Well, folks, this site was left behind a few years ago, but from my overall WordPress traffic reports, it seems to be visited from time to time. Thus it seems that it might not be a bad idea to start updating it. Could be wrong of course, but here goes nothing: One of my favorite Texas native wildflowers, the Prairie Celestial.

Nemastylis geminiflora – Prairie Celestial

These members of the Iris family bloom for approximately two weeks, beginning with somewhere near the Spring equinox, and ending around April 1st. This year, there was an early “scouting” expedition around the 13th-15th of March, then a gap, followed by the expected blooming around the 19th of March through April 1st, which appeared to have been the last of it. Then, around the 5th through the 10th of April, I discovered some more blooms, stragglers, as it were.

Each flower blooms for just one day, and they often appear in pairs, hence the species name geminiflora. Each plant, which is a deep seated bulb (and hard to dig up, even for scientific sampling), may have several flowers. Another common name is Pleat Leaf Lily, derived from the “pleats” in the leaves, as shown below.

You might also note the bur clover or yellow clover, an invasive weed that forms a carpet and crowds out native plants, especially when mowing is frequent and close to the ground, and mowers move between locations without pressure washing plant materials off the blades of their mowers.

Nemastylis geminiflora – Pleat Leaf Lily