When I walk around the garden every day I take a little inventory of how things are growing, what is flowering, and am always on the lookout for new bugs I haven’t seen before. This past week I was pleasantly surprised by what at first I thought was a bee with a long mouthpart (proboscis), but soon realized it was not a bee at all!
This small, flying insect buzzed up to purple flowers on several plants in my garden. The body was covered in golden hairs with some black showing through giving it that distinctive bee look. The proboscis was so long in proportion to the rest of the insect that it reminded me of the beak on a hummingbird. Still thinking it was a bee of some kind I started trying to get a picture and that is when I saw the telltale antennae and eyes that clued me in that this was not a bee at all, but rather some type of fly.
So, what was this strange looking insect? It is a bee mimic commonly called a bee fly (Bombylius spp.). The bee fly not only looks like a bee, but it takes advantage of native bees to support its young. The female bee fly watches where a ground dwelling solitary bee makes her nest and as she forages for pollen to feed her young the bee fly drops an egg nearby. After hatching the bee fly larva makes its way into the real bee’s nesting chamber and eats the pollen provisions then eats the bee larva. Since solitary ground dwelling bees tend to aggregate in similar suitable locations, I can only guess that the bee fly’s clever disguise prevents it from drawing attention as a threat to the hardworking bee.
If you are out and about this time of year you may notice an interesting flowering shrub putting on a show of white flower heads. As time goes on the flower will develop into dark purple almost black fruit. You often find this shrub in forests, the edge of fields and pastures, and along roadsides. This attractive and very useful plant is the elderberry: Sambucus canadensis. It goes by the other common names of American or Common elderberry or simply elder or elder tree. It is native to North and South America from Canada to Brazil, and all over it’s range it is used by indigenous and local communities for a wide variety of uses. It has both food and beverage uses and medicinal uses. It grows in and tolerates a wide variety of conditions, and is quite easy to cultivate in the landscape or allow to thrive in wild areas. It also puts on a nice early summer flower show and is quite attractive. It can be weedy at times and is not always welcome in pastures as it can be toxic to livestock. Despite its medicinal applications and edible fruit, it bears caution as the leaves, twigs, roots, and unripe fruit are quite toxic to humans as well as bearing several toxic compounds not the least of which is glycosides which are in the cyanide family of chemicals. With care and knowledge though, the flowers and ripe fruits can be used and are frequently used to flavor beverages, dye food, make preserves and jellies, wine, and even many home remedies.
Naturally growing Elderberry in the Florida Panhandle. Photo Credit: Ian Stone
I have looked for and used this plant my whole life. My grandmother grew up on a very rural farm in Louisiana and passed on a whole host of information on useful plants and how to make a variety of home remedies. I was lucky to grow up with someone of a generation where they retained and passed on this knowledge. We never planted or grew elderberry as there was plenty growing wild all over my home area of Louisiana’s Florida Parishes. The same is true all across the Gulf Coast, and June is a good time to spot patches as it is putting on its show of white flowerheads. I always knew about its benefits and uses, and also it’s toxicity and learned much more about elderberry in forestry school. As time went on, I learned people were collecting this wild and also starting to cultivate and grow it as a crop. A family acquaintance in Livingston Parish, LA started a business growing elder and selling syrups, tinctures, and other products. I have even seen their products locally in the Panhandle now at herbal remedy and other stores. Now I go in even chain pharmacies and big box stores and see elderberry products produced on a large commercial scale. I’m glad to see a native plant develop into such a market. For the home landscape and garden, it can make an attractive edition that can then be added to the landscape and cultivated. You can enjoy the flowers and fruits yourself and make your own homemade products from them, or you can leave them for local wildlife that also benefit from them.
If you have a farm or property in the Panhandle it is likely elderberry is growing somewhere. If it is not on your property, you can easily plant and grow it in your garden, homestead, or home landscape. Be aware though it can be aggressive and spready in good growing conditions. It is also fast growing so you have to stay on top of it in cultivated settings. If you are looking to see if you have wild elderberry growing; look for the showy white flower heads on a small shrub to low tree. It has distinctive corky dots on its bark which are called lenticels. The leaves are pinnately compound with serrated margins. The fruit is bright green when unripe turning purple-black when ripe. Only fully ripe fruit are edible and safe, with a ripening period of mid to late summer. There now exists several cultivars of elderberry in the horticultural trade which are available at nurseries that stock native plants.
