Dog Tick

Dog Tick Dermacentor variabilis; the most common tick in the ILC area is the Dog Tick.  This flattened, “hard tick” has a lighter colored tab on the cephalo-thorax, but otherwise the body is leathery.  The larval stage is referred to as a “seed tick”, which is so small it is hard to see, and only has six legs.  It is never infectious, and feeds only once, thereafter falling off till next year.  If its first meal is from an animal that is infected it might pick up Rickettsia bacteria. As an eight legged nymph it might carry virus or bacteria for Rocky Mountain Spotted Tick Fever, or Tularemia, but never Lyme’s disease.  Lyme’s is carried by the Deer Tick, which is rare here.  The adult Dog Tick would much rather snack on your dog than you, and at 1/8″ long it is much easier to see.  Nymphs and adults crawl up on long grass or brush, waiting for an animal, or your legs to go by, when it grabs on and tries to burrow into the skin. You might feel them gently crawling along your skin, hoping to find your dog.  After it has fed it will engorge to a round grey blob, then fall off and lay eggs.  An engorged tick can be 3/8″ long.  Rocky  Mountain Spotted Tick Fever is more common in the NE coastal woodlands, but was first described by patients from the Rocky Mountains.  It is fast acting, marked by high fever, weakness, muscle and joint aches, and sometimes a rash of bright red spots.  It does not develop the “Bull’s-Eye” rash that marks Lyme’s.  RMSTF is serious, but usually responds well to antibiotics.

The other ticks in the area are the Woodland Tick (which looks a lot like the Dog Tick), Lone-Star Tick (with a bright yellow spot on the thorax tab), and the uncommon Deer Tick (reddish-brown with black legs and long snout).

Dog Tick: note: the light colored tab on the back, and dark, leathery body with 8 legs, and chewing mouth parts.

Broadleaf Plantain

Broadleaf Plantain Plantago major.  The broad, (2”) cross-hatched 7 veined leaves are up to 10” long, bearing large bare flower spike (396)  The flower spike is short (3-4”), the flower head cylindrical (not cone shaped) and the white anthers barely project beyond the profuse bracts that hide the miniscule, green flowers, giving the bloom head a scaly look.  Most common along paths, PDU, PL, roadsides (396) no pix 4/10/15-5/20/15; 4/17/16- ; 17 no obs; 4/?/18; 19 no obs; 20 no obs;

 

Bold Jumping Spider

Bold Jumping Spider Phidippus audax; the common, bold jumping spider seems fearless, happily living in houses, and seeming to enjoy human company.  At only 1/2″ across, they are harmless to humans, and so although they can and will bite, they cause only a slight singing sensation.  They have spinnerets, but do not spin a web, hunting tiny insects in yards and houses by stalking them.  The long, curved fangs enable them to grab and kill prey with poison.  The Bold Jumping Spider is marked by striped black and white legs, 2 sets of shiny black eyes, and a bright green bib.  The front pair of legs are longer than the other pairs, giving them an alert, upright posture. Jumping Spiders live up to their names, jumping as far as 3″.  They often anchor themselves before jumping so they can let themselves down gently.

Bold Jumping Spider; Note; the stocky build and eight pair of fuzzy black and white striped legs and prominent green “bib”.

Note; the longer front set of legs.

Note; the 4 prominent, black, button eyes which give the Bold Jumper wide peripheral vision.

Note; the prominent, hooked “fangs” below the green bib.

Texas Brown Tarantula

Texas Brown Tarantula Aphonopelma hentzi; The most common tarantula in the southern United States, the Brown Tarantula reaches 4″ across with the legs spread out.  Males have slimmer legs, and an angular cephalo-thorax, while the females have a larger, rounded abdomen.  Tarantula have prominent spinnerets, but do not spin webs, instead digging a tunnel which they line with silk, and spin a door that is camouflaged with leaves, twigs and dirt.  Solitary hunters, trap-door tarantula move around in the evenings, hunting insects, and mates.  While tarantula have large “fangs”, and kill their prey with poison, they are neither aggressive toward people, nor is their bite worse than a large wasp.  However,  the hairs on their legs can cause a rash, especially the hair on the shed exoskeletons.

Texas Brown Tarantula; note; 8 long, slender, black legs, brownish cephalo-thorax, and prominent spinnerets.

Note; females have a larger, abdomen.

Io Moth Automeris io

Io Moth Automeris io; A large, heavy moth with an overall rounded shape, 2.5 to 3.5 inches across, the Io is distinctive in its yellowish hew with large red eye-spots.  Multiple eggs are laid singly on the bottom of leaves, hatching into lime-green caterpillars with a white or cream-yellow side stripe, and covered in branching, green spines which are mildly poison to the touch.  The only caterpillars seen were on Mexican Buckeye.

Io Moth caterpillar; note the lime-green stinging hairs growing from the top and sides of the caterpillar

Note: Caterpillars over two inches long, with white to yellow side-stripes and stinging hairs.

 

Vetch, Purple Vetch

Purple Vetch Vicia benghalensis.  This early blooming legume forms dense masses of slightly flattened, smooth stems with alternating, compound leaves comprised of pointed leaflets in opposite pairs.  Each leaf ends in a climbing tendril which coils around vegetation, helping keep the vine like plant from collapsing.  spikes of dark purple tube flowers, with a protruding light blue to lavender lip which is split into two lobes.  spikes are usually less than3″ long, the flowers hanging in dense clusters from the last third of the spike.  Unlike Common or Spring Vetch (V satvia), Purple Vetch sports up to 20 flowers packed closely together.  all the flowers hang off one side of the spike.  Seedpods are flattened bean like capsules, unlike the round, full pods of common vetch.  Most common on roadsides, this vetch has not been spotted in any natural habitat on the ILC, so it is likely an introduced plant that has extended its range. 5/14/15-6/10/15; 16 no obs; 17 no observation; 18 no obs; 3/25/19; 20 no obs;

Purple Vetch habit; clumps of loose, vine like masses with flattened, smooth stems with composite leaves, each ending in climbing tendrils, sporting spikes of purple and lavender flowers.

