Wildflowers in profusion

Click for greater size and clarity.

While the first place we stopped along US 183 south of Luling on March 31 was covered with Indian paintbrushes and Texas dandelions, the second place, which you saw a couple of posts back, had a much more extensive set of wildflowers, and they were intermingled rather than in separate colonies. Here’s another colorful mixture I found there.

The prominent yellow-fringed red flowers are Gaillardia pulchella, called firewheels and Indian blankets. The red flowers in the back are phlox. The yellow flowers are Engelmann daisies, Engelmannia peristenia. Above the center of the photo you can make out some white flowers that are just forming; they are bull nettle, Cnidoscolus texanus, which I expect will have a starring role in some future post(s). Near the top of the picture, inconspicuously, are a few Texas dandelions. No doubt about it: profusion.

© 2012 Steven Schwartzman