This week for Flora and Fauna Friday we’re talking about: the American Mink (Neovison vison).
Minks are members of the Weasel family, Mustelidae. We have three species of Mustelid in our area: the Long-tailed Weasel, the North American River Otter, and the American Mink. (We’ll likely touch on Otters another time.) The American Mink is found throughout the United States and Canada, excepting the Southwestern US. There are currently 15 recognized subspecies. Here in coastal SC, our one subspecies is the Atlantic Salt Marsh Mink (Neovison vison lutensis).
Our Mustelids are characterized by their long, slender bodies, short legs, and agile movements. Mink have a thick, fluffy, chocolate-brown coat, white chin, small ears, and thick tail. They can get up to two and a half feet in length, with the tail making up about a quarter of that. You’re most likely to see them at dawn or dusk, hunting on the edges of ponds and marshes. On land they move with a playful bounding and they are quite agile underwater. Mink are solitary animals and only interact during their breeding season. They live in burrows on river banks or berms.
Like most Weasels, Mink are fearless predators. They will attack anything that strikes their fancy including: fish, crustaceans, sea birds, rats, ducks, squirrels, chickens, frogs, and even snakes. The one in my photos below caught a Shellcracker, or Redear Sunfish, from a freshwater pond and was taking it back into the saltmarsh to eat. They will hunt in a variety of habitats including: burrows, fields, ditches, marshes, forests, rivers, ponds, and they’ll even climb trees. Don’t let their cute appearance fool you, Mink are ruthless. Weasels don’t use ambush tactics like other mammal predators, they charge their prey head on. Mink with their soft fur, large feet, short legs, and slender body have a stealthy approach. Their feet and fur dampen the noise they make on brush during their approach, masking their size. Their short legs and slender body keep them low to the ground and out of sight while allowing them to squeeze through rocks, roots, and into tunnels while in pursuit. Counterintuitively, the constant subtle noises they make when approaching fools their prey’s instincts into thinking the Mink is not a threat until it’s too late to react. This is because most predators are much heavier than a Mink and make as little noise as possible when stalking prey until using a sudden burst of speed to close the gap. Upon capturing prey, Mink grab their prey by the back of its neck while holding onto its back with their feet. They control the struggle with their serpentine bodies while they try to sever the animal’s spinal cord. Mink often kill more prey than they can ever hope to eat and will store the leftovers for later. This can give them a terrible reputation with anyone who maintains a chicken coop, as they can kill an entire flock overnight and not eat a single bird.
Mink have also been semi-domesticated. These domestic breeds are used in fur farming or as a hunting companion. In some regions, Mink are commonly used as ratters instead of cats or terriers and are trained to hunt Muskrats. The domestic breeds not only retain their ruthless hunting instincts but are even more fearless than their wild cousins.
This week for Flora and Fauna Friday we’re taking a look at a group of oddball plants that you can find right here on Edisto: Duckweeds.
The Duckweeds, subfamily Lemnoideae, are a small group in the Arum family. At least one species from the five genera found in North America can be seen in our area. All are tiny, light green, floating aquatic plants that are planktonic in nature. Meaning they survive entirely within the water column and have no roots anchoring them to the soil. They live their entire lives drifting on the surface of a pond or wetland absorbing nutrients dissolved in the water. They are flowering plants so they can reproduce with seeds but they predominantly reproduce asexually via budding.
The most common species in our area is Dotted Duckweed (Landiolata punctata). This is the larger species pictured below. Individual Duckweed plants are small, light green, and roughly the size and shape of a Flax seed. Each plant has several roots of roughly a half inch long. Several plants can remain stuck together until they are ready to bud apart. They form dense, expansive mats on the surface of freshwater ponds. This species’ origins are unknown. It is certainly native to both Southeast Asia and Australia but it is unknown if it is native to the United States. Researchers don’t know if it was introduced by migratory birds or by humans. Regardless, the species is well established across the Southeast.
