Turkey Mullein

Last week I discovered an incredible ecosystem built around Turkey Mullein. I have seen this plant many times while walking the fields here but never gave it much attention probably because it lies low and does not have showy. However, I noticed a pollinator on it - what I thought was a black fly. Taking a closer look I saw these little insects which looked like fleas and could hop like a flea if I got too close. I took photographs of several different insects but when I got home and started looking at the photos I found many more which I had not noticed in the field. Many of these were hiding under leaves so the next day I went back to search under leaves. I then found there were probably ten to twenty more insects under the leaves than on the surface. I can only speculate that they were there partly to stay cool, partly to hide.

Today I visited another patch in the same field maybe a quarter mile south of the first patch. It had even more plants, however, and even though it did have various insects on them, I did not see a single "flea". Noticing this absence, I went back to the original north patch and I did find the 'fleas" there.

We have had some hot temperatures - yesterday it was 110F (43C). This morning while walking the field it was 92F (33C).

I was surprised to discover that Turkey Mullein is not in the Mullein genus but is in fact a spurge. I downloaded an association map for Turkey Mullein and am slowly entering the species into a spreadsheet to aid in identifications, as well as to serve as a checklist of what I have seen. So far I have not found the "flea" insect on the associations list.

More to follow as I explore this ecosystem.

Posted on July 17, 2023 07:04 PM by joerich