The Eyes Have It

 

A single inflorescence of Oxeye Daisy, Leucanthemum vulgare.
Yellow disc flowers are surrounded by white ray flowers. 
Rowan County, North Carolina.

Do you ever feel like you’re being watched?  Eyes may be upon you when you walk the woods or meadows.  Several plants in the Southeast got their names because they appear to have eyes.  

 

Blue-eyed Grass,  Sisyrinchium angustifolium flowers in the spring. 
Orange County, North Carolina.

Blue-eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium angustifolium) is the first of the eye plants to flower in the spring.  Blue-eyed Grass is not really a grass but is in the Iris family.  It is a monocot and has flower parts in threes, which is characteristic of that group.  Blue-eyed Grass has three blue petals and three blue sepals.  These petals and sepals look the same so, since there is not enough terminology in botany, they are called tepals.  Blue-eyed Grass leaves are long and narrow so they look like leaves of grass.  Between the blue flowers and the grass-like leaves, the name Blue-eyed Grass was obvious. 

 Two plants with eyes in their names that often occur together in summer fields are Oxeye Daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare) and Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta).  Both these plants are in the Sunflower family, the Asteraceae.  

 

A group of Oxeye Daisies in a meadow.  Rowan County, North Carolina.

Despite looking All-American, Oxeye Daisy is native to Eurasia and came to our shores in the early 1900s.  It is now naturalized in the 49 continental states and most Canadian provinces.  Oxeye daisy  is a very successful plant and is considered an invasive species in some states. What appears to be a single flower is really a group of flowers, an inflorescence.   Oxeye Daisy inflorescences are made of two flower types.  The yellow eye in the middle is composed of dozens of disk flowers.  The disk flowers have greatly reduced petals but have pollen-producing anthers and the female carpel with its pollen collecting stigma. The outer rim of the inflorescence that looks like petals are really flowers, the ray flowers.  These flowers have carpels and five fused, white petals that stick out to the side. The ray flowers direct pollinators toward the central disk flowers.  

A single daisy disk flower.  It has five small yellow petals and a
two-lobed stigma above the petals.  The anthers are not visible 
in this picture.  Rowan County, North Carolina.  

Daisy ray flower with five white fused petals and
the stigma.  Rowan County, North Carolina.

This Oxeye Daisy has attracted a couple of predators.  On the right is a crab spider (family Thomisidae) 
and on the left is a ladybird beetle (family Coccinellidae).  Rowan County, North Carolina.

The original scientific name for Oxeye Daisy was Chrysanthemum leucanthemum bestowed by none other than Carl Linnaeus, the godfather of biological classification.  Linnaeus’s scientific name for Oxeye Daisy absolutely sings.  The genus and species names have the same number of syllables and they rhyme.  The original scientific name means “golden flower, white flower”.  Plant taxonomists revised the genus Chrysanthemum in the late 20^th century and renamed Oxeye Daisy Leucanthemum vulgare.  Quite a come down to go from “golden flower, white flower” to “common white flower”. 

 

A stand of Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta). 
Rowan County, North Carolina

Black-eyed Susan is native to North America and grows over most of the continent.  It has black disk flowers and bright yellow ray flowers.  Black-eyed Susan flowers attract many pollinating insects and birds eat the mature fruits.

 

A single inflorescence of Black-eyed Susan with black disk flowers 
and yellow ray flowers.  Rowan County, North Carolina. 

Perhaps the strangest plant that might watch you is Doll’s Eyes (Actaea pachypoda).  This member of the Buttercup family grows in the eastern United States and Canadian provinces.  In North Carolina, it is most often found in mountain forests.  Doll’s Eyes produce white flowers in the spring and during summer makes white fruits with a single black dot that gives the plant its name.  Another common name for this plant is White Baneberry.  That name is a warning since the fruits and other plant parts are poisonous.  When eaten by people, Doll's Eyes fruits depress cardiac function and may cause death.  The toxins do not affect birds that eat the fruits and disperse the seeds of this interesting plant. 

 

A Doll's Eye plant with white fruits. Watauga County, North Carolina.

A closeup view of Doll's Eye fruits.  The fruits are white and spherical
and each bears a black spot that gives them their doll eye appearance.
Watauga County, North Carolina.

Be careful while hiking, these plants may be watching you.  The beauty of these plants may be in the eye of the beholder. 

