This Week in Iowa Nature

Well-camouflaged ruffed grouse may flush suddenly, startling hikers in northeast Iowa woodlands.

The Iowa Nature Calendar, by Jean Prior and James Sandrock

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Plant of the Week

Flowering spurge
Euphorbia corollata L.
other common names: flat-topped spurge, milk purslane, milkweed, snake milk, tramp’s spurge, white-flowered milkweed, wild hippo
Euphorbia: probably named for Euphorbus, a physician to King Juba of Numidia, an ancient country in an area of northern Africa that more or less corresponds to the present Algeria
Corollata: from Latin, meaning “with corollas”
Spurge family: Euphorbiaceae

Photograph by Thomas Rosburg, Wildflowers of the Tallgrass Prairie: The Upper Midwest, Second Edition