White on the Blackland Prairie

Click for greater clarity.

There are two things that we can tie this picture to. One is the roughstem rosinweed, Silphium radula, that appeared in these pages in July of 2011. Here you see a sibling, Silphium albiflorum, known as white rosinweed because of the color—atypical in this genus—of its flowers. The plant is thick and stiff, but its white rays are similar to those of many another daisy-type flower. Notice the shaded bud beginning to open just below the already open flower head.

The other thing to tie this image to is a still-undeveloped property on E. Old Settlers Blvd. in Round Rock. There, and at the same time as I took this picture on May 29, I photographed the dried-out basket-flower that you saw in these pages five weeks ago. Various other kinds of wildflowers were also flourishing on this piece of the Blackland Prairie then, some of which account for the daubs of color you see beyond the white rosinweed.

© 2012 Steven Schwartzman