Skeleton-plant flower center

Lygodesmia texana: click for greater detail.

Where yesterday’s photograph presented a horizontal, external view of the architectural base of a flower head of Lygodesmia texana, today’s photograph looks at the center of the flower head from above. This member of the sunflower family is often called the skeleton-plant because its slender and rising stem lacks obvious leaves. Another characteristic of the species is that its stamens tend to arc over and create a sort of cage above the center of the flower head. For more information about Lygodesmia texana, including a clickable map showing the states in the United States where this species grows, you can visit the USDA websiste.

I made this photograph on August 29 at Austin’s Elisabet Ney Museum, whose grounds are being restored to a native prairie. As has been the case all this week, today’s photograph is one of twelve that are currently on display at the museum.

© 2011 Steven Schwartzman