If you are interested in learning more about elderberry, check out this publication in the IFAS Gardening Solutions page https://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/plants/edibles/fruits/elderberry/. There is also a good EDIS publication available at this link https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/ST578. If you are planning on foraging wildflowers or berries and using them use caution, get a good knowledge of how to identify the plants, avoid poisonous parts and unripe berries. As with all wild foraging, only forage if you are well-informed on what you are looking for, dangerous look-a-likes, and how to avoid toxicity issues due to unripe fruit or toxic plant parts. With elderberry there are several severely toxic look-a-like plants, particularly the water hemlock one of the most toxic plants in North America. Use a good field guide and properly vetted resources and if in doubt do not gather or consume.
If you are planning on cultivating elderberry, consider selecting cultivars and varieties specifically for cultivation and fruit production. You will get better results over wild varieties, and fruit ripening will be more uniform making harvesting easier. In cultivated settings it will require care and monitoring for some pest and disease issues as well. It is well suited for marginal conditions where some other fruit options are limited and difficult to cultivate. It’s tolerance of a wide variety of growing conditions means there is likely a place in your garden or landscape that it can fit. An added benefit is that it requires less fertilization and intensive management compared to some other options. For more detailed information on cultivation see this EDIS article https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/HS1390.
Whether you have it growing naturally or are going to cultivate it, elderberry is a very attractive native plant with some beneficial and tasty uses. Elderberry wine, syrups, and preserves are quite tasty and provide many health benefits. Some people use the flower as a flavoring and to make tonics, but this requires caution to avoid poisonous parts contaminating batches. Elderberries are high in vitamin C and contain antioxidants and other medicinal compounds and are often used as cold and flu remedies as well as other ailments. If you do not have experience with making elder products at home; work with someone that is knowledgeable and experienced before making your own, especially with this plant. You can also buy certified products for sale in health stores and even at your local pharmacies now that are tested and known to be safe. Enjoy the attractiveness and usefulness of our native American Elderberry, it is a fascinatingly useful plant.
A typical crane fly on the outside of a building. Photo credit: Carrie Stevenson, UF IFAS Extension
All my life, I’ve known them as mosquito hawks. Built like extra-large, spindly-legged versions of mosquitoes, they look a bit intimidating. However, growing up we were told they were harmless and actually fed solely on mosquitoes. In the days before Google, I just accepted it as fact and was glad to see them around.
In early March, there was a bit of an invasion of these insects. I started seeing them everywhere outdoors and inside my office building. They are slow movers, bouncing in the air more than flying. After several days of seeing them everywhere, though, they pretty much disappeared.
Several crane flies appear to have met their demise inside my office building. Photo credit: Carrie Stevenson, UF IFAS Extension
Like much folk wisdom accrued through my life, the story of the mosquito hawk is not totally true. They are harmless, that much is correct. While many people do know them as mosquito hawks, the accepted common name is the crane fly. Crane flies come in a wide variety of sizes and colors, ranging as some of the smallest and largest species in the fly Order, Diptera. Their diversity is rather mind-blowing, with the Family Tipulidae including about 15,000 species of crane flies worldwide.
Crane fly larvae live in aquatic environments and feed on decaying plant material. Photo credit: North Carolina State University
As for being voracious predators of mosquitoes, we have no such luck. Crane flies barely eat at all, because their adult life span is as short as those two weeks I recently noticed them around. They spend most of their lives as aquatic larvae, living in streams, pond edges, and rotting vegetation. Adults do not have the right mouth anatomy to eat other insect prey, instead drinking only by sponging up water in dew form or taking nectar from plants. Their primary purpose in adulthood is to complete the mating process. Females lay eggs near water, hence the location as larvae. After this hedonistic spring break experience of adult life, they die.
Crane flies, in both larval and adult forms, are popular snacks for other wildlife. The adults are easy targets for birds and bats. The larvae, which in some species are as large as a pinky finger, are tasty morsels for fish and amphibians. During their larval existence, crane flies ingest debris, helping with the decomposition process and filtering the water bodies they live in. Despite their short life span, crane flies make an outsized contribution to the food web.
Recently, I’ve been asked about a deer fly trapping method that I wrote about a number of years ago. So, here it is. This aggravating insect is active now.
