Moth Pollination 3. Settling Moths

Pollinating moths come from only a few of the 124 families of moths, as far as we know (part 1 of this series). The sphinx moths, family Sphingidae (part 2) are important pollinators that fly in the evening and even by day; they are really cool insects to watch. All the other pollinating moths are collectively called settling moths, because the land on the flowers and then probe for nectar, while sphinx moths hover. Settling moths are quite mysterious.

a settling moth, the bindweed or four-spotted moth,
Tyta luctosa Denis & Schiffermüller (Noctuidae) on a cosmos (Cosmos) flower

Travel Story--Beaches in Taiwan

Taiwan is an island just east of the continent of Asia. It is subtropical to tropical, full of scenic vistas, rugged mountains, and, being an island, it is surrounded by beaches. When the Portuguese discovered it in the 1500s, they called it Ilha Formosa, "beautiful island" an aptly descriptive name, though no longer in use.

beach, looking south

It is the end of winter, Colorado is still brown and beige, so here is a photo tour of coastal Taiwan. My photos are not especially colorful, so remember to imagine the temperature is a very comfortable 80^oF, a light wind is blowing and the humidity is very high.

Moth Pollination 2. Sphinx Moths aka Hawkmoths and Hummingbird Moths

The sphinx moths are the family Sphingidae of the Lepidoptera, handsome moths that can hover in the air. Many fly by day or during dawn and dusk, so are more often spotted and admired than their relatives that fly in the dark. 

sphinx moth pollinating vervain

Citron, An Old Citrus Fruit

The citron, Citrus medica (orange family, Rutaceae) is one of the oldest of citrus fruits. Although we have many citrus fruits--lemons, limes, grapefruits, oranges, tangerines, etc.--all were produced by humans crossing a few wild plants with small and sour fruits and selecting for better fruits. The citron is one of those wild plants, ancestor to popular citrus fruits. It is not well-known. 

One of the varieties of citron, Citrus medica, the etrog

Moth Pollination I. Overview.

Moths are the secret pollinators. They fly at dusk or after dark, tend to be small, and have blotchy color patterns. For all those reasons, they get little attention. And yet:  Moths are very numerous. They make up most of the insect order Lepidoptera, moths and butterflies. Lepidoptera are the second largest group of insects, after beetles, with 180,000 species, which is about 10% of all described living organisms. Lepidoptera are broken into 126 families; two families are butterflies, 17, 000 species, the rest are moths. So nearly 10% of the world's organisms are moths. And yet we generally overlook them. 

big tropical moth, about an inch across

Of Brooms and Broom

 Everyone knows a broom:

broom

And lots of people know the plant, broom, common broom, Scotch broom Cytisus scoparius  

Scotch broom, common broom, Cytisus scoparius

I was surprised to learn that the plant named the tool, not vice versa.

The English Yew, Taxus bacata--Ordinary and Fabled

My earliest memory of yew is from a poem. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a historical novel, The White Company, as well as his Sherlock Holmes mysteries (The White Company).  As a teen I loved the book, and remember clearly a poem from it, celebrating a company of medieval archers, which goes in part, 

"What of the bow?

    The bow was made in England:

Of true wood, of yew-wood,

    The wood of English bows;

         So men who are free

         Love the old yew-tree

And the land where the yew-tree grows." (link),

of true wood, of yew-wood

English yews, Taxus bacata, as ornamentals