Word of the day: xylophagy (Greek xylo+phagy = wood eating, like xylo+phone = wood sound), because the larvae feed on dead wood and dead roots. Like Spanish fly (Lytta vesicatoria), C viridissima produces cantharidin as a copulatory gift** which the female uses to protect her eggs. This is a systemic poison similar to strychnine and cyanide when ingested. Before it kills you, though, it may cause “pelvic engorgement”, hence its use since ancient times as the aphrodisiac “Spanish fly”.[doi:10.1001/jamadermatol.2017.4531]
2023-07-11 Pointe d'Emy, Montricher-Albanne, France
* Also known as le Petit Cycliste à pattes vertes perhaps because of its similarity to le Cycliste émeraude and its over-developed male femora.[Wikipedia]
** The word “gift” means poison in a number of Germanic languages, similar to the English use of “dose” for a gift of medicine.
Botrychium lunaire (from greek + latin: bunch of grapes in the moon) a bizarre union of mushroom and fern. Living most of its life underground, it receives nutrition directly from mycorrhiza (Greek myco+rhiza = fungus+root), thriving for years without seeing the sun. Even reproduction occurs underground, with sperm swimming through the soil to find an egg (their own or others…they are not picky). When the time is right, they poke their heads above ground, with one stalk letting the wind carry them wherever they may (which can be quite far: the lunaire complex is transcontinental).[DOI:10.1086/710491]
2023-07-11 Pointe d'Emy, Montricher-Albanne, France
See also “Get A Little Moonwort Madness” from the Colorado Native Plant Society.
Hipparchia semele basking in the sun, keeping his engine ready to engage any male interlopers in an aerial dance contest. The male who can sustain the highest climbs and dives controls the territory, and mates with any female who wants it for her eggs.[Wikipedia]
2023-07-12 Petite Albanne, France
* Males have a less jagged black line and more prominent white band across their fore wing. [Gibbons, R. (2024) Hipparchia semele. https://butterfliesoffrance.com]
A high altitude geometer moth, this one living at 2400 m. Surviving strong winds and low temperatures is difficult with a large wing surface, so wing length is systematically reduced with altitude.[DOI:10.1111/syen.12633] Females of some species have even lost the ability to fly. This has evolved several times in geometer moths so there must be strong selective pressure, though nothing yet conclusively ties it to elevation.
2023-07-13 Col des Têtes, Montricher-Albanne, France
* Could also be *C. pseudotinctaria*. These two cryptic species are indistinguishable except via genitalia.
In the constellation Sagittarius (Latin sagitta+arius = arrow agent, or archer), depicted as centaur with bow drawn, lies Sagittarius A*, the black hole at the center of our galaxy.[1] With 4 million solar masses it has entire star systems in its orbit.[Wikipedia] For example, S2, a star 14x larger than the sun, has been tracked through its entire 16 year cycle. This is really fast, up to 2.5% the speed of light. In comparison, the dwarf planet Sedna with approximately the same orbit requires more than 11,000 years to complete its cycle.
2023-07-14 Pointe de Chaudannes, Montricher-Albanne, France
[1] Fletcher, S. (2022). The First Picture of the Black Hole at the Milky Way’s Heart Has Been Revealed. SA Space & Physics 5(3). DOI:[10.1038/scientificamerican062022-D9jmr5UqK6kYZeCOIM0go]
More puddling, this time by Cyaniris semiargus [Polyommatinae] (from Greek “Blue rainbow half-Argus [Many-eyed]”). The species name semiargus presumably refers to Argus Panoptes (“All-seeing”), the 100-eyed giant set by Hera to guard the nymph Io from the wandering attention of Zeus.[Wikipedia] The French name “blue of the kidney vetch” comes from Anthyllis vulgaris, a host plant for the caterpillars. The English name presumably comes from the rich blue of 18th century ceramics from Chelsea and Derby.[encyclopedia.design] It is unclear why this was called Mazarine Blue, though perhaps it was named for the blue on the cover of the Mazarine Bible,[Wikipedia] one of the original bibles printed by Gutenberg, which is located in la Bibliothèque Mazarine[Wikipedia] in Paris.
