Silverpuff through the summer

Click for greater clarity.

Do 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 texana and Chaptalia carduacea, has continued to appear sporadically on mostly shaded ground in the months since then. On August 13th along Harrogate Dr. in my northwestern part of Austin I found a few that were in the puffball stage you see here. Unlike the more common and better known dandelion, which also turns itself into a globe of fluff but is an aggressive European alien in the Americas, silverpuff is native to Texas. Travis County (which includes Austin) and adjacent Bastrop County mark the northeastern corner of silverpuff’s range.

© 2012 Steven Schwartzman