This plant called 'Nine Miles Fragrance' in China. It grows all over at northern part of Taiwan. In Taiwan, the flower clusters bloom prolifically. However in my cooler home, it blooms sparsely. The clusters were observed to be held over next year to bloom. It can set seeds in Taiwan and the seed-droppings would develop many seedlings under the mother bush.

Absolutely Lesser Goldfinch. By the way, I don't know how much time you spent looking at warbler pics, but you would have saved yourself that effort by noting the bill shape: warblers have much thinner bills. Bill shape and size is often a good clue to point you in the right direction; bright colour patterns you'll likely remember without trying, but the bill really needs to be looked at (unless we're talking about a toucan or spoonbill etc). Just a friendly hint. -O-

Hi Rachel, Sorry - I live in eastern Massachusetts, 7 miles north of Boston and I live in a suburb with a little wooded area bordering my backyard, and a wildlife reservation and ponds about 1/2 a mile away (I am very fortunate!). It has been very cold here the last few days and we got our first dusting of snow yesterday. I have seen different kinds of birds here within a mile of the house - woodpeckers, hawks, swans, geese, the common feeder birds, we even have a heron who flies back and forth over our neighborhood every day - so we do get a variety of birds. We definitely do have house sparrows, but these little guys I saw yesterday were not those. They were just about a solid brown from where I could see. No striping or definitive marks. They just hopped around eating stray sunflower seeds. I've gone through photos of species, both genders and juvenile appearances, on the internet and in my books, and I am not sure what this bird was. The only even remote possibilities I could come up with were: field sparrow; junco; and female indigo bunting. If you have thoughts on this I would be most appreciative. Thanks, Donna P.S. Your last set of photos was, as always, astounding. Congrats on your new lifer!

Thanks for the replies everyone. I vaguely recall now the word "tounge" was mentioned when I got the plant years ago, but I agree with Kens advice and would need more positive ID to ever consider using the leaves. Sure looks like it is a Dragons Tounge. It has been 100% trouble free plant, blooming whenever it feels like it. I've enjoyed the plant for a long time and just wanted to know what to call it. Nice to know it propagates by cuttings.