotted Cucumber Beetle

Danaus plexippus

Monarch Butterfly

Chipmunk Rescued

We have several chipmunks in the yard, many of them overwinter in our rock walls. Yesterday morning I noticed one on our deck eating acorns with something green on its body. I thought at first that it was burs but after checking through the binoculars I realized that it was green plastic mesh wrapped around its neck and front leg.

I borrowed a live trap from a friend and caught the chipmunk within an hour of setting it up with peanuts. The plastic mesh was so tight around its neck I thought that it would start to imbed itself into the skin and possibly prevent the chipmunk from being able to eat.

We put mesh bags on each end of the trap to catch the chipmunk coming out. My husband held him still in the bag in his hands and I was able to cut an opening in the bag to access the plastic mesh on the chipmunk's neck and leg.

We got it all clipped off and he was off and away in no time without too much trauma. (He came back for more peanuts within minutes.)

The green plastic mesh is from sod rolls (sod companies wrap sod rolls in this mesh) and it is also used in seeding lawns where a straw layer is added on top as a mulch. The straw is held together with the plastic mesh.

In our neighborhood, it was used with the construction of some new homes - most likely where this chipmunk got entangled in it.

I have seen several instances where the mesh surfaces and gets clipped by lawn mowers, people trip on it and where the straw blows away leaving the plastic mesh exposed. It certainly should be considered a hazard to wildlife (like most plastic items) and I would hope that sod companies will not continue to use this mesh.