The most diverse genus in our area is Lemna. There are several species native to our area and all are very similar in appearance. Although they can’t be easily told apart, they can easily be separated from other members of the subfamily by having only one root per plant. The species I tend to encounter the most in our area is Lemna valdiviana.
Common Duckmeat (Spirodela polyrrhiza) is the only member of the Duckmeat genus, Spirodela, native to North America. This species is very similar to Dotted Duckweed in appearance and habitat but is a little larger and more round in shape.
Brazilian Watermeal (Wolffia brasiliensis) is our one representative of the Watermeal genus, Wolffia. Brazilian Watermeal is the smallest plant in South Carolina and the genus contains the smallest flowering plants in the world. Wolffia also hold the record for smallest flower and fruit of any plant in the world. This miniscule plant is maybe a third the width of a mustard seed. You can’t quite appreciate how small they truly are until you see them in person. These plants are rootless and float entirely above the surface of the water. They can thrive in the gaps between other Duckweed plants. Even the densest mats of Lemna, Landiolata, or Spirodela.
Florida Mudmidget (Wolffiella gladiata) is our one member of the Bogmat genus, Wolffiella. This plant is different from our other Duckweeds in its appearance and ecology. Instead of a disc that floats on the surface of the water, it resembles a sparse mop-head hanging just below the surface. These tiny floating plants are rootless and consist of only a floating rosette of thin green leaves. They are larger than our other Duckweed species but would still fit on the tip of your finger. You can just about make out a few of these in my photos below, floating beneath the Duckweeds and Watermeals.
To many, our Duckweeds are nothing more than a nuisance. That green mess covering up their backyard pond. However, Duckweeds provide a slew of benefits to fish, waterfowl, water quality, restoration ecologists, and the farmers of the future. Duckweed is insanely high in protein and has a fairly high fat and starch content. This makes it an easy and nutritious meal for many species of fish and waterfowl. Since Duckweeds have no link to the soil, they must draw all of their nutrition from chemicals dissolved in the body of water they inhabit. This makes duckweed excellent at cleaning water systems that are contaminated with sewage or agricultural runoff. As the plants grow they absorb these chemicals and process them into yet more Duckweed. Duckweed grows at an extremely rapid pace. This makes it a useful tool to restoration ecologists seeking to remove an excess of dissolved nutrients from a water body, particularly Nitrogen and Phosphorus. Duckweed will also outcompete algae for sunlight, preventing algal blooms that are dangerous to fish populations. However, if you want to clean up a body of water, you have to remove the Duckweed at the same rate it grows. Otherwise the plants will simply die, decompose, and return their nutrients back to the water. What use is there for piles and piles of Duckweed? Livestock and fish feed of course! That high nutritional content makes them a great source of food for fish farms and as a protein supplement in the diets of most livestock, especially ducks, geese, and chickens. Did I mention that all species of Duckweed are edible to not only fish, fowl, and livestock, but humans as well? Their rapid growth, high nutritional yield, ability to clean wastewater, no need for agricultural land, and counterintuitively low water requirements have led Duckweed, particularly members of Wolffia, to be touted as a potential superfood for future human civilization. I’ve never tried Duckweed myself but it apparently has a taste somewhere between watercress and spinach.
I won’t recommend that you start eating Duckweed scooped from your local swamp, not without a thorough washing at least, but Duckweed salads may make their debut in a restaurant near you sometime soon.
Since I missed a week due to the Hurricane, this week for Flora and Fauna Friday I’ll talk about my favorite group of animals: Pond Turtles (family Emydidae).The Pond Turtles are a diverse family of turtles. We have six species in the coastal plain of South Carolina: the Diamondback Terrapin, Eastern Box Turtle, Chicken Turtle, Southern Slider, River Cooter, and Spotted Turtle. They’re typically flat bodied turtles with a ridge running along the back of their shell. However, this group has quite the variability in body shape and these traits aren’t always apparent. They’re all omnivorous and partially aquatic.
