Hymenosa scaposa – Slender Stem Bitterweed
This Bitterweed is either an albino or it has lost some of its natural yellow coloring. First one like this that I’ve seen.
Monthly Archives: June 2012
Salvia… most likely texana
Salvia
Thanks to Megan Lowery for catching this incorrect identification from a shot taken back in 2012. She suggests either S. engelmannia or S. texana as the correct ID. Not sure how the wrong name got attached, whether it was in the field, or just sloppiness on my part, but I do recall having had a Salvia texana, aka Teas Sage, in my yard at one point, and perhaps a picture of it was mislabeled prior to publication on this blog, which hasn’t been updated for several years. I noted that Scutellaria drummondii is called Salvia drummondii on the Lady Bird Johnson Plant ID part of their website: “Salvia drummondii grows up to 12 inches tall. It is often branched at the base, forming clumps. Leaves are opposite and densely arranged. ” (https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=SCDR2). Live and learn.
Calyophus Berlandieri – Square-Bud Primrose
Calyophus Berlandieri – Square-Bud Primrose
Most primroses are members of the Oenothera genus, which means that their stigma are X-shaped. Not so with Calyophus genus, which has a rounded stigma, which can be seen better if you click on the picture above. Usually the Square-Bud Primrose has a black throat and a black stigma, but this particular variety has yellow throat and stigma. In bloom at a Williamson County park near me…
Thelesperma simplicifolium – Navajo Tea
Thelesperma simplicifolium – Navajo Tea
Here’s hoping I got the identification right on this one. I am sure it isn’t Thelesperma megapotamicum because the flower head is shaped much differently. Thelesperma subnudum doesn’t fit the bill because it is not native to Texas. Thelesperma filifolium var. filifolium looks like the species shown in yesterday’s post and commonly called Greenthread. That leaves T. simplicifolium as the last one at the Wildflower Center’s Native Plant Information database (NPIN) and fortunately it does seem to match the photos in the database and it is native to Texas and New Mexico. It blooms from May to November and one might assume that the petals were used by Native Americans to make a beverage, based on the common name given to it. Alas, I can’t confirm or deny that at the moment, so we’ll just have to refer to it as Thelesperma simplicifolium and hope we got the identification right this time.
Thelesperma – Greenthread
Thelesperma – Greenthread
There are several different species within the Thelesperma Genus, and this is most definitely one of them. Which one, though, can be difficult to say for sure, since this is so closeup that there is no way to judge the height of the flower, the shape of the leaves, etc. Perhaps it might help if the photographer kept better notes while in the field… Compounding the problem is that several different species share the common names Greenthread and Navajo Tea, which is why Greenthread was used in the title. It’s probably one of the common names of this Thelesperma.
Monarda citriodora – Purple Horsemint
Horsemint – Monarda citriodora
possibly Yellow Bitterweed – Helenium Amarum
possibly Yellow Bitterweed – Helenium Amarum
“Possibly” because the identification was made in the field and I haven’t gotten a sure ID since returning home…It seems to me that th Helenium Amarum has only 8 petals and that this one in the picture has at least 9 I can count. I haven’t even tried to identify the bug yet. It does look as though it has been the target of a wasp which has laid eggs on it (those hairy looking things on its back). Insects don’t usually stay still for photo opportunities,
Western Venus’ Looking Glass – Triodanis coloradoensis
Western Venus’ Looking Glass – Triodanis coloradoensis
Here’s another one of those miniature beauties that you probably won’t see if you’re jogging or biking down the nature trail. That would be a shame, because this short 6″ to 2 foot high is arguably the most beautiful of the Triodanis genus. This was photographed along the Brushy Creek Regional Trail back in mid-May. If we hadn’t been in the company of a bunch of shoe-gazing native plant field trippers, we might never have seen it.
Convolvulus equitans – Texas Bindweed
Convolvulus equitans – Texas Bindweed
Spotted this today in the Dessau Middle School parking lot while in between photo shooting assignments involving Lego Robotics pieces. A member of the Morning Glory family, this is a fairly small annual vine that usually prefers partial shade according to the Wildflower Center’s NPIN. Enquist’s Wildflowers of the Texas Hill Country refers to it as a perennial. Interesting. Usually found prostrate or climbing on short weeds in the fields, it is common in the Hill Country and is native throughout the Southwest to California, except for Nevada. It ventures eastward to Arkansas and Alabama, according to the USDA’s database. The pink or purple centered white flowers remind me of the much larger Alamo Vine Ipomoea pandurata
bob's brain: living well with a movement disorder and other comorbidities 