Did You know - outdoor edition

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know most octopi and squids have an ink sac that squirts out ink like a smoke screen to protect the animal when chased by predators? They squirt a cloud of ink which hides them while they go get in a hole in the coral or swim away and the predator loses sight of them momentarily. Usually the ink is black but sometimes it is brown or reddish and some octopi do not even have this feature.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know that a beeline was the straight line bees flew from their water or food source to their hive? Old timers used to find bee hives (and westerners used to find water in the desert) by watching the direction bees flew when leaving a water source. They would walk in that direction as far as they could see the bee and when they lost sight of her they would watch for another one to be sure they were on the right path. My maternal grandfather once told me he used to sprinkle flour on bees at the water hole so he could see them in flight easier. I did not ask but I assume he had a helper dusting more bees for him.

   Finding water in the desert was generally done by following the direction the bee was seen coming from instead of where she was going.

   Remember the bees would always find and travel to and from the closest water source so the actual distances involved were not necessarily always that far.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Do you know your state tree?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_and_territory_trees

   I see several states list the sugar maple as their state tree - probably the most common tree listed. The tulip poplar is another "popular" state tree. I think it was Arkansas who just listed the Pine tree and did not bother to detail which of its 8 native pine trees it was. Correction - it was North Carolina.

[Old saw fixer]

Virginia's state tree is the Dogwood.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Yep, that's what the link said too. I see Missouri also lists the flowering dogwood as their state tree too.

    I grew up in Fla and the Sabal palm was our state tree but I always wondered if a palm was actually a tree. 

[Hilltop366]

Nova Scotia's tree is the red spruce.

[Ianab]

grew up in Fla and the Sabal palm was our state tree but I always wondered if a palm was actually a tree.

It's not, but the Coconut tree is the National Tree of most smaller pacific Islands. :D

[Don P]

NC is dogwood unless they changed it.

[WV Sawmiller]

   My research says NC state tree has been the pine since 1963. Do you have other references? I just checked State flowers and the State Flower for NC is the flowering dogwood.

[doc henderson]

ours is the sunflower.  Jeff grows them up in the UP.  I think @Magicman had a picture of a dogwood once.

[Don P]

To be honest Howard, I cannot remember my third grade teacher's name. Dogwood as NC state flower, I believe you are right  

[Magicman]

North Carolina State Flower

[Don P]

That article mentioned the Carolina Lilly as the state wildflower, not one I knew. Looking it up, I have been calling both a carolina and a close look alike both a turk's cap lilly, cool, I'm off the hook for the rest of the day  .

[Chuck White]

This was a standing joke back when I was stationed in South Dakota:

NOTE:  The North Dakota state tree is a telephone pole!

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know the Saudi National Bird is the plastic bag? They were thrown around indiscriminately and when one of their Shamalls or strong windstorms occurred they would fill the air. The huge dust devils were like tornados with trash and debris flying up to several hundred yards in the air. In some cases so many plastic bags would blow up against chain link fences it would actually stop enough wind to actually blow them over.

[sawguy21]

Interesting that the dogwood is the provincial flower of British Columbia, it really gets around!

[rusticretreater]

The state tree of Virginia is the Flowering Dogwood.  The state flower of Virginia is the blossom of the Flowering Dogwood. 

[Magicman]

Mississippi is the Magnolia State so obviously the state tree and flower are the Magnolia Tree and Flower.  

State Flowers

[WV Sawmiller]

   Did you know the largest gorge east of the Mississippi is Tallulah Gorge in north Georgia? It is near the North Carolina and Tennessee lines. It is about 2 miles long and over 1,000 feet deep. The State Park there is a popular tourist location with many activities including hiking, swimming, etc.

   The Gorge is home to a unique trillium flower found nowhere else. (Note: This plant was first discovered  by a botany professor from Auburn University but he made a mistake and excitedly told his "friend" and counterpart at The University of Tennessee who promptly went and registered it and named it after himself. :)

Tallulah Gorge - Wikipedia

[Chuck White]

The woods in this area are loaded with Trillium flowers, white ones, pink ones and dark red ones!

Most people here refer to them as "stink pots", they don't really have a pleasant smell as most flowers do!

[KEC]

When I was a kid the woods had LOTS of White Trilliums and some red too. More recently, they've become scarce, I think because the deer like them.

[JJ]

I always called the White Trillium 'Stinking Benjamin' as a kid.   I seem to recall being told it smelled like rotten meat to attract ants and flies for pollination.

      JJ

[WV Sawmiller]

   Due to the obvious prompt now for today' topic: Did you know that some plants have flowers  with a very foul smelling perfume to attract flies and such to pollinate them? I remember one was called a "corpse flower".

The Corpse Flower: Description, Life Cycle, Facts (treehugger.com)

   I do not remember a trillium being one of those plants but it sounds like some species must have been in that category.

[JJ]

I guess by google 'Stinking Benjamin' was in reference to Red Trillium, but there are whitish ones that stink too..

US Wildflower - Red Trillium, Stinking Benjamin, Red Wakerobin, Wet Dog Trillium, Purple Wakerobin - Trillium erectum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trillium_erectum

I once had a left over toilet, which I planted stinking benjamins in the tank and bowl, and made an ornamental planter on an old forwarding trail left on my old property in Maine.   Wish I had a picture of it in the spring when all the flowers popped out.
It also made a nice seat while deer hunting, for the first/last stand at dawn & dusk

  JJ

[WhitePineJunky]

When I was a kid the woods had LOTS of White Trilliums and some red too. More recently, they've become scarce, I think because the deer like them.

Deer weren't in my area until 1890s, they have really played a big part in changing the forest, they like the red oaks big time