Weed with Sassafras-like leaves

Brief note about this plant along Towson Run above the Bellona Bridge.  I am pretty sure this is giant ragweed, Ambrosia trifida, for the usual three lobed leaf.  It can be variable up to five lobes.  Will try to add the flower. Can be up to 12 feet tall.  Just as allergenic as common ragweed.  See the nasty looking pollen online, sharp spines under the microscope. Leaf margins are serrated. This plant was only two feet, will watch for its big brother. Below tried to highlight the characteristic hairs on the stem and frequent branches.  The leaves did have a rough sand paper feel, a grain, can be stroked distal but not as easy proximal.

White Snakeroot (Eupatorium rugosum)

This plant was found on a walk in Robert E Lee park.  Did not seem common but apparently toxic to goats and cattle, then toxic even fatal to humans who eat the meat or drink the milk of the animals.  Said to be a common cause of death for settlers moving westward who were not familiar with the plant.  There are stories online about heroic efforts of pioneer doctors to diagnosis the milk sickness.  Said to cause the death of Abraham Lincoln's mother.

It has similar small white flowers as boneset but a much longer leaf stem or petiole. Three prominent veins are seen on the upper leaf surface. The disease is rare now that pastures are more controlled, and milk from any one cow is diluted. There did not seem to be any mention of deer eating the plant in the fall and thus becoming toxic. Symptoms are shaking,staggering, vomiting, intestinal pain.  In the twentieth century the toxin was identified as tremetol.

The picture shows the leaf with the marks from a leaf miner, and the flowers with a couple of reasons to take the photos outdoors.  Finally there is the plant in its natural setting.

The last photo was almost one month later.  Is this the late stage flower of the white snakeroot? There are discussions on the net about misdiagnosing boneset, in fact this plant is sometimes called tall boneset. But the leaf shape seems consistent with white snakeroot.   There are few stock images as the plant goes to seed,so some uncertainty.

More detail on the leaf miner, many varieties, gets bigger,bigger track as larva grows, then molts and flies away at the large end of the trail.

Red Admiral (Admirable) or Vanessa atalanta butterfly

There was a group (flock?) of  these butterflies around a dead tree at the edge of the parking lot.  Better images on line.  They are apparently not uncommon along the east coast, breeding twice in the south once in the north and often more late in the year.  That might have been the behavior we were seeing.

They also apparently feed on the sap of trees, so they may have been feeding even though the tree looked at least dormant if not dead.

So a strategy of breeding late in the year before migration south, and being able to feed on trees.

( and a group of butterflies can be called a swarm but more technically is a kaleidoscope, will cousin Ted know that one?)

Struggling through Nabokov's novel Pale Fire, noted a reference to this butterfly(he studied butterflies as a hobby).  It may have originally been the Red Admirable, later corrupted to Admiral.  Like Admirable better.

Joe-Pye weeds (Eutrochium)

I was going to pass over the tall reddish-purple flowers on the western corner of Cloverlea/Rolandvue when the neighborhood's youngest naturalist (? second grade) happen to point them out.  He said they were hardy native plants, he has some planted in his yard.  They are a prominent feature of that corner and have been for the month of August.  Attractive for butterflies.

None of the three foraging books mention Joe Pye weed as a herb.

.  The name comes from an indian healer who used the plant frequently in colonial days. The whorled leaf pattern is typical of the Eutrochium.   Leaves are lancet, stems speckled to purple. Variations include one with a hollow stem and one with vanilla smell to the crushed leaves, plus one variety growing to 12 feet tall.  Pictures show an over view, the flower and the whorled pattern or leaves, all arising from one point on the stem.