The Diamondback Terrapin stands out from the rest of our Pond Turtles, both in appearance and ecology. The individual scutes of their carapace, or top of the shell, have many concentric circles, their skin is a bluish-white with small black spots, and their beak is edged with yellow. They can live in freshwater, brackish, or saltwater where they hunt for small fish and crustaceans in the marshes and estuaries.
The Eastern Box Turtle, just like the Diamondback Terrapin, stands out from other Pond Turtles in both appearance and ecology. These turtles have high domed shells and a double hinged plastron, or lower half of the shell. This allows them to fully retract their bodies within their shells, leaving nothing exposed to danger. This is where they get the name of “Box” turtle from. These turtles are primarily terrestrial and can be found in almost any woodland habitat but they won’t hesitate to forage in a shallow wetland for small fruits, invertebrates, and amphibians. Females are typically a drab shade of tan or dark gray. Males are beautifully patterned in yellows, oranges, and reds. No two turtles are marked the same. Both males and females have red eyes, but males have a white base color to their iris which can make it appear a shade of pink.The Chicken Turtle gets its name because it’s said to taste like chicken, but so do a lot of things apparently. They’re a fairly small Pond Turtle with a yellow plastron, flat shell, a net-like pattern on the carapace, and a very long neck. That long neck is great for grabbing small fish, crayfish, or the fingers of un-careful herpetologists. They live in shallow, vegetated wetlands where they hunt for small animals.
The Southern Slider is our most common Pond Turtle. When you think of an aquatic turtle, this is probably the species that comes to mind. They’re also the most common turtle sold as pets. They are a fairly large turtle that can reach over a foot in length. They usually have a yellow underside and dark back. They exist anywhere there is permanent standing water. That includes lakes, slow moving rivers, Carolina Bays, and parking lot retention ponds. They will eat anything they can catch as well as aquatic plants. The Southern Slider has two subspecies in South Carolina: the Yellow-bellied Slider and the Red-eared Slider. The Red-eared Slider is native to the Mississippi River basin but has been spread extensively due to the pet trade. They’re more common in the upstate and around human development. They are easily identified by their namesake “red ear” but this can fade with age. The Yellow-bellied Slider is our native subspecies. They are best identified by their yellow “sideburns”. This is a thick, yellow, vertical band just behind the eye. Males are smaller than females and have long claws that they use to court females. During courtship the male will swim backwards in front of a female while rattling his claws in her face. (How romantic.)
The River Cooter is very similar in appearance to the Southern Slider. It’s a large aquatic turtle with a dark back and yellow underside. However, Cooters differ in habitat from Sliders. They prefer open water with some degree of flow. They are best adapted to life in large river as their flatter shell allows them to better fight the current. They are primarily herbivorous but won’t shy away from an easy meal.
The Spotted Turtle is a small, flat, black Pond Turtle covered in sparse yellow dots. They live in backwaters, blackwater swamps, bottomland hardwood forests, Carolina Bays, and even ditches. They are mainly carnivorous. They’re a federally endangered species. The primary reason for this is habitat degradation and a low reproductive output. I’ve only seen a couple myself so I don’t have any photos on hand to share.
This week for Flora and Fauna Friday, we’ll be showcasing the butterfly walk we hosted yesterday, led by Dr. Dennis Forsythe.
Thanks everyone who attended the walk and a big thank you to Dr. Forsythe for leading the excursion. We had a great turn out and saw some great butterflies. We had a total of 21 species for the day. I’ll put the list at the end of the post for anyone curious.
We started at the Edistonian for a brief introduction and to survey their flower garden along the highway. We got to see 9 species up close here and got an introduction into the different groups of butterflies from Dr. Forsythe.
From here we headed to Botany Bay WMA where we saw 18 species of butterfly. Notable butterflies of the day were a pair of Zebra Longwings near the main entrance, 3 White Peacocks around the SCDNR office, and a swarm of Skippers and Sulphurs along the beach parking lot.
