The Panama Naturalist

Here in the tropics you sometimes run into weird bugs and plants that you want to keep clear of and treat with respect. There are some very venomous caterpillars that can be dangerous. We also have some poison ivy, for lack of other description, that if you brush against it you will be in dire pain and soon the affected area will swell and blister, and eventually turn brown and necrotic. Not nice, so it is something that people lurking around their garden and beyond should be aware of. I will try to be more specific as I investigate these aspects of being a naturalist pocking around nature, for this is sort of a good thing to have in your bag of field working knowledge.

Just as an example of a real curios guy, not dangerous but somewhat disgusting who loves to munch on citrus tree leaves. He is: Lepidoptera: Papilionidae - Heraclides thoas nealces, and as he sits on a branch or munching a leaf he looks just like a bird poop and when you disturb him he emits a foul smell from gland in the frontal encephalic capsule; so you would guess that birds and other predators keep their distance.

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Spring is in the air and the birds know it, and let us know it with their mating calls. The trade winds have died down and first April Showers are coming in early. My liana boraginaceous is already flowering, even though we have only had light showers. But the butterflies have found out and they are doing their work. Right now the air is still and a placid expectancy tells of the change in the ecliptic of the sun.

Meanwhile, my algarroba trees are also attentive to the situation and here is a picture of the leaves and new blooms…

As soon as the first downpours come the buds will bloom and in a couple of furious days the bees, hummingbirds and butterflies, but at night there will be others… de denizen of the dark will come to sip at the nectar of life…

Here is one of many who cavort around the tree. The come in various sizes, small and big, and as they rob the tree of the fruits of its labor, the buds will be dislodged and pepper down on our roof, letting us know that the bats are out. And if by chance this happens on a full moon night, then you can sit under the tree and wonder at their antics, back lighted by the moonlight.

And soon after, when the rains do finally arrive, the algarroba tree will once again shed its winter leaves and don a new set of leaves that are more adapted to the rainy cycle of the astronomical event we call a year.

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(Editor’s note from John’s earlier message: The algarrobo tree prepares for the dry season by changing to brown dry season leaves which presumably has fewer stomata and therefore would lose less water than the green leaves. Here are the brown leaves.)

(Written on February 2, 2009)

Ok… time to update on the algarrobo garment renewal…Here is the algarrobo with its new set of green chemistry labs, ready to process winter mineral carrying fluids from the ground and continue reaching out to the sun.

Nice tree, isn’t it? Here is a closer look at the chlorophyll labs, and… what is that brown thing amidst the leaves?

Let’s take a a closer look…

Looks like some nectar sucking poisonous flying bugs have set up residence among the new foliage. A closer look at the creatures shows them peeking out their residence’s aperture. Wonder what they make of the camera flash?

(Editor’s note:  Before getting entranced with the wasps, I’ll pipe in here with a reminder from John’s first report and also a couple of other observations.

In his first report, John told us that the scientific name of the tree is Hymenaea courbaril. and that it is in the family Fabaceae, subfamily Caesalpiniodieae. Fabaceae is the bean family, which means the tree has compound, alternate leaves. If you need a refresher, there’s a pretty complete description of the bean family in the post on macano, The Living Fence. In the case of the algarrobo, the compound leaves consist of two leaflets. The subfamily is the one with the large frilly flowers, such as the Flamboyant tree.

The genus name, Hymenaea, is named for Hymen, the god of marriage. It refers to the leaflets, which occur in pairs (Botanary). The species name, curbaril, is one of the common names for the wood of this tree (Vozzo).

The tree that has just now put out green leaves will flower starting in March and continuing through July. The fruits will ripen the following year, between February and May (Carrasquilla). If you go back to John’s first image, the one with the brown leaves, and click on it to enlarge it, you will see a large kidney-bean shape in the tree. That’s last year’s fruit, due to ripen any day now.)

It is an extraordinary tree, in many respects; and the fruit is one of the richest food sources you can find. Some people don’t like the smell, or taste, but I was brought up with it. When you open one of the pods, take the dry fleshy pits out and take a good sniff of the inside of the pod… I find it wonderful. But I don’t care for Roquefort or such.

So it’s about time we started watching for the fruit at the local markets, yes? And see for ourselves if we like it, yes?Meantime, about those wasps… There is a great variety of them in Panamá; big, small, mean, docile, with all sort of dwellings, but I have never read anything about them. For example, take a look at another bug aerodrome…

These critters always build their entrance atrium looking south.And look at these guys… they build into walls and such, and are always curious about who is around their den… A while back I witnessed a war between these critters and ants.

Take a look at this aerial combat, between two varieties of bees…

Anyone who knows anything about the wasps or bees around here is welcome to speak up. These are fascinating abodes.

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