Strymon melinus – Gray Hairstreak sitting on a Viguiera stenoloba – Skeleton-Leaf Goldeneye aka Resinbush. If you look closely you will notice the head at the bottom of the butterfly and the tail sporting a couple of fake antennae that actually wiggle around quite a bit while it is feeding. Apparently this evolved as a survival advantage – one can imagine that if a predator goes after the false antennae , the butterfly is free to fly away and pass on its genes to the next generation which is how natural selection works.
Tag Archives: wildflowers
This Wheel’s on Fire…
Indian Blanket, aka Firewheel looking a little less than perfect but colorful nonetheless, near the front door. It’s the state flower of Oklahoma, for those keeping track of those things. Bluebonnet, of course, is our state flower. I started my conversion to wildscape by transplanting local Bluebonnets and Indian Blankets rescued from building sites to my yard.
Red Penstemon
whether this is Penstemon barbatus or Pentsemon cobaea is unsettled in my mind at this time, though I’m leaning toward the latter. Typically the Penstemon cobaea or Wild Foxglove is white or creamy overall, with purple to reddish lines. This has the same shape flower, although the coloring is quite different. Still, I think it is probably a red variant of Penstemon cobaea. even though the plant I photographed at the WIldflower Center did have a sign saying Red Penstemon…. which is quite different in form. Good reason to identify these plants by their genus and species names instead of common names.
Oenothera speciosa – Pink Evening Primrose
According to the WFC’s NPIN, this flower tends to open in the morning in the southern parts of its range, which stretches throughout the central plains of the US. So we must officially be in the southern part of the range, here in central Texas. A spreading perennial that tolerates partial shade and drought, it’s another possibility for adding to my wildscape this year. More information can be found at http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=OESP2 .
Lupinus texensis – Texas Bluebonnet
Scutellaria wrightii – Wright’s Skullcap
Found these at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center down in Austin. Don’t have any in my yard, though perhaps this year we shall. Blooms from March through July with these attractive blossoms, it is an evergreen perennial, which is always welcome. Named after Charles Wright, who did much of his botanical collecting in Texas.
Callirhoe involucrata – Winecup
The usual color of Callirhoe involucrata is a deep burgundy, from which it gets the common name Winecup. The variation lineariloba has pale purple stripes with white edges, and is only found in four or five counties in Texas. This white variation was originally lineariloba but seems to have lost all its color. As far as I know it is found only in my front yard. . .March 30 – did a little research on the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center website and found that white is indeed a normal variation, if not a common one, for this flower.
Blue Gilia – Gilia rigidula
Eastern Bluestar – Amsonia tabernaemontanar
As far as I remember, this is the first time I’ve seen this particular wildflower – at least in such abundance. Came across a whole field of them while on a field trip last Saturday. Butterflies do like them, as well as other nectar seekers like bees. It was a windy day, and I was fortunate that at least one of my pics turned out reasonably well.