Palamedes Swallowtail 1
Giant Swallowtail 1
Cloudless Sulphur 2
Common Buckeye 1
Long-tailed Skipper 1
Horace’s Duskywing 1
Ocola Skipper 1
Whirlabout 2
Dun Skipper 2
Cloudless Sulphur 15
Sleepy Orange 13
Little Yellow 3
Gulf Fritillary 8
Zebra Longwing 2
White Peacock 3
Common Buckeye 1
Phaon Crescent 3
Carolina Satyr 6
Long-tailed Skipper 1
Horace’s Duskywing 4
Tropical Checkered-Skipper 4
White Checkered-Skipper 2
Ocola Skipper 2
Salt Marsh Skipper 4
Clouded Skipper 5
Whirlabout 2
Fiery Skipper 3
For this week’s Flora and Fauna Friday, in preparation for our morning Butterfly Walk with Dr. Dennis Forsythe next Thursday, August 31st, we’re taking a less “specific” look at some of our wildlife. I wanted to introduce you guys to a few of our more common butterflies and give a brief introduction to the 5 taxonomic Families of butterflies found in our area.
To start off, the way you tell a butterfly from a moth is the antennae. Moths have feathery antennae. Butterflies have clubbed antennae. Butterfly antennae look like a honey dipper or half of a cotton swab.
The first family I’ll talk about are the Swallowtails, Papilionidae. The family gets its name from the thin projections on the bottom of their hindwings, which are reminiscent of the tail feathers of a Barn Swallow. These “swallow-tails” and their pointed forewings make the family easy to recognize. The Swallowtails are our smallest family but largest butterflies. We have 5 species in our area. All of whom are over 5 inches in wingspan and varying degrees of black and yellow.
Second are the Whites and Sulphurs, Pieridae. This family is named for its species’ vibrant and consistent coloration. In our area we have about 10 regularly occurring species, all of which are some shade of bright yellow or white. They range in size from the quarter-sized Little Yellow to the Cloudless Sulphur which can sport up to a 6-inch wingspan.
Third are the Gossamer-wings, Lycaenidae. This family is named for how petite and fragile many of its species are. We have about 15 regularly occurring species in our area that are split into two groups: the Blues and the Hairstreaks. The Blues are tiny and pale gray, with a blue iridescence on the inside of their wings. The Hairstreaks are also very small, but not as much as the Blues, and generally gray with prominent bands and orange markings on the outside of theirs wings.
Fourth are the Brushfoots, Nymphalidae. Some species in the family have specialized hairs on two of their feet, giving those feet a brush like appearance, hence the family name. This results in members of the family typically only using 4 of their 6 legs to hold onto a surface while perched, keeping their “brush-feet” against their body. An easy way to identify the family is by this 4-legged behavior. Nymphalidae is a family of butterflies with very diverse patterns and body shapes. The Zebra Longwing, Monarch, and Pearl Crescent are all in this family. There are about 25 common species of Brushfoots in our area.
Last are the Skippers, Hesperiidae. The family is named for their rapid, jerking flights when moving between plants. Skippers are shaped very differently from our other butterfly families. They have a very triangular, streamlined appearance and are mostly small. This is because they’re built for maneuverability. Those small thin wings let them to beat their wings much faster, allowing them to accelerate rapidly and fight wind currents. You can sometimes even hear them fly past your head. Their compact shape allows them to take advantage of smaller and more widely spaced flowers. Which is good because that active lifestyle means they need to eat more than other butterflies their size. Skippers are very diverse in our neck of the woods. We have roughly 35 regularly occurring species. Much to the chagrin of beginning butterfly enthusiasts, most of them look pretty much the same.
For Flora and Fauna Friday this week, it’s yet another plant. We’re taking a close look at Sicklepod (Senna obtusifolia). You may also know Sicklepod and its relatives as Cassia, which is the genus they formerly belonged to.