Note; upturned spikes branching alternately along the flattened stems bear dense strings of tube like flowers, all of which are arranged along one side of the spike.

Note; purple, tube flowers with a protruding, lighter lavender, two lobed lip.

Branching Broomrape Orobanche ramosa

Branching Broomrape Orobanche ramosa. A leafless, parasitic plant whose stems tap into the roots of other plants, like Tobacco, Potatoes, or Mint, which sends up branching clumps of dark colored stems which bear light lavender tube flowers with a white mark on the lip.  Under the ground the plant forms a bulb like nodule around the roots of some plant, then sends up a short, stout stalk that branches at the surface.  Not able to produce chlorophyll, Broomrape has no leaves, parasitizing other plants. Locally uncommon, this pest can form colonies which are not noticed, since they are very short, and get quickly overgrown after they bloom.  In Europe this species is harvested and prepared like asparagus. SWk, Not in Book, 3/25/19 – 5/4/19; 3/28/20 – 5/?/20;

Branching Broomrape habit; a leafless parasitic plant producing clumps of light blue tube flowers.

Note; Broomrape does not produce any leaves, tapping into the roots of other plants

Note; branching clumps of leafless stalks, each bearing slightly arched, blue flowers with a white spot on the lip and into the throat.

Chickasaw Plum Prunus angustifolia

Chickasaw Plum Prunus angustifolia. A thicket forming, twiggy bush which has sharp thorns along the branches, this fruit tree is common on open land along water courses and road sides.  Blooming later than P umbellate, which produces umbels of flowers on the ends of stems, Chickasaw Plum produces white flowers along the full length of stems, making a display of total white “bottle brushes”.  The ½” fruit begins green, turns red, then yellow when it is ripe.  The leaves are soft and serrated along the edges, but longer and thinner than P umbellate.  Like other members of the cherry and plum family, the leaves are toxic to livestock and rabbits.  Each individual, sweetly fragrant flower is composed of 5 oval petals surrounding a central pistol with many filamentous stamen.  Known clumps are most prevalent under the power lines along the DORBA trails. (401) 3/21/19; 20 no obs;

3/21/19

Note: Chickasaw Plum blooming with masses of fragrant, white flowers from nodes along entire stems

Note; thicket forming habit of Chickasaw Plum

Note; dense masses of blooms along entire stems

Note; leaf bearing twigs can form into long, sharp thorns along the small, twiggy trunks.

Johnny-Jump-Up (Wild Pansy) Viola tricolor

Johnny-Jump-Up Violet (Wild Pansy) Viola tricolor. This soft stemmed plant is occasionally perennial, but in most zones is a self-seeding annual. An immigrant from the Mediterranean, this violet ranges in color from solid yellow to dark purple, the most common pattern being painted, purple lip with yellow stripes, the petals split between yellow and lavender. The elongated leaves, which have coarsely toothed margins, alternate along a squared, somewhat trailing stem.  The parent stock of commercial pansies, V tricolor produces viable seeds.  This wild stock bears 3/8” flowers on long stems, one at a time.  An uncommon visitor, this wild pansy escaped cultivation, and no occasionally blooms along forest margins, like Sunset Walk.  Not in books. 3/15/19-3/29/19; 20 no obs;

Note; Johnny Jump Up, or Wild Pansy, single 3/8″ blue flowers with white stripes radiating from a yellow center, born in slow succession on long stems

Note; elongated, coarsely toothed leaves alternating along squared, slightly trailing stems

Note; blue, 5 petal flowers born singly in slow succession.

note; buds forming within deep bracts at leaf nodes

Sage; Texas Sage

Sage; Texas Sage, Leucophyllum frutescens.  This hardy, evergreen shrub from the Chihuahua desert sports light grey, rounded leaves, and bright purple tube flowers which are intensely fragrant.  A popular flowering hedge, Texas Sage tolerates trimming, is drought resistant, prefers full sun, and blooms when nothing else will.  The light grey, slightly fuzzy, oval leaves are attractive in their own right, and smell only slightly of sage.  The grey color and hairs give the shrub protection from both the hot sun, and cold desert nights.  The plant blooms irregularly, breaking out into full blooms several days after a rain, all the sage plants in an area blooming so vigorously that the shrub is covered with light purple tube flowers that open to a 5 petal corolla.  Flowers bud singly from the node of each leaf, covering new growths with blossoms.  Honey bees swarm to the heavily pungent flowers for the few days they are open.  This shrub will reach 10 – 15 feet in height if watered, but is usually shorter, preferring to spread out in a dense, compact, naturally rounded shape that needs little maintenance.  It does not propagate naturally in the DFW region, but does well when planted.  Most plants are found in yards, hedges around shopping centers, or boulevard medians.

Texas Sage; a compact shrub with light grey, fuzzy leaves which blooms periodically with masses of purple tube flowers.

Note; oval, slightly pointed, light grey leaves are densely arranged in an alternating whorl.

Note; all Texas Sage shrubs in an area will burst into flower at the same time, covering the plant with pungent, lavender blooms.

Note; lavender tube flowers, the throats speckled with orange or red, open up to a corolla of 5 lobes, two pointing up, three pointing down.