Prairie verbena as part of a different color combination
You’ve seen prairie verbena, Glandularia bipinnatifida, in several views this season, including yesterday’s, and that’s only appropriate for one of the most common wildflowers in central Texas. You’ve seen even more photographs lately of firewheels, Gaillardia pulchella, also known as Indian blankets, which were and still are abundant this spring. A colony of them forms the backdrop for today’s portrait of verbena, which I made on May 1 in a “vacant” lot on the west side of Interstate 35 near Wells Branch Parkway in far north Austin. Note the tiny bug on the verbena.
© 2013 Steven Schwartzman
Probably not a kind of lynx you’ve heard of
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In the large colony of bluebonnets that you saw a small portion of on April 24, there were also some groups of prairie verbenas, Glandularia bipinnatifida, and pink evening primroses, Oenothera speciosa, near each other. On one of the verbenas I found a spider that Joe Lapp has identified as a striped lynx, Oxyopes salticus. The colors of the two adjacent kinds of wildflowers make this probably the prettiest pastel environment I’ve ever photographed a spider in.
© 2013 Steven Schwartzman
The vanishing prairie
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On April 28th, although I’d already photographed for hours, first in far north Austin and then on the Blackland Prairie in Pflugerville, I made a last stop—and what turned out to be a long one—on the west side of Interstate 35 south of Grand Avenue Parkway. The southern half of a large field there had become a construction site, but the northern half of the field lay still untouched and dense with wildflowers, most likely for the last time. It was Sunday, and no work was going on, so that freed me to wander in and take pictures. This is one of them, but I could show you others just as resplendent.
By now you’ll probably recognize these wildflowers. All are common in central Texas, all have been abundant this spring, and all have been regular visitors in these pages: old plainsman, Hymenopappus scabiosaeus; prairie verbena, Glandularia bipinnatifida; greenthread, Thelesperma filifolium; firewheel or Indian blanket, Gaillardia pulchella.
© 2013 Steven Schwartzman
Taking a step back in time
Yesterday’s post showed the flower head of a Texas dandelion, Pyrrhopappus pauciflorus. Here’s what a bud of that species looks like as it’s beginning to open. Notice the two minuscule insects on it.
This photograph comes from a March 26th stop along TX 71 east of Austin. The other people who parked where I did had been drawn to the yellow of a McDonald’s arches, but you might say I made this different yellow my happy meal, visually. And if you feel like rising above those arches, culturally, I’ll add that this bud reminds me of a line by Romeo: “O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!”
© 2013 Steven Schwartzman
Forget those lawn dandelions
Forget those dandelions that spring up in every known lawn in the United States: they’re invaders from Europe. Today’s welcoming blast of yellow comes from Pyrrhopappus pauciflorus, which is a native dandelion in Texas and some other American states. Note how the fused stamen columns are dark brown, so there’s no mistaking this home-grown dandelion for the wide-ranging colonist from across the Atlantic.
I photographed this Texas dandelion in far north Austin on March 19. The slightly more orange yellow in the background is from a colony of butterweed, Packera tampicana, which also served to set off the crow poison you saw a month ago.
© 2013 Steven Schwartzman
Not all cardinals are bright red
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Not all cardinals are bright red: the females aren’t. This picture of a Cardinalis cardinalis on a tree branch is from April 16th in Purgatory Creek Park in San Marcos, about 30 miles southwest of Austin.
© 2013 Steven Schwartzman
Indian paintbrushes and friends
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It hasn’t been a great year for Indian paintbrushes in any of the places I’ve visited, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t show you at least one picture of Castilleja indivisa. Most of the other flowers in this photograph are firewheels, Gaillardia pulchella, and the purple ones in the background at the lower left are bluebonnets that were still vibrant on April 30. The location was FM 20 at Rio Vista Cove a few miles east of Lockhart, a town in Caldwell County some 30 miles south of Austin.
© 2013 Steven Schwartzman
