Dropping with the drought
Fallen leaves and fruit of Juniperus ashei.
The most common native tree in many of the hilly parts of Austin is the Ashe juniper, Juniperus ashei, colloquially called cedar. Perhaps a dozen of these trees inhabit my yard, and in dry spells they shed some of their scaly leaves, which join the female trees’ previously shed grayish-purple fruits on the ground. Together the fallen leaves and fruits are dense enough in places to form an opaque blanket, as this picture taken yesterday morning confirms.
© 2011 Steven Schwartzman
(Check the USDA website for more information about Juniperus ashei, including a clickable map showing where the species grows.)
Portraits of Wildflowers 
[…] where the bud and flower happily lined up with a shadowed portion of the trunks of a group of Ashe juniper trees in the near distance. The trees were far enough away that my aperture of f/7.1 was large […]
Mountain pink bud « Portraits of Wildflowers
June 21, 2011 at 6:18 AM
[…] one from the first month of this blog about the way the Ashe junipers were shedding leaves and fruit during the drought. […]
Cedar « Portraits of Wildflowers
January 13, 2012 at 5:13 AM
This is beautiful! I love colors and the serendipitous composition.
(Euell Gibbons, on the other hand, would find it delicious… There used to be a breakfast cereal that was just bran and it looked like this! 😉 )
pixilated2
January 13, 2012 at 10:07 AM
You’re the first person in 8 months to find this picture appealing, so I’m grateful. I sometimes do look at even inedible native plants as if they were good enough to eat: bon appétit!
Steve Schwartzman
January 13, 2012 at 10:19 AM
Well, maybe the others needed to sit back a bit from their computer screens. Sort of like impressionistic art? The myopic view doesn’t do it justice. ~ L
pixilated2
January 13, 2012 at 11:34 AM
I’m glad you’re not taking a myopic view of the picture! (In addition, it appeared in only the third week of the blog, so probably not many people even saw it.)
Steve Schwartzman
January 13, 2012 at 11:51 AM