Deer flies, which are in the horsefly family, are annoying as they repeatedly and persistently dive for their victims until they inflict a painful bite.
Dr. Russ Mizell, now retired UF/IFAS Extension entomologist, experimented with a method to trap this insect. Mizell wanted to identify the optimum shape, size, color and speed to attract deer flies. If successful, he could temporarily remove a deer fly population long enough to enjoy an outdoor gathering without being bothered by deer flies.
Mizell said he started the research as a high school science project with his son but “it got so interesting, I just kept doing it.”
Deer flies wait for prey to walk before attacking. So, they are highly attracted to movement.
With this in mind, Mizell and his son decided the best way to snare deer flies was to “troll” for them from a slow-moving vehicle. Working in spring and summer when deer flies are most prominent, they set out to discover what kind of trap worked best.
They built a test platform on the hood of their vehicle that could troll seven different shapes at once. They ambled along in deer fly-infested countryside for set periods of one to five minutes, testing pyramids, squares, balloons, plant containers and other shapes, all coated with Tanglefoot (commercially available sticky spray for insects), then counting immobilized prey. They tried black, tan, blue and shapes of other colors suspended from various heights.
The trap that enticed the most deer flies proved to be a 6-inch flowerpot painted bright blue and coated with Tanglefoot. This trap captured as many as 30 deer flies in a one-minute test. It worked best when suspended three to six feet above the ground and trolled no faster than 10 feet per second or about 7 miles per hour.
The traps are remarkably effective, Mizell said. “Many times, after running the traps through an area, we found there were no deer flies left,” he said. “You trap them out for a short period until they repopulate the area.”
The traps also work when attached to a baseball cap and trolled by the hat’s wearer. But instead of attaching a flowerpot to your cap, you could attach a blue drink cup painted with Tanglefoot.
Despite its effectiveness, its aesthetic appeal leaves something to be desired.
A threadleaf sundew in bloom, with its series of buds trailing down. Photo credit: Carrie Stevenson, UF IFAS Extension
The mucky, sunny spaces here in northwest Florida are inevitably full of beauty and surprises. Due to the sopping wet, acidic, and nutrient poor soil, plants in these areas must make some unusual adaptations. Wetland bogs are home to several interesting and carnivorous species, like pitcher plants and sundews. Most sundew species I come across are the tiny, pinwheel shaped dwarf sundews (Drosera brevifolia), which lie prone to the ground.
At a recent visit to the Roy Hyatt Environmental Center, I noticed a showy purple flower that at first I assumed was a meadow beauty.
Threadleaf sundew leaves glisten in the sunlight adjacent to a crop of purple flowers growing from separate stems. Photo credit: Hugh and Carol Nourse
Lavender, four-petaled meadow beauty flowers are common in wet areas. However, this plant was a bit different. First, it had five petals; but even more unusual was that something akin to a green caterpillar was hanging from every flower bloom. Intrigued, I bent closer and saw that the green segments were not a dangling invertebrate, but a series of fuzzy green flower buds. The bud closest to the purple flower was a deep violet and close to flowering.
Fields of curled fiddlehead leaves of the threadleaf sundew are a whimsical sight in wetland bogs. Photo credit: North Carolina State Extension Service (NCSES)
In all my years of exploring and leading people around pitcher plant prairies, I’ve encountered Tracy’s sundew/threadleaf sundew (Drosera tracyi)—a type of sundew with an upright, sap-covered stem—but never one in bloom.
Up-close view of a Drosera tracyi leaf. Photo credit: NC State Extension
Typically, you’ll only come across the slender, threadlike ( a structure known as “filiform”) fiddlehead leaves. These leaves look more like stems, and are bright green and covered in dewy, sticky, deadly-to-insects droplets. Insects are attracted to the shimmering drops of mucus, triggering a hormone in the plant that causes the leaf and its glands to fold over the prey. Once stuck, the insects suffocate and are digested by enzymes in the leaf glands.
The purple flowers appear in May or June, atop a single leafless stem that appears unattached to the threadleaf sundew leaves. According to the Georgia Biodiversity Portal, this series of flowers will “open one by one, from the bottom of a coiled inflorescence up, with unopened buds at the top. Flowers begin to open about 9:00 am and close about five hours later; some flowers persist for two days.” Threadleaf sundews can self-pollinate but are also attractive to bees.
