Ideas from the Front Page

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Liis
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Re: Ideas from the Front Page

Post by Liis »

Forget-me-nots http://www.looduskalender.ee/node/10463:
Linnaeus - it is Myosotis scorpioides L. - was somewhat less romantically-minded than we other Europeans:
Myosotis, Greek for "mouse ear" (from the small hairy leaves - but does the water forget-me-not really have hairy leaves? rather smooth, pale green, I think?) and scorpion-like for scorpioides (the flower cluster, like a scorpion's tail). :mrgreen:
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Post by Jo UK »

The most recent front page article has agitated me! Colarado beetle, again. :slap:
http://www.looduskalender.ee/en/node/10504

I have planted more potatoes this year, as well as a reasonable amount of tomatoes, so I must watch for unwelcome visitors.

The infusion of basil, mentioned in Urmas Tartes' text, is interesting. Does anyone know how to prepare it? How much basil? How much water? Would the essential oil of basil, mixed with a carrier oil, be as effective?
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Post by Liis »

Jo UK wrote:The most recent front page article has agitated me! Colarado beetle, again. :slap:
http://www.looduskalender.ee/en/node/10504

I have planted more potatoes this year, as well as a reasonable amount of tomatoes, so I must watch for unwelcome visitors.

The infusion of basil, mentioned in Urmas Tartes' text, is interesting. Does anyone know how to prepare it? How much basil? How much water? Would the essential oil of basil, mixed with a carrier oil, be as effective?
No permanent Colorado beetles in Sweden - yet? - so no personal experience but it seems that the basil works mainly by its smell, to confuse the beetles and possibly make them less eager to feed. So amounts are probably not crucial. Tansy infusion (Tanacetum vulgare) is mentioned even more often (does seem a shame to waste the lovely basil on those beetles). One source mentioned using 2% basil oil in water (presumably?).
Potatoes - interesting, Jo! Many different varieties? Which are the best?
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macdoum
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Post by macdoum »

Where does the 'spittle' on plants come from :puzzled:


They told us as kids it was Cuckoo spit :rolleyes:

http://www.looduskalender.ee/en/node/10682
Now we know. :rotf:
edit
This is what the creature looks like:
http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecolo ... tlebug.htm
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Liis
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Post by Liis »

macdoum wrote:Where does the 'spittle' on plants come from :puzzled:


They told us as kids it was Cuckoo spit :rolleyes:

http://www.looduskalender.ee/en/node/10682
Now we know. :rotf:
edit
This is what the creature looks like:
http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecolo ... tlebug.htm
Thanks, MacDoum!
they say it is cuckoo spit in Estonian too (käosülg); or frog spit, grodspott, in Swedish.
Now what would make a cuckoo fly around and spit on plants? :book:
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Post by macdoum »

Liis wrote: Thanks, MacDoum!
they say it is cuckoo spit in Estonian too (käosülg); or frog spit, grodspott, in Swedish.
Now what would make a cuckoo fly around and spit on plants? :book:
I wonder. All sorts of answers come to mind. :innocent:... :rotf:
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Post by Liis »

About stone brambles http://www.looduskalender.ee/en/node/10804:
don't know about eating them fresh, but once I made up my mind to cook my way through all wild edible berries. Jelly made from stone brambles was very nice, a somewhat burnt taste, a reminder that they are relatives of cloudberries.
Messy and time-consuming to pick, though.

But colours - why lillakad, "lilac-coloureds" in Estonian :puzzled: ? The red of the stone bramble berries is a really clear, pure, bright, glossy red - in Sweden, that is. Different eyes? light? colour perception? ...?
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Post by Liis »

In the news recently (in Estonian): a man has planted a couple of 100 lime trees, for a future lime forest. Or park. Lovely, and surely much appreciated by bees and bumblebees too. He is 58 years, and hopes to see them flowering, in maybe 15 years time.
The flowering was very brief in Stockholm this year, but quite true, the small-leaved lime, Tilia cordata flowered clearly later than the imported varieties.
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Post by Liis »

