What is it Wednesday: May 27, 2020

Can you identify what's in this photo?

Each Wednesday morning 

on Camp Lutherlyn's Facebook page

 the Lutherlyn Environmental Education Program posts a photo. 

Readers have all morning and afternoon 

to make their best guess about what the photo is. 

Around 6 pm LEEP provides the answer and a brief explanation.

Each week's What is it Wednesday post 

will also be posted on the Nature of Lutherlyn blog, 

 after it is posted on Facebook,

sometimes with additional bonus information. 

In addition to bringing you current editions of What is it Wednesday 

on the Nature of Lutherlyn blog, 

we will be reposting old editions,

creating a What is it Wednesday archive. 

This photo was posted as a What is it Wednesday on 

May 27, 2020. 

And the answer is....

There are a number of interesting things in this picture! This was taken where a wild grape vine is growing in the branches of a hemlock tree. The dark green needles are the hemlock tree, the light green broad leaves are the wild grape.

They both have “fruit” developing in this picture – the parts of the plant that reproduce. The dark green balls that are round on top and pointy on the bottom are immature hemlock cones. They will not get much bigger, but will eventually turn brown and hard, with seeds tucked underneath the scales.

The clusters of light green tiny balls are baby grape clusters. They will get bigger, and purple, but wild grapes don’t get as big as domestic grapes – about the size of a small marble. They are edible, but not as sweet, and with more seeds than domestic grapes  - and the poisonous Canada moonseed sometimes look like wild grapes, so be certain they are grapes before you taste them!  (Grapes have curly vine ends and Canada moonseed does not, and the fruit clusters hang differently.)

There is also a hidden spittlebug – that clump of bubbles behind/below the “b a” of the word baby is a spot where an insect – a spittlebug - has created a hiding place for itself by secreting a small cluster of bubbles.

Sometimes you can find a tiny world of interesting things in one spot - when you're outdoors, try picking an area, look at it up close, and see how many things you can notice inside one square foot, or a similar amount of space.

Like and follow Camp Lutherlyn on Facebook, to see What is it Wednesday posts when they come out and have the opportunity to share your guesses in the comments!