Elbowbush flowering
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One of the earliest native species to flower in Austin is Forestiera pubescens, known as elbowbush and spring herald. I photographed these blossoms in Great Hills Park on February 27th.
To see the places in the southwestern United States where this member of the olive family grows, you can check the USDA’s state-clickable map.
© 2014 Steven Schwartzman
The view from farther back
As you’ve heard, on February 15th I spent some time walking along a creek that runs through the hills in far northwest Austin. Apparently brought out by the warming temperatures that week, patches of the algae floating on the surface of the creek seemed preternaturally green. In the last post you had a close view of that algae looking straight down, and now you get to see what the winter woods along the creek looked like. The tree with one of its long trunks arched over the creek is a black willow, Salix nigra, a species that does best near water and therefore is most often found near water. The woody vines hanging from the upright trees are rattan, Berchemia scandens.
© 2014 Steven Schwartzman
Verdant creek surface
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On February 15th I spent some time walking along a creek that runs through the hills in the far northwest part of Austin. Perhaps brought out by the warming temperatures that week, patches of the algae floating on the surface of the creek were such a bright green that they seemed unnatural, though I know there’s a contradiction in calling anything in nature unnatural. The browning leaf and bits of decomposing seed balls were from nearby sycamore trees, Platanus occidentalis.
© 2014 Steven Schwartzman
A twist on twistleaf yucca
Here’s an abstract and minimalist closeup of twistleaf yucca, Yucca rupicola. In a photograph posted two years ago today I played up the characteristic way the leaves of this species twist, but what caught my attention here was the blemish on a non-twisted part of a yellowing leaf. This latest take is from the right-of-way beneath the large power lines near Yaupon Dr. in northwest Austin on February 14th.
© 2014 Steven Schwartzman
Similar pastel colors, but from a different source
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When I was wandering in the western part of my neighborhood on February 13th I was pleased to see some Sedum nuttallianum that was coming up in several places. Here’s a look straight down at an emerging colony of that diminutive succulent, which in this early stage stays cropped close to the ground. Later the plants will get a little taller and produce small but bright yellow flowers, hence the common name yellow stonecrop.
To see the places in the south-central United States where yellow stonecrop grows, you can check the USDA’s state-clickable map. To learn a little about Thomas Nuttall, for whom Sedum nuttallianum is named, you can read the Wikipedia article about him.
© 2014 Steven Schwartzman
A pastel pad
Freezing weather is one of the things that can make the pad of a prickly pear cactus, Opuntia engelmannii, turn from green to pastel shades of rose, orange, and yellow. I took this abstract photograph of such a cactus in my neighborhood on February 13th, during the same session that brought you yesterday’s more-conventional view.
© 2014 Steven Schwartzman
Lindheimer’s senna pods on prickly pear
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It’s not unusual in nature to find things outside their normal places (assuming we can even say what a normal place for something in nature is). When I went walking through some undeveloped land in my neighborhood on February 13th I noticed these dry Lindheimer’s senna pods, Senna lindheimeriana, caught on the edge of a prickly pear cactus pad, Opuntia engelmannii. Notice how the curve of the two closest pods approximately follows the curve of the prickly pear pad’s edge.
If you’re not familiar with glochids (pronounced glow-kids), which are the tiny spines that appear in clumps here, you can read about them in this article. If you’re not familiar with having any of them in your skin, you’re fortunate.
© 2014 Steven Schwartzman
