Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: Mark

This morning I thought I'd try to be clever and take a picture of a croaking frog. As you can see, there are no pictures of croaking frogs. Stealth Janet is a myth! :D However, I did creep over to the pond to take a look and that's when I noticed flowers on the water! I thought, "They must have blown there from elsewhere or maybe a bird dropped them..." But that didn't make sense. I looked more closely and was amazed to see that they were blooming from a plant growing in the water! SURPRISE! I thought they looked suspiciously like a buttercup, and I smiled when I discovered that it is indeed a Water Buttercup! From Wikipedia: Ranunculus aquatilis (common water-crowfoot, white water-crowfoot) is a plant species of the genus Ranunculus, native throughout most of Europe and western North America, and also northwest Africa. This is an aquatic plant, growing in mats on the surface of water. It has branching thread-like underwater leaves and toothed floater leaves. In fast flowing water the floaters may not be grown. The flowers are white petaled with yellow centres and are held a centimetre or two above the water. The floater leaves are used as props for the flowers and are grown at the same time.

I found this lovely, metallic bronze beetle yesterday as I wandered around taking pictures while I kept an eye on our smouldering burn pile. The only time I've ever seen this beetle is on St. John Wort blossoms, where they breed and congregate. The are fairly difficult to photograph on those flowers because they stuff themselves into the base of stems and run around behind the blossoms if they notice me. However, this little guy was in the perfect place for a picture and he didn't move quickly, so I got time to compose my image the way I wanted it! :) From the Klemson University: The Klamathweed beetle, Chrysolina quadrigemina, is native to northern and central Europe and western Asia. The first North American introduction was reported from California in 1945 where it was introduced as a biological control for St. John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum) which was listed on the federal noxious weed list. The beetle has become well established in California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and most recently, western North Carolina where it defoliates H. perforatum by targeting hypericin containing glands. The presence of the Klamathweed beetle in North Carolina was first reported in 1997 from a shipment of fresh St. John's Wort harvested from naturalized populations in Oregon. The beetles overwintered successfully and established a population in Brevard, NC. Additional populations were detected in 1999 from experimental plantings located in Ashe County, NC, at the Upper Mountain Research Extension Station and the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research & Extension Center (MHCREC) in Fletcher, NC.