Sicklepod is a native, annual, herbaceous plant in the family Fabaceae, the Legumes. The same family as beans and peas. Like most Legumes, it can fix nitrogen from the air and loves sunlight. It grows best in full sun and in disturbed habitats, such as roadsides, fallow fields, and clear cuts. But, it will grow just about anywhere as long as it gets enough sunlight. It can grow up to 6ft tall in ideal conditions but is usually closer to 3ft. It has compound leaves divided into 6 teardrop-shaped leaflets. It blooms in late summer throughout the fall. The flower is yellow, bowl shaped, usually downward facing, and not particularly showy.
Sicklepod gets its common name from its fruit. The fruit’s shape is reminiscent of a sickle’s blade: long, thin, and curved. The fruit is a pod that’s packed with small, cube-shaped seeds. The plant disperses these seeds through its fruit. When dry, the pods will explosively split, scattering seeds for several feet. The technical term is “explosive dehiscense” and is a common form of seed dispersal for many Legumes.
Sicklepod is what most people call a weed: something that grows where you don’t want it to. However, calling a plant a weed or pest is really a relative term. Whereas something like the term invasive is an absolute, referring to any non-native plant that has a consistent and measurable negative impact on a native ecosystem. What makes a plant “weedy” all depends on what you’re trying to accomplish.
Sicklepod, from my perspective as an ecologist, is a fantastic native plant. It can grow almost everywhere, it requires almost no upkeep to maintain a population, it adds nitrogen to the soil, and, most importantly to me, it is a great source of nectar for pollinators and a larval host plant for several species of butterfly. Sicklepod is a major host for the caterpillars of the Sleepy Orange and the Cloudless Sulphur butterflies. The adults will also nectar on its flowers.
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure and one gardener’s weed is another’s centerpiece. It only depends on your perspective.
For this week’s Flora and Fauna Friday, we’ll be taking a look at another flowering vine: Cypressvine (Ipomoea quamoclit).
Cypressvine is not a species native to the USA. It’s from to tropical America, with a native range stretching from Mexico down to northern South America. It was introduced to the United States as an ornamental and has taken hold in the coastal plain of the SE-US. The hot summers and short winters here allow it to thrive. However, unlike most established exotics, Cypressvine is fairly tame in its ecological effects.
Cypressvine is a member of the Morning Glory family, Convolvulaceae. It’s not to be confused with Cardinal Climber (Ipomoea sloteri), which a hybrid between Cypressvine and Red Morning Glory (Ipomoea coccinea). Like other Morning Glories, it is a fast growing, herbaceous vine that climbs by twining; it simply wraps its soft stems around its surroundings. It is an annual and reliable self-seeder. The leaves are lobed to the absolute extreme and exhibit a feather-like appearance. This is where it gets its common name of Cypressvine, as its leaves look very similar to those of Cypress trees (Taxodium spp.). Cypressvine boasts a beautifully scarlet flower, delicately built and trumpet shaped. This flower is a favorite nectar source for hummingbirds and large butterflies.
Cypressvine requires full sun and plentiful moisture to thrive. This is necessary to support those feathery leaves. In plant ecology, you can tell a lot about a plant’s habitat requirements and lifestyle just by examining its leaves. In simplified terms, the wider and more circular a leaf is, the more sunlight it can catch and photosynthesize. The narrower and more complicated a leaf is, the less sunlight that will hit it. So why would a plant have such complicated leaves if it loves full sun? Photosynthesis isn’t 100% efficient. If a leaf receives too much sunlight, then it will cook alive and die. Plants in high light avoid frying their leaves by using a process known as transpiration, evaporative cooling from the microscopic pores of their leaves. It uses the same physics as sweating, what we humans use to cool ourselves with. The greater the surface area of a leaf is, then the more water it is able to “sweat off”. The greater the ratio of surface area to volume, the faster that “sweating” can cool the inside of the leaf. If the shape of a leaf prevents the plant from cooling down faster than it heats up, then it won’t be able to survive. Leaves that are as feathery as those of Cypressvine tell you that this plant requires full sun and a reliable source of water. Those feathery leaves allow Cypressvine to grow non-stop in the most intense sunlight without burning up. The leaves act like hundreds of tiny heat sinks/radiators. In order to maintain all those leaves, a reliable source of water is needed. This is why Cypressvine prefers to grow in shallow ditches or along fence lines. The shade and dense vegetation helps keep the soil cool and moist while giving the plant something to climb on.
