A few nice animal plant images I found:
Thistles at dusk / Cardos al atardecer
Image by . SantiMB .
Cunit, Tarragona (Spain).
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ENGLISH
Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the plant family Asteraceae. Prickles often occur all over the plant - on surfaces such as those of the stem and flat parts of leaves. These are an adaptation to protect the plant against herbivorous animals, discouraging them from feeding on the plant. Typically, an involucre with a clasping shape of a cup or urn subtends each of a thistle's flowerheads.
The term thistle is sometimes taken to mean exactly those plants in the tribe Cardueae, especially the genera Carduus, Cirsium, and Onopordum. However, plants outside this tribe are sometimes called thistles, and if this is done thistles would form a polyphyletic group.
More info: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thistle
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CASTELLANO
El abrojo o cardo es una planta cigofilácea de hojas compuestas y fruto espinoso. Se caracteriza fundamentalmente por la presencia de espinas en las hojas, en el tallo, o en la inflorescencia. Además de la presencia de espinas, es característica la forma de la inflorescencia: flores numerosas reunidas en capítulos densos. Otra de sus características es su porte herbáceo, aunque puedan lleguen a alcanzar gran tamaño en ningún caso son de tipo arbustivo o arbóreo. También se le conoce como Cardo estrellado.
Más info: es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardo
Mountain Ash
Image by BlueRidgeKitties
Sorbus americana showing off its bright orange-red berries on top of Grandfather Mountain. The berries last through the winter, or at least until they get eaten. They are popular food for a wide range of birds and small mammals. The berries are edible for humans but too sour to be eaten raw. They are used to make jellies and homemade wines and cooked with meats.
Native American folklore says the more berries there are on these trees, the more severe the winter will be. An old Objibwa legend tells the story why this is so:
A long time ago during a particularly harsh winter, Indian hunters came across a snow field strewn with hundreds of birds and small animals lying dead in the snow. Frightened, they prayed to the Great Spirit who answered and instructed them to take one drop of blood from each dead animal and smear it onto their tree of life and death. That was the Mountain Ash, since it was the tree from which they fashioned their bows and arrows. They did as instructed and the next morning they found the tree covered in thousands of red berries with the surviving birds and small animals all over the branches and eating them. They thanked the Great Spirit, who promised them that he would cover those same trees with plenty of berries again whenever a cold winter was approaching.
Ladybird larva
Image by John from Canberra
Quite likely to be Illeis galbula (fungus-eating ladybird) as I have seen the adult beetles on the same plants.
