A rain-called lily called rain-lily

Click for greater clarity.

In addition to the Habranthus tubispathus of the the last two posts, another small lily called forth on July 13 by the rain, and even named for that behavior, is the rain-lily, Cooperia pedunculata. As opposed to the copper lily, its flowers are white rather than yellow, and this one was blowing a bit in the breeze, as you can see from the blurred tips of a few of its tepals. (You’re familiar with petals, and you may be aware that as they develop they’re surrounded by outer segments called sepals; when a species has petals and sepals that are practically identical, botanists refer to them both as tepals.)

I took this photograph in the same place as the last two pictures, the right-of way beneath the large power lines crossing a portion of my Great Hills section of northwestern Austin.

© 2012 Steven Schwartzman