Images

Trifolium repens, White Clover head, Beltsville, Maryland lawn

Just a white oak leaf bud from several years ago. Botanists, at some point, realized that many plants go through a period of time where they have no leaves. So, being clever (and having no leaves to look at) they have devised alternative strategies to identifying plants using things like buds, leaf scars, patterns of pith, color of bark, and so forth.

Peromyscus leucopus, the white-footed mouse, this one dead from one of the many traps in our lab, where we fear the number of bees one mouse can eat in a day. Photo by Hannah Sutton.

Tiny feather from the head of a Whooping Crane. (Grus americana). Part of the captive flock at Patuxent Wildlife Research Center.

Hylocichla mustelina, killed when striking the Hart Senate Building in Washington D.C., during migration, collected with permits by LightsOutDC

A tiny little bee species from Australia pinned with a tiny little pin called a minutum to a foam block...from the Packer Lab's collection.

Xanthorhiza simplicissima, Yellowroot. A long tradition in eastern North American of using this shrubby Ranunculus family plant for dyeing and medicine. Plant and specimen from Helen Lowe Metzman.

Xanthorhiza simplicissima, Yellowroot. A long tradition in eastern North American of using this shrubby Ranunculus family plant for dyeing and medicine. Plant and specimen from Helen Lowe Metzman.

Prickly Ash - Xanthoxylum americanum. Photo by Helen Lowe Metzman.

A couple more prickly ash photos taken by Helen Low Metzman.

A couple more prickly ash photos taken by Helen Low Metzman.

Xenoglossa strenua. People who know something about native bees often know about the "Squash Bee" Peponapis pruinosa. However, there are other native squash bees, and here is one. This is Xenoglossa strenua.

Xenoglossa strenua. People who know something about native bees often know about the "Squash Bee" Peponapis pruinosa. However, there are other native squash bees, and here is one. This is Xenoglossa strenua.

One of the most common bees in the East...if only we could figure out how to identify it more easily. Here we have Lasioglossum trigeminum. Fits right in with A. admirandum, A. versatum, and A. callidum and I often struggle with dark second thoughts about the specimens Id, because of all the overlap.

A common Carpenter Bee in Kruger National Park where they hang out in blooming trees (particularly legumes) once the trees start blooming with the austral spring rains. Looks a bit like the road stripers got a hold of her. Xylcopa caffra. Identified by Jonathan Mawdsley. Photo by Kelly Graninger.

A common Carpenter Bee in Kruger National Park where they hang out in blooming trees (particularly legumes) once the trees start blooming with the austral spring rains. Looks a bit like the road stripers got a hold of her. Xylcopa caffra. Identified by Jonathan Mawdsley. Photo by Kelly Graninger.

A common Carpenter Bee in Kruger National Park where they hang out in blooming trees (particularly legumes) once the trees start blooming with the austral spring rains. Looks a bit like the road stripers got a hold of her. Xylcopa caffra. Identified by Jonathan Mawdsley. Photo by Kelly Graninger.

Another bee from Kruger National Park in South Africa. This is Xylocopa caffra...the male. Note how it is all yellow? Well the female is almost all black with some blocks of yellow on the abdomen. In a number of Carpenter bees on a number of continents this pattern repeats...while in other Carpenter bees the male and female are both dark.

Another bee from Kruger National Park in South Africa. This is Xylocopa caffra...the male. Note how it is all yellow? Well the female is almost all black with some blocks of yellow on the abdomen. In a number of Carpenter bees on a number of continents this pattern repeats...while in other Carpenter bees the male and female are both dark.

Another bee from Kruger National Park in South Africa. This is Xylocopa caffra...the male. Note how it is all yellow? Well the female is almost all black with some blocks of yellow on the abdomen. In a number of Carpenter bees on a number of continents this pattern repeats...while in other Carpenter bees the male and female are both dark.