Along the spine of the Florida peninsula, in sandy fields and roadside swales,
Florida phlox (Phlox floridana) is in full bloom.
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This native plant is lovely from a distance but it is really spectacular close-up.
Getting close to the phlox requires stopping one's car and getting out.
I received a lot of strange looks as I investigated these fields of phlox.
I like how there are a few pure white phlox mixed in with the dominant
purples and lavendars.
Mixed in with the phlox is a lot of India Mustard (yellow-flowering) also known as Leaf Mustard (Brassica juncea). The mustard is attracting the Checkered White Butterfly (Pontia protodice) commonly known as the Southern Cabbageworm Butterfly. In the image above I caught the flutter of one of these currently abundant butterflies.
The hosts of Checkered White larvae are herbs in the Mustard family (Brassicaceae). The preferred host in the South is the Virginia pepperweed (Lepidium virginicum).
A close up of a Checkered White drinking from some mustard blooms.
There were a lot of wild beans in this swale but the Checkered White was much more interested in the Mustard. Click on the image below for a large view. You'll see many ripe string beans on the left side of the image.
An extreme close up of a Checkered White on a mustard bloom. These white butterflies with black spots were very abundant in all the fields of phlox and mustard that I visited on a recent afternoon.
The sun is again relentless. We desperately need a few months of rain.
30 Billion Gallons of Hawaiian Lava, as Seen From the Ground and Space
Before
Image from Dec. 24, 2017
Leilani Estates - Kopoho Bay
The New York Times |Satellite image by the European Space Agency
The eruption is in a historically active volcanic area, known as the Lower East Rift Zone, where the landscape has been built and shaped by hundreds of centuries of lava flow. New ground formed by eruptions in the 1950s and 1960s is still visibly barren.
After
Image from first week of June 2018
Lava extent as of June 8, 2018
Leilani Estates - Kopho Bay (which is now full of lava)
The New York Times |Sources: Satellite image by the European Space Agency; OpenStreetMap (lava flow). Note: Composite image using thermal imagery to show lava flow.
The massive lava flow from Fissure 8 was spotted entering the ocean beyond what was once Kapoho Bay by a satellite on June 7. A plume of toxic volcanic lava haze, called laze, stretched for miles.
The time lapse image below shows how lava consumed trees, buildings and part of a geothermal power plant over a week at the end of May.
The current eruption burst through the ground more than a month ago in the Leilani Estates neighborhood, where fissures ripped open and lava destroyed homes and wiped out several square miles of buildings and property.
More than 20 fissures are linked to this eruption, but Fissure 8 has been the most active and destructive, spewing a fountain of lava more than 200 feet in the air and feeding the flow that continues to create new land for six miles, east of the Vacationland neighborhood and the now lava-filled Kapoho Bay.
Lava extent as of June 8
Leilani Estates - Kopho Bay
The New York Times |Source: OpenStreetMap (lava flow and buildings)
At least 600 homes have succumbed to the lava flow since early May, according to the Hawaii County mayor, Harry Kim, and many more are still in harm’s way. A mandatory evacuation order remains in effect for areas around the flow, and residents were warned that additional evacuations may be ordered with little notice.
Source: U.S. Geological Survey
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