Nostalgia - who remembers Harald Misund's glorious photos of Norwegian WTE landscapes 2 years ago. That pail of mouthwatering cloudberries too, and see some of the landscapes in the post before that ...
And about cloudberries: does anyone know of any other berry or fruit that goes from green over red to yellow on ripening? - Red is normally the really ripe stage. :help: Or isn't it?
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Post by Liis »

:help: !
When is a bumblebee a carder bee? Or what is a carder bee??
See names in LK articles on most common bumblebees 1, 2, 3.
And there is a whole UK Internet site about bumblebees http://www.bumblebee.org/faqNames.htm - but no explanation. A nicer name actually, they are not bumbling at all.
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Felis silvestris
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Post by Felis silvestris »

I just translated part 2, but in German every bumble bee is called Somethinghummel. Didn't know that there were so many different kinds.
But the carder bee is a bit tricky, as there is a Bombus ruderatus and a Bombus ruderarius and only one is the carder bee. And in German again Grashummel
The other day I saw a "bumblebee" flying into a crack in the wall of the building where I work, today I might guess that this was a Red-tailed bumblebee. But like on that day, I still wonder what does it (and its companions) do in the middle of the city?

About the differences in English I can't say anything, until now I knew only "bumblebees" and "bees" (and wasps), but maybe when Jo is back she sees this and she knows a bit more? But one learns a lot reading the articles in Looduskalender!
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Liis
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Post by Liis »

Today, Sunday 7 Aug, is Bumblebee Day in Pembrokeshire, organised by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, more about the day HERE. :innocent:

Carder bees - "a name given to several large bees of the genus Bombus from their habit of carding and plaiting the moss with which their nests are constructed". (Source: wordnik.com)

All clear then. But :cry: ""wool carder bee", leafcutting bee, Anthidium manicatum" . Is that a bumblebee, Bombus, or not? - Oh, Bombus: "more than 250 species and subspecies in 15 subgenera" ... :mrgreen: Better not check anything more!
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Felis silvestris
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Post by Felis silvestris »

Though I searched for quite some time, I did not find any German for the "carder bee" - in German all Hummeln are Hummeln, no bees (Bienen). :puzzled:
But I know now more about bumble bees I ever wanted to know! :mrgreen: Who knows, maybe it'll be good for something?
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Liis
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Post by Liis »

Hello, Felis :hi: - All bumblebees seem to be something-humla in Swedish.
Guess that is not spontaneous everyday names but a rational committee decision :mrgreen: .
Moreover, bumblebees observed in Scandinavia are (nearly) all named for their habitats in Swedish : sand, moss, clover ... (table HERE in Wikipedia). Poor Bombus cryptarum has been christened "mistaken ground bumblebee", förväxlad jordhumla.
I was once told that there are bumblebee specialists who can recognize certain species from the smell. A very nice lemon scent for some. And there are 39 species in Sweden.
Well, they are very nice creatures.
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Felis silvestris
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Post by Felis silvestris »

I learnt in Germany we have 31 different bumble bees. Among them bumble bees with nice names like:
"Bärtige Kuckuckshummel", which translated means "Bearded Cuckoo Bumble Bee" (Psithyrus barbutellus) or the which I particularly liked, the "Keusche Schmarotzerhummel" which means "Chaste Cadger Bumble Bee" (Psithyrus vestalis) (even the Latin name is nice) or the "Umherschweifende Kuckuckshummel" or "Rambling Cuckoo Bumble Bee (Psithyrus bohemicus).
But then, all the Psithyrus are parasitic living bumble bees (which also is expressed by the "Cuckoo" in the name), they have lost the ability to collect pollen and invade colonies of other bumble bees, kill the queen and enslave the workers.

But like in Swedish, most of them have their habitat in the name, Wald, Wiese, Acker, Heide, ...

I'm curious if there will be a part 4 of the articles as well, the parasitic ones sure are worth an article!
But I also like them, because they are "round" and look fluffy and don't sting immediately like bees or wasps.

