Solanum carolinense, Horse-nettle, Howard County, Md, Helen Lowe Metzman

A weed that irritates everyone, thorny, leaves are shot through with holes from being fed on by many of its personal insect hosts, but...this is a native plant, related to tomatoes and T'ai Roulston's work in Shenandoah Valley shows that for some bumblebees this is the main pollen source in the summer. So, inspect you preconceived notions and maybe let a few horse nettles (Solanum carolinense) bloom in the back of your garden. Don't be a flower snob. Specimen and picture by Helen Lowe Metzman, Howard County, MD. Photography Information: Canon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Stackshot Sled, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash in Styrofoam Cooler, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200. USGSBIML Photoshopping Technique: Note that we now have added using the burn tool at 50% opacity set to shadows to clean up the halos that bleed into the black background from "hot" color sections of the picture.