2023-07-12 Lac de Pramol, Montricher-Albanne, France
An Odezia atrata moth “puddling” on my arm. With a diet of plant sap as a caterpillar and nectar as an adult, essential minerals such as sodium and nitrogen are hard to come by. Where there are high concentrations such as wet mud, dung, carrion or sweat then you may get a dozen butterflies or moths crowding around to get suck up what they need. Apparently it’s a guy thing; they get a little more energy for flight and they transfer extra nutrients during copulation, though that doesn’t seem to help them with the ladies. [DOI:10.1093/aesa/saaf007]
2023-07-10 La Plagnel, Montricher-Albanne, France
Apatura iris(?), a butterfly which feeds on the honeydew secreted by aphids in deciduous forests (el. 1350-1600m) found itself high in the mountains near Pointe d’Emy (2750m). Unfortunately it didn’t pose for photos, so I can’t show its vibrant blue diffraction grating on top of pigmented brown scales.[DOI:10.1002/jemt.22021] Why did the butterfly climb the ridge? Perhaps like us it was out for some exercise and enjoying the view of the Aiguilles d’Arves in the distance. These sandstone peaks were laid down 35 MYA along deep underwater valleys formed by the nascent Alps. Called turbidite, a great river carried clay, silt, sand and gravel into the remnants of the Tethys Sea, settling out in finer and finer grain sizes as it flowed. Further movement pushed the entire seabed up into the jagged mountains we see today, 3500 m above sea level.[1]
2023-07-11 Pointe d'Emy, Montricher-Albanne, France
[1] Rob Butler (2023) The Annot Sandstone Part 1 and Part 2. [YouTube videos]
Trollius europaeus, from Old German Trol meaning “globe”, because the flower never opens. The pollination economics are unusual in that service is rewarded with both nectar and seeds.[DOI:10.1007/BF00377197] Flies of the genus Chiastocheta, squeeze between the petals to find a comfy little room inside. Males zip from flower to flower hoping to find a mate, but it seems that oviposition (egg laying) is the primary pollination method.* Because the larvae grow by eating seeds the female is careful to lay one or sometimes two eggs per flower, depositing a little pollen along with each egg (C. rotundiventris). Seed set rate is relatively stable up to about 10 eggs per flower (C. trollii, C. inermella), with more eggs leading to more pollination. Of course there are cheaters who pick the largest flowers with the most seeds and ignore the existing load (C. dentifera), in one case leading to 83 eggs on a single flower. Somehow systems survive such abuse (up until they don’t).
2023-07-11 Pointe d'Emy, Montricher-Albanne, France
* 25% of flowers were pollinated without eggs present, so males must have some effect
Surviving off the tears of dying glaciers, Ranunculus glacialis is not just cold tolerant, but heat intolerant. These alpine buttercups need the steady moist coolness provided by extended snow melt to keep their roots cool and maintain carbon balance.[1] Because the growing season is short, they are adapted to pushing out leaves quickly as soon as it warms. But they have no “off switch”, so when it warms too much they exhaust their stored carbon. Other alpine Ranunculus species (e.g., R. pygmaeus) control their respiration, allowing them to survive in warmer soil.
2023-07-11 Pointe d'Emy, Montricher-Albanne, France
[1] Cooper, E. J. (2004). Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Thermal Acclimation of Root Respiration in Arctic *Ranunculus*. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, 36(3), 308–313. DOI:10.1657/1523-0430(2004)036[0308:OOSOOM]2.0.CO;2
Linaria alpina: From latin linum because the leaves of toadflax resemble those of flax. The relation to toads in the name is not clear,[1] but seems to be unique to English. This is yet another alpine plant adapted for rock gardens. It was already present in England by 1570,[2] well before the gardening craze of the 1800s. I’m surprised that alpine plants need protection from frost in the English countryside; they don’t have the blanket of snow for insulation that they have in their native Alps.
2023-07-11 Pointe d'Emy, Montricher-Albanne, France
[1] https://depts.washington.edu/hortlib/pal/why-is-linaria-called-toadflax [2] Gorer, R., & Harvey, J. H. (1979). Early Rockeries and Alpine Plants. Garden History, 7(2), 69. DOI:10.2307/1586606
Myosotis alpestris is another high altitude plant adopted by gardeners, with many cultivars available in your local seed supplier. The genus was named by Linnaeus for the leaves (greek myos+otis = mouse’s ear). That’s a little surprising given that the common name forget-me-not has been used most languages (Vergissmeinnicht, nomeolvides, nontiscordardimé, niezapominajki,, vergeet-mij-nietje, ne-m'oubliez-pas, …) since Medieval times.[Wikipedia] Even Chinese uses 勿忘我 (don’t-forget-me) or 勿忘草 (don’t-forget-grass), which was borrowed by Japanese and Korean.[Wiktionary]
2023-07-11 Pointe d'Emy, Montricher-Albanne, France
Native to alpine meadows, Aster alpinus is adapted to a harsh life with poor soil. This makes it a lovely ground cover for a rocky area of your garden. In Pakistan, the flowers are used for respiratory ailments such as whooping cough or for malarial fever.[DOI:10.1016/j.jep.2016.02.039]
2023-07-11 Pointe d'Emy, Montricher-Albanne, France
Alpine asters looking east along La Maurienne, with Italy in the distance.
2023-07-11 Pointe d'Emy, Montricher-Albanne, France
Corizus hyoscyami is easily spotted with its bright red back. These are not mimics, but bugs with defenses that warrant the “don’t eat me” signal. It seems they pick up hyoscyamine in their diet, for example, from henbanes (fr: jusquiame; genus Hyoscyamus). This is an alkaloid that messes with the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, acting as a powerful hallucinogen. Used by witches, it gives the sense of flying (grind henbane seeds into fat and rub it on a broom handle so it can be absorbed through the thin membranes of the nether regions as you ride). Or like the Oracle of Delphi, burn the seeds and breathe the smoke so you can see the future. Circe used henbane to turn Odysseus’ crew into pigs (the genus hyos + kyamus means “hog bean” in Greek).
2023-07-12 Ruisseau des Moulins, Montricher-Albanne, France
[1] Paulsen, BS (2010). Highlights through the history of plant medicine. In Bioactive compounds in plants-benefits and risks for man and animals, Ed. A. Bernhoft, p18-29.
[2] Alizadeh A, Moshiri M, Alizadeh J, Balali-Mood M. (2014) Black henbane and its toxicity - a descriptive review. Avicenna J Phytomed. 4(5): 297-311.