Biodiversity in parking lots

Biodiversity is everywhere. Today I ended up with some time to kill in a parking lot, because my car broke down and I had to wait for a ride. Sitting under a tree, I looked at my arm and saw a few minute pirate bugs. These little critters are good for controlling garden pests, but sometimes in the fall they get out of control themselves and end up everywhere. They don't feed on blood (except insect blood), but for some reason tend to bite a lot, and can drive you crazy.

Dwarf mallow is a common weed across the world, but they have cute little pink flowers that remind me of a miniature hollyhock. In fact they are in the same family, the mallow family (so is hibiscus). They also share a common pest fungus: the hollyhock rust fungus. Rust fungi are fascinating plant parasites with a complicated life cycle. Upon infection, the fungus grows into a plant leaf, then erupts into pustules, swellings, or projections full of rust-colored spores ready to spread to new hosts. Look for other kinds of rust fungi nearby, like these.

Dwarf mallow is widely reported to be edible and nutritious. One common name is cheeseweed, because the fruits form a round shape similar to the wheel-shaped cheeses. Like many other kids through the decades, I tried eating these "cheesies" when I was a kid. Fun fact: the original marshmallow treat was made from the roots of a related plant, the marsh mallow.

Posted on October 11, 2020 07:37 PM by