Prairie wind blowing snow-on-the-prairie
Click for greater size and clarity.
On August 15, about an hour and twenty minutes before I took the picture that you saw yesterday, I took this one, which gives you a closer look at the plant picturesquely called snow-on-the-prairie. Botanists know it as Euphorbia bicolor, with the two colors being the (snowy) white and the green that dominate this scene. I’d stopped along US 290 near Elgin, some 25 miles east of Austin, and although it was still only about 9:30 in the morning, the prairie wind was already blowing, so I used a speed of 1/500 second to stop the sometimes frenzied motion of these slender and therefore easily buffeted plants.
This species grows throughout the eastern third of Texas; the east side of Austin is at the western edge of the plant’s range.
© 2012 Steven Schwartzman
Das sieht wunderschön aus!!
einfachtilda
August 31, 2012 at 6:24 am
Yes, it’s wonderful to see a colony of snow-on-the-prairie (or its similar-looking relative snow-on-the-mountain) in August. Both of them flower at this hottest time of the year.
Steve Schwartzman
August 31, 2012 at 6:41 am
They’re beautiful plants. This looks as though it might be a detail from an Andrew Wyeth painting. Just lovely.
shoreacres
August 31, 2012 at 6:59 am
Thanks for the comparison. I looked online to see if Andrew Wyeth ever did a painting in Texas, but I couldn’t find anything. I’m glad that you find this view lovely, as I did.
Steve Schwartzman
August 31, 2012 at 7:40 am
I love the name “snow on the prairie.” To me, it says, come look and see!
dhphotosite
August 31, 2012 at 8:11 am
Yes, it’s a great name. I wish it enticed everyone in central Texas the way it did you.
Steve Schwartzman
August 31, 2012 at 3:21 pm
Another stunning photograph from you. Always a pleasure to come over here!
Susan Scheid
August 31, 2012 at 7:38 pm
And always a pleasure to have you come from the state where I grew up to my current state.
Steve Schwartzman
August 31, 2012 at 8:26 pm
[...] recently saw some pictures of Euphorbia bicolor, colloquially known as snow-on-the-prairie because it grows in the eastern [...]
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September 9, 2012 at 6:17 am
[...] soft and narrow leaves supporting the bug as those of snow-on-the-prairie, Euphorbia bicolor, which you’ve seen here several times [...]
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October 10, 2012 at 6:09 am