The Rosebay is one of North Carolina's most beautiful native shrubs, a representative of a large and diverse group with hundreds of species around the world, many of them prized as ornamentals. Its iridescent green body and translucent black wings, along with its butterfly-like flight make it unmistakeable. Peabody's gift was but a small part of his distinguished record of philanthropy that continues to benefit educational institutions across the American South even today. In mid-summer the pulsating buzz of cicadas echos through the Park woods every day. Cicadas spend most of their lives underground as nymphs feeding on the roots of trees, and then every few years they emerge as adults to sing, reproduce, and die.
Different species reproduce at different intervals ranging from three to seventeen years.
All these wasps provision their nests with paralyzed spiders so that their young have a fresh food supply when they hatch. The only species of orchid growing on the campus, Crane-fly Orchids produce a small spike of delicate maroon and yellow flowers that are very easily overlooked on the shaded forest floor. The one or two dark green and purple leaves of the plant do not appear until even later in the season, and they overwinter intact after the flower spike has long-since withered away. Late summer and fall is the time for fungi , and many different species may be found in the Park's woods and fields, especially after rains. The annual Perseid meteor shower peaks around August 11th.