What Marjolein saw in the Herperduin nature reserve puzzled Frans

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What did you see in the Herperduin nature reserve?

Marjolein Prinsen found something strange in the Herperduin nature reserve on April 20. She initially thought of the male inflorescence of a Scots pine, but they do not simply sprout from the forest floor. By the way, there are coniferous trees there, but otherwise it is a mystery to her. I haven’t seen anything like this myself, so I ran a number of image recognition apps. Unfortunately without results. I think it might be some kind of broomrape. Perhaps the ivy broomrape.

I also engaged a Dutch expert from Floron, Ruud Beringen. This is his response: “I found out that someone in the US (Tennessee) was also wondering what the name of a similar plant is, see this link.” In this forum it was suggested that it might be conopholis americana. This is a species from the broomrape family. Ruud then informed me that my suggestion of ivy broomrape is not so crazy. “However, I don’t know what broomrapes look like when they are just above the ground. There are also few photos of it on the internet. Broomrapes have now died above ground, but the photo may have been taken earlier in the season.”

“From Marjolein’s photo I conclude that the species grows in a forest and there are few broomrapes that grow in forests. However, the ivy broomrape does, but then there must also be ivy visible somewhere. I have also found out that the American broomrape is parasitic on oak (especially quercus rubra!) and beech see this link. In addition, the American broomrape does not occur in Europe, with the exception of a growing spot in Romania. Perhaps American planting material was once planted in the Herperduinen with the American broomrape as a stowaway? In any case, it is exciting to see how the plant develops further. The plant will probably be better identified at a later stage.” So this may be continued.

A beech shoot with two colored leaves

Maaike van Steen has a pot of succulents on a garden table. On May 1, beech plants suddenly sprouted there. The strange thing was that the leaves had two colors. Maaike wonders: how is this possible? I have to start at the beginning: red beeches originated from normal beeches because something went wrong genetically. In a newly germinating common beech, pigments are present that protect the young leaves against too bright sun. These protective pigments disappear later. A normal beech tree lacked the enzyme that should break down the red pigments. This mistake was rare, with the result that there were people who wanted such a tree on their estate. As a result, growers started cutting branches from red beech trees and then grafting them. see this linkon the rootstock of a common beech. This is how more red beeches emerged in our country. I think such a mistake has occurred in Maaike’s shoots. But it’s only half a mistake. So I’m curious whether the enzyme that is supposed to break down the red pigments will become stronger or will eventually be missing. In short: which leaves will grow on the shoot later?

Something strange about a tree in the garden

On May 18, Jeanne Luijten-Janssens saw something strange on a tree in the garden at MijZo Buurstede in Oosterhout. She wonders what it was. What she saw are galls called lime nail galls. These lime nail galls, also called bugle gall or horn galls, are caused by the lime leaf mite. These mites are hardly noticeable with their maximum size of less than 0.2 millimeters. The color of these galls can be yellow-green or red. In addition, there can be a lot of them on a leaf on a tree and there are some that can only be seen on the lower leaves. Fortunately for the tree on which the horn galls are located, this does not affect the health of the lime trees. There is also no control and no other way to prevent these galls from ending up on the host. After hibernating in the buds or crevices in the bark of the lime trees, the lime horn mites move to the leaves in the spring. They then drink leaf juice. At the same time, they release some kind of chemicals from their sucking parts in the leaves. This causes an upright, hollow, red, finger-like spur to grow from the leaf around the mite. During the fall, lime tree mites leave their protective tree galls (shelters) and then seek shelter, see above, in the tree. These mites spend the winter there. The cycle repeats itself in the spring.

Saw a butterfly in the garden

Sylvia Kools saw a butterfly in her garden on September 6 and she wanted to know which butterfly it was. I think it is a common blue butterfly, one of the many butterflies of the blue butterfly family. The Icarus blues have nectar from mainly leguminous plants on their menu. To achieve this, they usually fly very low above the vegetation. These butterflies spend the night in a very special way, because they hang with their heads down in the vegetation. They do not do this alone, but usually in groups. After mating, the females lay eggs individually on plants in low vegetation. Usually at the top of a plant or at the base of young leaves. The plants that these females choose are mainly in short vegetation. When the caterpillars hatch from the eggs, they eat the intermediate tissue of the leaf, so the outer layer of the leaf remains intact. The larger species do eat the entire leaf. After the caterpillars have eaten and grown sufficiently, they overwinter in the litter layer or low against a stem of the host plant. Later, pupation takes place on the ground.

A large insect seen on holiday in Kefalonia Greece, what is its name?

Peter Nabben saw a particularly large insect on September 8 while on holiday in Kefalonia, Greece. What struck him most were the blue wings and yellow abdomen. What he has seen is indeed a very large insect. Fortunately, I recognized the insect immediately, because a friend of mine has also captured this beautiful creature on camera. The name of this beautiful insect is yellow-striped dagger wasp. This hymenopteran insect belongs to the dagger wasp family. This heat-loving hymenopteran was observed for the first time in the Netherlands in 2019. It probably came here via Germany. Its bigger brother, the giant dagger wasp, has also been observed in our country. The first in 2020 in Kortenhoef. Since then, incidental reports have been received from this big brother.

The yellow-striped dagger wasp can grow up to 2.5 centimeters (the giant dagger wasp five centimeters!) and has a shiny black body with two yellow bands. They mainly search for food on blue flowers. After mating, the female looks for a suitable location. This is usually a warm, sandy soil with little vegetation. There she makes a nest tunnel in the ground and then looks for leaf beetles. She paralyzes these beetles with a sting. She then lays an egg on the beetle in the nest tunnel. Later, the larva eats the paralyzed beetle from the inside.

Discover the difference between the male and female of the Common Blue – The Common Tern

This male and female Icarus Blue were filmed at the Hellegatsplaat. The Icarus blue is a butterfly from the family of the small pages, fire butterflies and blue butterflies. Many of these females are brown on top with orange spots. As a result, they are sometimes mistaken for a brown blue. The males are uniformly blue on top. The caterpillars are found on various plants from the legume family such as sickle trefoil, hop trefoil, small trefoil, common trefoil, marsh trefoil, horse hoof trefoil, variegated crownwort, cat’s thorn and creeping stablewort.