Edit: I just saw, the Estonian part 4 is there already! :thumbs:
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Liis
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Post by Liis »

Birches and autumn:
the birch from far up north in Sweden (Lule lappmark) is already a little yellowish in the botanical garden in Stockholm. All others still happily green despite the drought. Decreasing length of day probably triggers off its autumn feelings.
Map of leave-dropping dates in Scandinavia HERE
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Post by Felis silvestris »

I can't say about birches, there are not so many I am passing during my day, but there are already quite a few dry leaves flying around. I still wait for summer and now already autumn is starting? :banghead:

What comes into my mind - Liis, Tormi's dad is called "Remo" not Renno! :mrgreen: Wonder where your thoughts were ... :wave:

http://www.looduskalender.ee/en/node/10930
Tormi visited the nest for a few hours on Monday afternoon and was fed by the parents. Obviously Tormi is good at finding his way in the home forest. In the evening the whole family was on the nest – Tormi and adults Tuuli and Renno.
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Liis
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Post by Liis »

Felis silvestris wrote:I can't say about birches, there are not so many I am passing during my day, but there are already quite a few dry leaves flying around. I still wait for summer and now already autumn is starting? :banghead:
What comes into my mind - Liis, Tormi's dad is called "Remo" not Renno! :mrgreen: Wonder where your thoughts were ... :wave:
http://www.looduskalender.ee/en/node/10930
Well, Renno might subconsciously have felt more appropriate than Remo - Remo being 1) Co-op's bakery and biscuits trademark in Sweden 2) (San) Remo - the Italian city that furnishes the Nobel banquet with flowers. Or late night & poor light make nn & m rather similar on screen :mrgreen: . And probably MS Word's & other's spell-checking makes us a bit more careless and less aware of correct letter patterns (except for born proof-readers we are said to look more for the pattern than the actual letters in a word; for reasonable recognition some 2/3 is skipped, or so research told us )

Birches from southern Sweden & Europe probably feel no pressure to think of autumn yet. Don't know about birches from really high altitudes in mid-Europe; still, autumn even for them probably doesn't come as early as in northern Scandinavia.

Reeds - associated with wet areas and overgrowing waters. But every day I pass quite happy stands of reeds along the motorway just outside Stockholm city, along a very dry road bank, excellent drainage, some meters above the car lanes. Some do have a view of water, but that is 50-100 m away. Some along the local railway line too, they even get to to flower.
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Post by Felis silvestris »

On Friday morning I thought of looking over where I know a few birches a growing, they are still green. I guess whatever leaves I see on the ground is still from the dry spell in spring. Otherwise I have not yet noticed a big change in leaf colour.

It's interesting how the mind plays and after doing a few translations I sometimes don't see anything anymore. ReMo will surely forgive you :mrgreen:
But I find it very interesting to read those articles and also compare Estonian nature with ours here.

For the Reed translation I read the German Wikipedia article (always learning) and read that reed at non-flooded habitats can show moving ground-water. Maybe either there was water before (maybe a ditch or brook?) or there is water underground? But it is interesting and in any case shows the survival skills!
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Liis
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Post by Liis »

Felis silvestris wrote:---------------
For the Reed translation I read the German Wikipedia article (always learning) and read that reed at non-flooded habitats can show moving ground-water. Maybe either there was water before (maybe a ditch or brook?) or there is water underground? But it is interesting and in any case shows the survival skills!
There was certainly water before the general large-scale rearrangement of nature that cities bring along. Now runoff water from asphalted, paved etc surfaces all around rather than groundwater. I don't think the reeds are survivors of any original plants, rather brought with construction soil or just possibly grown from seeds. They live in their pavement joints, but don't spread as they do at a shore.
Sometimes it is probably not only a question of where a plant might thrive, but also where others will not, that is, how good is it at competition.
Today I started this year's period of training saintly patience - picking sea buckthorn berries ("astelpaju") *. Sea buckthorn is said to prefer poor soils, but mine grows very happily in good garden soil. Only so do other more vigorous growers, and the sea buckthorn needs open space and much light. It can't stand being overgrown, which is why its natural habitats at the Baltic are mostly at exposed, sandy, pebbly seashores (but not Estonia at all, for some reason :puzzled: ).
* 1 litre per hour ... :cry:
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