The ecological value of Cypressvine in our area is complicated. It’s obviously an exotic plant that has escaped cultivation and demonstrated its ability to both grow vigorously and establish new populations. In high enough densities, it can dry out wetland soils with the sheer volume of water it loses through transpiration. However, it has fairly particular habitat requirements, it only thrives in areas where human disturbance is high, it’s feathery leaves block very little sunlight making it unable to choke out the majority of native plants, it dies off completely each year, and it provides a valuable source of nectar for pollinators throughout the summer and fall. In many ways Cypressvine fills an ecological niche that was wide open. The take away is: you can’t judge a book by its cover and you can’t always judge an exotic plant by its alien origin, sometimes they can end up helping more than they hurt.
For today’s Flora and Fauna Friday we’re going to take a look at a type of plant that some of you may be more familiar with than you might like. We’re talking about the Sandburs, genus Cenchrus, also known as Sand Spurs or colloquially as “Stickers.”
There are four species of Sandburs native to our area: Southern Sandbur (Cenchrus echinatus), Long-spined Sandbur (Cenchrus longispinus), Dune Sandbur (Cenchrus tribuloides), and Coastal Sandbur (Cenchrus spinifex). I’ve placed those in order of least to most painful to step on.
The two species in my photos below are Southern Sandbur and Coastal Sandbur. The reddish one is Southern Sandbur. It’s our tallest member of the group and it has fairly delicate spines. The green one is Coastal Sandbur. The next tallest and the one with the most savage of spines. Coastal Sandbur is the species that grows in my yard and, let me tell you, they are not fun to step on. (They can go clean through a foam flip-flop.) Dune Sandburs are the ones you find (usually inadvertently) in and around the dunes of the beach. They’re low growing and not fun to step on either. Long-spined Sandburs are also a low growing species. I can’t attest to their spiny-ness, as I’ve never had the displeasure of stepping on one, but they don’t look they’d hurt too bad.
Sandburs are a member of the Grass family, Poaceae. Like all Grasses, they have a fruit that is, in simple terms, a seed surrounded by several types of specialized leaves, called bracts. In the case of Sandburs, some of those bracts have become highly specialized, fusing together and producing numerous spines. This specialized fruit gives Sandburs a huge advantage over other grasses. Those spines lodge into the fur and skin of passing animals that brush against or step on the plant. That animal is then forced to carry that seed away from the original plant, whether that be a few feet or several miles. When the seed is finally scratched, chewed, or brushed off the animal, with any luck, it will be in an area perfect for it to take root.
It seems like a straightforward idea to us as humans but it’s quite an ingenious strategy on multiple levels. Since they don’t have to rely on wind, gravity, or sheer numbers to disperse their seeds, Sandburs can spend more energy to make their seeds much larger than other Grasses. That gives their offspring a head start. Meaning they can get a more solid foothold in whatever habitat they end up in. Having big seeds also makes you a target for seed eating animals but those spines are pulling double duty. Very few animals will eat the seeds of Sandburs. It’s just not worth the pain and effort. Those spines have microscopic barbs and serrations across their entire surface, giving them a texture like a wood rasp. Invisible to the naked eye but easily felt in the mouth of a deer or in the sole of a barefoot beachgoer.
