Silverpuff opens
A picture that came to you five weeks ago from the parking lot of my neighborhood Costco showed Chaptalia texana, called silverpuff. This diminutive wildflower seems to have two local varieties (or possibly species), one whose flower heads stay mostly closed, as you saw back then, and another whose rays emerge and can even fold back. This latest picture is obviously a close encounter of the second kind, courtesy of the wildflowers growing on the property of native plant lovers Dale and Pat Bulla in northwest Austin.
© 2012 Steven Schwartzman
Portraits of Wildflowers 
I’m going to remember that use of “close encounter”! I’m enjoying your posts, hoping to learn the flowers.
Spider Joe
March 18, 2012 at 8:27 AM
And you’ve had myriad encounters of the arachnid kind. Welcome to the wildflowers, of which we have so many here, both in general and right now.
Steve Schwartzman
March 18, 2012 at 8:42 AM
An interesting flower.
TBM
March 18, 2012 at 10:13 AM
I’m particularly fond of this little one. Yesterday I visited a plant nursery and was pleased to find this species available. I hope more people in my area will get to know it.
Steve Schwartzman
March 18, 2012 at 10:29 AM
All graceful elegance, the way you’ve portrayed this flower.
Susan Scheid
March 18, 2012 at 4:00 PM
Thanks so much, Susan. The word chiaroscuro comes to mind.
Steve Schwartzman
March 18, 2012 at 4:06 PM
[…] you remember the silverpuff that appeared in these pages back in March as a bud and as a flower? This little wildflower, which Bob Harms reports can be split (though not easily) between Chaptalia […]
Silverpuff through the summer « Portraits of Wildflowers
August 22, 2012 at 6:17 AM