August 5th.  Field Milkwort (Polygala sanguinea).

 

What looks like a flower is really a collection of colored bracts.

 

The true flowers are tiny and open near the tip.

 

 

 

 

 

Wild Sensitive-plant (Cassia nictitans).

 

Flowers are tiny, but impressive close up.

 

 

 

Indian-Tobacco (Lobelia inflata).

 

Great Golden Digger Wasp (Sphex ichneumoneus).

 

 

 

 

 

Transverse Flower Fly (Eristalis transversa).

 

Dodder (Cuscuta gronovii), a parasitic plant that lacks chlorophyll, twining around goldenrod.

 

Flowers are minute.

 

Wild Indigo (Baptisia tinctoria)... with a beetle.

 

It's a Soldier Beetle (Ragonycha mollis or a similar species).  There were large numbers of these on nearby goldenrod,

 

A Crab Spider.

 

 

 

A common Slug crossing the trail... very, very slowly.

 

 

 

Red-spotted Purple (Limenitis arthemis astyanax).

 

 

 

 

 

August 8th.  Woodland Sunflower (Helianthus divaricatus).

 

 

 

Sweet Pepperbush (Clethra alnifolia).  Very fragrant.

 

Common Evening Primrose (Oenothera biennis).

 

An afternoon walk east of Cook Hill Road in Lebanon.  Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos).

 

 

 

Viceroy (Limenitis archippus).

 

 

 

 

 

Red-spotted Purple (Limenitis Arthemus astyanax).

 

 

 

An ancient (in butterfly "years") Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta).

 

Similarly ancient, one of several Eastern Commas (Polygonia comma).

 

Carolina Grasshopper (Dissoteira carolina).

 

Milkweed Tussock Moth caterpillars (Euchaetes egle) feed gregariously, skeletonizing leaves as they go.

 

Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) and Common Cattails (Typha latifolia).

 

Spotted Joe-Pye-weed (Eupatorium maculatum).

 

A True Bug, but I won't attempt an identification.

 

Nightshade (Solanum dulcamara), a relative of potato, tobacco,and tomato.

 

Rough-fruited Cinquefoil (Potentilla recta).