However, this strategy is not without its drawbacks. Sandburs require full sun in order to have enough energy to produce those big, spikey seeds. They also have to be low growing since they require mammals to disperse their seeds. Most mammals are fairly low to the ground, think Raccoons and Opossums. So if you want them to brush against your seeds, then you need to be the same height as your target mammal. Being lower growing also means the plants can spend less energy growing the stronger, thicker stems required to support the weight of those big seeds. Remember, plants can’t move so they need to outcompete their other plant neighbors for resources if they want to survive. So needing to be short while still having access to full sun is an extremely picky set of habitat requirements for a plant. Sandburs get around this by also being well adapted to dry, sandy soils that are nutrient and water limited. They’re also annuals for good measure. They’re very drought tolerant, so instead of trying to outcompete the other grasses, they’ve instead adapted to growing in the places that little else will grow. Like sand dunes, beaches, sandy grasslands, pastures, and old agricultural fields. Instead of persisting through the winter, they die off each year. Relying on the seeds they couldn’t disperse to sprout right back up in the same place. This means they can put all of their energy into seed production without having to worry about having enough stored in their roots to last through the winter.
The next time you’re barefoot on the beach and you get that sinking feeling in your soul as you feel that stabbing pain in your sole. Instead of cursing that Dune Sandbur’s very existence as you pick it out of your heel, take a minute and appreciate the ferocity of life in that small but savage plant. It’s very existence is that of extremes. It grows in a trying place that few are able to take hold in. With nothing but sand to support it and salt water to drink. Instead of withering it thrives. The animals that would eat this little plant for their own needs not only find themselves incapable of consuming it but become the very shepherds of its progeny. Ferrying the next generation of Sandburs to a distant dune. I like to say, “There’s a history behind every blade of grass. It’s just a matter of looking close enough to read it.” and that holds true for the Sandburs.
This week for Flora and Fauna Friday, we’ll be taking a look at the American Green Treefrog (Hyla cinerea).
The Green Treefrog is our most common Treefrog in the SC Lowcountry and there’s no exception on Edisto Island. They’re easy to tell apart from the other 5 species of Treefrog found in our area. Just look for that well-defined, solid white stripe down the side and smooth, solid green back that’s sometimes accented with a couple tiny yellow-orange dots. They’re most easily confused with the Squirrel Treefrog (Hyla squirella), which is less common, smaller, typically mottled on the back, and often has a poorly-defined stripe along its side.
Green Treefrogs aren’t picky about where they live. In fact, I found this immature Frog in the middle of a sandy field on one of the Edisto Island Open Land Trust’s protected properties. You’ve probably found them clinging to the windows of your home. As long as they’re someplace that’s humid and full of bugs, they’ll thrive. (I can think of no place that better fits that description than the Lowcountry!) To go into a little more detail, Green Treefrogs are amphibians. Like most amphibians, they need to stay near water to keep their skin moist and to reproduce. This means you’re most likely to find them in places like ditches, pond edges, wet depressions, freshwater marshes, and bottomland forests. If you find yourself in one of these habitats, chances are there’s a Green Treefrog somewhere within arm’s reach of you. During the day, they cling motionless, flush against the leaves of a reed, cattail, grass, or sedge. Unlike their name suggests, they’re not commonly found on trees like some of our other Treefrog species. Their flat body and solid green coloration provides great camouflage within the grasses of the wetlands they inhabit but sticks out against the dark bark of a tree.
Green Treefrogs are nocturnal. They spend the day sleeping on the side of a leaf to conserve water and energy, as well as to avoid predators. As dusk approaches, they begin to rouse. Night is when the air is the most humid and insects are the most active. A perfect hunting opportunity for an ambush predator like the Green Treefrog. Green Treefrogs follow insect activity, and when they find a plant, puddle, or something else that’s bringing in the bugs, they position themselves and wait for something to come to them. When an unsuspecting critter come into range, they lunge forward and grab it with their short, but sticky, tongue. This is why they’re a such common visitor to the porches of our homes. They’re there for the bugs! Nocturnal insects are drawn to the lights on the inside and outside of our homes. Green Treefrogs follow the insects. And, when morning rolls around, the nooks and crannies of our porches provide a nice shady retreat from the day’s heat.