 

Breaking My Own Rule

A Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) 
in a marsh at Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park, Florida.

As a rule, I do not help wildlife in distress.  I get calls from people, “A baby bird that has fallen out of the nest.  What should I do?”  I say, “Leave it alone.  They have to get out of the nest and the parents look after them.”  Or, “My cat brought in a chipmunk and it is hurt.  Should I call the vet?”  I say, “No. Put the unfortunate rodent outside and see what happens.”  This sounds harsh to my friends who know I love nature but that is how I usually approach this issue.  However, one time I broke my own rule. 

It was a Saturday morning in late summer and we were getting ready to leave for a quick, weekend trip to Atlanta to see Diane’s family.  Diane was filling the bird feeders when she noticed a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) in our side yard.  We live in a suburban neighborhood in Salisbury, NC.  We don’t live on a lake or even a creek.  All the water we have on the property comes out of faucets. So it was highly unusual to see a Great Blue Heron in the yard.  We left for Atlanta with the bird standing next to our house. 

 

A Great Blue Heron hunting along a creek in
Clayton County, Georgia.

Great Blue Herons are magnificent birds.  They stand four feet tall and have a six-foot wingspan.  Their color is mostly blue-gray, with white on the neck and a sporty black streak across the face that in the breeding season ends in long plumes.  Great Blue Herons stand on long legs; have fierce yellow eyes and a dagger-like yellow beak.  They are a very successful species that are found throughout North America, Central America and the Caribbean. Great Blue Herons live near water; marine coastlines, rivers, lake shores, islands, swamps and marshes.  Their main food is fish but they will catch and eat all manner of small animals.  Great Blue Herons are striking when viewed in flight with their long neck tucked close to the body and their long legs trailing behind.  When I see one fly over I think, Pterodactyl. 

 

A flyover Great Blue Heron looking like a 21st century
Pterodactyl.  Moore County, North Carolina.

Diane and I got back from Atlanta on Sunday afternoon.  As we unloaded the car, I looked out the front door and saw the Great Blue Heron standing on our doorstep.  When I looked more closely at the heron I saw it had fishing line wrapped around its beak.  That is when I decided to break my own rule.  We would have to intervene and get this bird some help.  Monofilament line was a human intrusion in the life of this Great Blue Heron and another human intrusion was needed to make the situation right. 

 

The distressed Great Blue Heron at the bottom of
our front steps.  Salisbury, North Carolina. 

We rounded up a largish cardboard box and an old comforter from when our kids were little then went after the bird.  The heron was clearly weak and did not attempt to fly as we worked to corner it.  Just then, an SUV stopped in front of our house and out jumped Ryan who lived around the corner from us.  He said, “I am a licensed wildlife rehabilitator.  Do you need help?”  Of course, we needed help and gladly accepted.  The three of us combined to throw the comforter over the heron.  We examined the bird’s beak and cut the fishing line.  There was a bigger problem.  The line ran into the mouth and down the throat of this Great Blue Heron.  The bird swallowed a baited hook and it was lodged in its throat.  We dripped water into the heron’s mouth to rehydrate the bird as it glared at us.  Ryan said he would take the Great Blue Heron to a wildlife rescue facility and he bundled this big bird into the cardboard box then into his SUV along with a Labrador retriever who thought this was all perfectly normal. 

 

Close-up of the monofilament fishing line
wrapped around the heron's beak.  Salisbury, North Carolina.

Ryan, the wildlife rehabilitator catching the Great Blue Heron
in our yard.  Salisbury, North Carolina.

Ryan packing the heron in a box for transport to 
the rehab facility.  Salisbury, North Carolina.

A few days later, we looked on the wildlife rescue’s website and saw a picture of the heron.  I hope this bird made a full recovery and was released back into the wild.  I broke my own rule about interfering with wildlife because I thought the universe was speaking to me.  Of all the houses in the neighborhood, this Great Blue Heron showed up in ours.  Then it stayed around all day Saturday and Sunday and was waiting on the front porch when we returned from an out-of-state trip.  Then, as we were trying to catch the bird, a wildlife rehabilitator showed up to help.  Sometimes when the universe speaks, you have to listen. 

A wild and healthy Great Blue Heron in a salt marsh at 
Huntington Beach State Park, South Carolina.