Five Things #19

Flora: Butterfly Orchid (Encyclia tampensis) gets its scientific name from the city of Tampa (where it was found first), the Greek verb enkyleoma (“to encircle”) because of the way the roots attach. is a species found in southern Florida where it grows on tree trunks and branches in areas of high humidity and low nutrients. Their favorite trees appear to be Southern Live Oaks, but they’ll also make do with various cypress, palms, red maple, and pop ash. You can frequently spot them in the same place you see resurrection ferns, though not nearly as numerous.

Much of the year it looks like a few pointy leaves poking out of some stumpy little bits (pseudobulbs) and maybe if you’re lucky, you’ll be close enough to notice the skinny little root tendrils hugging the host. Though, “host” isn’t quite the right word because most people picture a host as something a parasite attaches to and these epiphytic (air plants) orchids aren’t parasites. They’re more like house guests who only eat the rainwater and any nutrients in said rain.

These flowers usually bloom in June or July, though I’ve been noticing they seem to be blooming a week or so earlier each year. I first spotted one out in Big Cypress on a trail we enjoy during the winter. Oddly enough, I regularly spot orchids even when they aren’t in bloom because my brain seems to be wired to recognize the slightly-different leaf shapes.

Because you know I love talking about pollinators, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that the Butterfly orchid is apparently pollinated by a variety of insects from the orders Hymenoptera (sawflies, bees, wasps, and ants), Diptera (flies), and Coleoptera (beetles). You can read more about how scientists figured that out over on JSTOR. (With a free account, you can read up to 100 articles online per month. If you want or need to download a PDF of an article, you can get up to 10 a month (and unlimited online reading) for $19.50. For the record, this isn’t sponsored. My geeky brain is just very excited to have access to JSTOR again without paying college tuition.)

Fauna: Paper Wasps (Order Hymenoptera, Family Vespidae) Most people I’ve met tend to… let’s say “freak out” when they encounter a wasp or a wasps’ nest. Case in point: Last week we had a group of summer campers on a field trip at the botanical gardens and a wasp got confused and was trying to escape the open-air tram. There was much screaming and panicking. I got out of the truck and went back to carefully guide the poor wasp out of the car with my hand. The kids were convinced I was “going to die, miss,” but both the wasp and I survived the experience. Paper wasps, I’ve found, are generally a mellow bunch as long as you don’t try to mess with their nest or scare them.

Despite their stingers, they’re still pollinators. They also come in some pretty colors.

Books This week is all fiction. Just in time for my boss to go to the Bahamas, I listened to the audiobook Zero Starts Do Not Recommend by MJ Wassmer. It starts with the sun exploding (or melting or just disappearing) and things go downhill from there. There’s humor, but there’s also tragedy, romance, and a pyramid scheme.

Speaking of the apocalypse, I’m 89% through Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman. We’ll see if I make it through the last 11% before Libby gives the ebook back to the library. So far it’s been entertaining and I’m pretty sure I can see why the tree guy at work has a fan sticker on his truck. The woman in guest services who mostly escapes into sci-fi and fantasy to escape the horror that is the current political landscape also enjoyed it. I can see several of my cats behaving like Donut.

Last but not least was the weird little book The Room by Jonas Karlsson. The main character isn’t exactly likeable, and I’d be more inclined to feel for him not fitting in with his coworkers if he wasn’t so conceited. It’s been compared to Kafka and some people might find it enlightening. Not this reader, but someone.

Art This week’s art is brought to you by a local conceptional artist Allison Bolah. Specifically, her Left Black website. It’s intentionally left black. So intentional, if you look at the source code, there’s a background color programmed in rather than let your browser choose. I’ll let you ponder her intentions there. Feel free to discuss in the comments. (Respectfully. Don’t make me get out the hose.)

Heat It seems like half the hemisphere is under some kind of heat wave. The US has a heat dome. France is sweltering. Germany is hotter than Florida. And “hottest on record” just seems to be a thing we do every summer now.

From Florida, where people think our humidity is so high we’re all just breathing underwater and the Feels Like temperature is usually about ten degrees hotter than the actual, I have a few tips:

1. Stay hydrated. No, really. The saying, if you’re thirsty, you’re already dehydrated is a good go-by, but if you’re sweating in places you forgot you had, you’re also going to need some electrolytes.

2. Shade. Find some. Also, if you’re in the position to plant trees, decide where and how many trees get planted, can protest the cutting down of trees, or any other aspect of creating more shade and keeping what we have? Get on that. I live in a suburban house on an eighth of an acre. We have so many trees of varying sizes, I’m not sure I can mentally count them all. When I go to the nursery looking for plants, I have to specify that I need things that are shade tolerant because most of my yard is shady at least part of the day. (A lot of places assume you want full-sun because so many newer developments have cut down all the vegetation and replaced old growth with a couple of skinny palms.) Why do I point this out? Because it’s noticeably cooler in our yard than it is when you leave our yard.

   1. Avoid fake grass. It’s trending in certain places, but it’s hotter than actual plants and it off-gasses all kinds of chemicals.

3. Find air conditioning if you can. Depending on where you live, you might be able to escape to public libraries, shops, or movie theaters during the hottest part of the day, assuming you aren’t chained to your office. If you can’t find cooled air, you might be able to make some. There’s a mess of tutorials online. Just look for some older than AI so you aren’t suspending dry ice from a belt on the ceiling fan or something.

4. Spicy foods. This one sounds counterintuitive, but there’s a reason some of the spiciest food comes from some of the hottest places. If it’s making your eyelids sweat, it’s helping generate enough sweat to cool you down.

5. Light, breathable fabrics. Duh.

6. SPF. This is not the time to turn yourself into a Coach bag. Use sunscreen and hats and umbrellas and avoid Mohs surgery in the future.

Take it easy, folks. Talk to you next time.