Astragalus leaves
And here from the same stop on the north side of Old Lampasas Trail on March 24th is a look at the pinnately compound leaves of what I took to be a ground plum plant, Astragalus crassicarpus.
© 2014 Steven Schwartzman
Astragalus
Click for much larger size.
When I walked through the greenbelt on the north side of Old Lampasas Trail on March 24th I found what I think was a ground plum, Astragalus crassicarpus. The light was low, so you get this soft portrait of one of the plant’s flowers.
© 2014 Steven Schwartzman
Morel mushroom
On March 23rd, some friends and I went on a mushroom hunt close to the place on Old Lampasas Trail where I went back and photographed the golden groundsel the next day. I led our little group to the spot where some years earlier I’d found a colony of morel mushrooms, Morchella esculenta, large enough to have gathered (and then eaten) several pounds of them, but this time there wasn’t a single one. We kept looking in the area, and eventually along a nearby creek we managed to find exactly three morel mushrooms. This was one of the three.
© 2014 Steven Schwartzman
Golden groundsel in a colony
Golden groundsel, Packera obovata (formerly Senecio obovatus), thrives in shade or partial shade, where it can form colonies. For several springs in a row I’ve gone back to a creekside along Old Lampasas Trail to photograph this colony, as I did on March 24th. Packera obovata is a close relative of the butterweed that you saw from a distance in the last post.
———–
I’m out of town for a few days. Feel free to leave comments, but it may take me a while to answer them.
© 2014 Steven Schwartzman
A different B & B
This time the B & B of the title are bluebonnets, Lupinus texensis, and butterweed, Packera tampicana. On the afternoon of April 4th, when I was driving northbound on US 183 and nearing the southernmost reaches of Austin, I saw these two adjacent colonies in a field at the intersection with Von Quintus Rd. (the street sign said Von Qunitus Rd.). The violet-colored flowers that you can make out in a few places among the bluebonnets are prairie verbenas, Glandularia bipinnatifida.
———–
I’m out of town for a few days. Feel free to leave comments, but it may take me a while to answer them.
© 2014 Steven Schwartzman
More loops
Another looping subject I found at McKinney Falls State Park on March 13th was this dry tendril from a mustang grape vine, Vitis mustangensis. This specimen was only a few inches long, but a mustang grape vine can grow to the height of a tree, with a girth to match.
———–
I’m out of town for a few days. Feel free to leave comments, but it may take me a while to answer them.
© 2014 Steven Schwartzman
Old plainsman, phlox, and other wildflowers
On April 4th along FM 467 southwest of Seguin I saw some old plainsman (Hymenopappus spp.) coming up and towering over the other wildflowers. The magenta flowers are phlox (Phlox spp.). Mixed in are some Indian paintbrushes (Castilleja indivisa) and bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis).
———–
I’m out of town for a few days. Feel free to leave comments, but it may take me a while to answer them.
© 2014 Steven Schwartzman