Night-time is also the best time to find Green Treefrogs. Just follow your ears! Like all of our frogs and toads, male Green Treefrogs attract a mate by singing. Green Treefrogs are particularly vocal and make up the bulk of the nightly chorus you can hear in our area throughout the year. They have a simple but distinct call. It’s basically just the phrase “Beh!” repeated over and over at a somewhat high pitch, about 1-2 times a second. Green Treefrogs breed all spring, summer, and fall on the Island. If there’s a dry spell followed by a heavy summer rain, their nightly serenades can become deafening.
Green Treefrogs lay their eggs in ephemeral or shallow wetlands. Their preferred wetland breeding grounds are shallow or temporary enough to prevent fish from moving in. This allows most of the eggs to hatch and the tadpoles to grow enough to metamorphosis, without getting eaten first. Once the tadpoles become large enough, they metamorphose, and begin growing their legs and jaws while shrinking their tails. When metamorphosis is complete, a tiny Green Treefrog will emerge from the water and venture onto land, ready to grow up and start the life cycle over. Now is the time of year to keep an eye out for “baby” Treefrogs. It may not look like it, but this frog in the photo was less than an inch long and I’ve found a few fingernail sized Treefrogs in my yard this week.
So next time you’re fishing from the bank at your favorite watering hole or listening to an evening rain shower from your porch. Take a minute and try to spot a Green Treefrog in the reeds right beside you or cock your ear and pick out their beseeching sonata through the pattering of raindrops.
Today we’re starting a new weekly social media series called Flora and Fauna Friday where we focus on a facet of the flora and fauna found on Edisto Island. Each week we’ll post about a different plant or animal that you should be on the look for that week around the Island. We’ll also try to tell you a little bit about their biology and ecology.
To kick off Flora and Fauna Friday we have the beautifully intricate flower of the Purple Passionflower, also called Maypop, (Passiflora incarnata). This flower was blooming in the front yard of the Hutchinson House yesterday, one of the properties the EIOLT protects.
Purple Passionflower is native to SC and found throughout the southeastern United States. It loves sunny areas on the edges of pastures, roadsides, powerline right-of-ways, thickets, and other disturbed habitats. Purple Passionflower grows as a vine that climbs using tendrils and has large, 3-lobed leaves.
The plants bloom from late spring through the end of summer and display a large, complex violet and white flower. The flowers are as showy as they are because they require pollinators to produce seeds. This makes them a favorite of bees. Purple Passionflower is also a favorite of the Gulf Fritillary, Variegated Fritillary, and Zebra Longwing butterflies. Not just for the flower’s nectar but as a place to lay their eggs. All three of these butterflies host and feed on Passionflowers as caterpillars.
Once a flower is pollinated, it will begin to produce a green fruit, roughly the size and shape of an egg. Once ripe, the fruits are edible. Purple Passionflower is a close relative of Passionfruit (Passiflora edulis) but the fruit is fairly bland compared to its tropical relative. The fruit can be eaten whole raw but the flesh surrounding the seeds is the most palatable. It can also be boiled or strained to make juice or jam. The fruit is also where the plants get the common name of “Maypop”. If you’re not careful when walking along the edge of a field, you might step on a Purple Passionflower fruit and it MAY POP with a loud popping sound, startling you and spraying seeds across the ground.
Come winter, Maypops lose what leaves the caterpillars didn’t eat and then die back to the ground. Lucking, they’re perennials and will return the following spring to flower anew.
Purple Passionflowers do great in backyard gardens, as long as it gets enough sun. It loves to grow up fences and trellises but will also grow just fine along the ground or over the top of small bushes. Purple Passionflower is also a sure fire way to get butterflies into your garden. A single Purple Passionflower vine can feed more than 50 caterpillars each year. Just make sure you have enough Passionflower leaves to go around or the caterpillars might strip it down to nothing. And once you have butterflies, make sure you have enough fall flowers to feed them!
