211 Hawksbeard and Aphids

I got on a little Wikipedia kick the other night. I had a sudden urge to know what kind of mutant dandelion was growing in my yard, and I was involved in a discussion about ladybugs and aphids. I wanted to make sure I knew what I was talking about, so I did some research.

Turns out, those are NOT dandelions at all, but something called Hawksbeard (Crepis). Which led me to another site, since wikipedia's article is a "stub". So, I headed on over to the USDA site, and found out that my particular kind of Crepis is a Crepis pulchra (smallflower hawksbeard).

I also have a friend in California that was complaining about the hundreds of Ladybugs (and she looked that up and apparently she actually has lady beetles not lady bugs) on her lawn, and that reminded me of a picture I had recently taken of this tiny little bug on my Crepis. I wanted to be sure before I started threatening her with aphids, so I looked it up to make sure it truly was an aphid. I did not know there were so many kinds of aphids. I found out way more than I really cared to know about aphids. Like the fact that they give birth to live young. And of course it led me to another site where I found out I am the not-so-proud owner of hundreds (or thousands) of Brown Citrus Aphids. And I have no citrus ...

Being the weirdo that I am, I took pictures of my unwelcome guests the next morning. And wouldn't ya know it ... they apparently give birth frequently. I was definitely NOT looking to take a picture of that wonderful event, but I did anyway. Later as I was looking through my pictures I discovered squirmy little legs emerging from the backside of a fat aphid.

Poor aphid Mom looks like she doesn't get a moment to herself either ...