Hi Shanna! This is a Hydrangea, though I must say it looks a little unwell. The interesting thing about these plants is you can change the colour of the flowers by altering the pH of your soil. Acidic soil will produce blue flowers & they become more oink as the soil becomes more alkaline. I've also seen white varieties too. They were a very popular shrub, say when our Granparents were passing around cuttings with their neighbours :)
Hippeastrum Herb., is a genus of about 90 species and 600+ hybrids and cultivars of bulbous plants in the family Amaryllidaceae, subfamily Amaryllidoideae. It is native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas. The common name "amaryllis" is mainly used for cultivars of genus Hippeastrum. The photos were taken in a span of 4 days (May 16-May 19), showing still folded blooms up to when the flowers were all opened. Here's a related spotting of red and white amaryllis - http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/225....
Oecophylla smaragdina Fabricius, 1775, of family Formicidae, commonly called Weaver Ant, Green Ant, Green Tree Ant, and Orange Gaster. This is a mated queen weaver ant. Weaver ant colonies are founded by one or more mated queens. Once mated, she looks for a nest site, gets rid of her wings, seals herself into a small chamber and lays a small batch of eggs. A queen lays her first clutch of eggs on a leaf and protects and feeds the larvae until they develop into mature workers.
Commonly called Pigeon Orchid, Purse-Shaped Dendrobium, Bag-Shaped Dendrobium. It produces white, 5cm wide, fragrant flowers with a yellow tinted throat. The bloom cycle is triggered 9 days after a sudden drop in temperature (at least 5.5 °C or 10 °F), usually as a result of rain, although the same effect can be artificially created. Dendrobium crumenatum flowers are fragrant, but only lasts for a day or two. Source: http://orchids.wikia.com/wiki/Dendrobium....
Thanks Lauren! :)
Mapping Nature on Your Smartphone
For the developers at New York start-up Networked Organisms, smartphones are the butterfly nets of the 21st Century. Their tool, Project Noah, lets people upload photos of plants and wildlife around them, creating a map of the natural world and contributing to scientific research in the process.
What kind of beetle? This app knows
Bespectacled scientists of yore would carry around hefty field guides, made up of hundreds of pages of text and photos. But these days, smartphone owners have a lighter option: an app called Project Noah, which aims to help people identify plants and animals as well as collect data from "citizen scientists" about where certain species are located.
Designing ecosystems for talent development
Project Noah enables us to be part of a more focused online community where we can learn more about wildlife around us and contribute to scientific research. It pulls participants into deeper, more meaningful engagement by enabling people to go on “missions” to collectively map changes based on sightings.
A smart way to save wildlife
A modern invention that may also hold the key to saving species in the future. Project Noah is a global study that encourages nature lovers to document the wildlife they encounter, using a purpose built phone app and web community. In addition to the virtual "collection" of species, Project Noah encourages citizen science by linking up with existing surveys including the International Spider Survey and the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network.
Dial-a-Class
New mobile applications include a tool called NOAH that lets you take cellphone pictures of bugs and trees and then sends back an identification of the exact type in as little as 24 hours.


