Bug Squad

Moths. Mother's Day. The two go together like a moth to a flame, so why not have "Moth-er's Day?" And that's exactly what the Bohart Museum of Entomology is doing from 1 to 4 p.m.,Sunday, May 4 in Room 1124 of Academic Surge, Crocker Lane, UC Davis. The open house is free and open to the public.

Foxgloves are called "the lurking place of the fairies." That could be. Foxgloves are also known by their genus name, Digitalis--meaning fingerlike. The genus is native to western and southwestern Europe, western and central Asia, Australasia and northwestern Africa.

We have this tall plant in our back yard. How tall is it? Tall enough to give weather forecasts. (It's never caught short by a sudden storm.) Tall enough to see over the neighbor's fence to find a missing ball.

Just call it a "practice run." Or a "buzz run." Barbara Allen-Diaz, vice president of the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) vowed last year to wear bees if she received at least $2500 in donations for UC student scholarships through the "Promise for Education" fundraising drive.

"It was a bad hair day," quipped native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis. Yes, it was. A very bad hair day.