Poverty weed tufts
A couple of weeks ago you saw some flowering poverty weed, Baccharis neglecta, both from afar and closer up. Now you get to see how the female flowers turn into silky tufts that in the 1800s reminded people of little paintbrushes and earned the plant the name pencil bush (because the word pencil originally designated an artist’s paintbrush). If you noticed a little bit of orange color peeking through at the left, it’s from a lady beetle.
This view is from October 19th alongside the Arbor Walk pond in north-central Austin.
© 2012 Steven Schwartzman
Wonderful detail, Steve! And more etymology that I didn’t know before – always a pleasure to read your posts.
composerinthegarden
November 7, 2012 at 6:57 AM
You’re welcome, to the plants and the etymology.
Steve Schwartzman
November 7, 2012 at 8:51 AM
[…] here’s a still later stage in the life of poverty weed, Baccharis neglecta, when the tufts of the previous picture have given way to seed-bearing fluff that gets dispersed by the wind. Notice the little […]
Poverty weed fluff « Portraits of Wildflowers
November 8, 2012 at 6:17 AM
That’s really pretty stuff! New to my eyes.
montucky
November 8, 2012 at 11:54 PM
Then happy new
From me to you.
Steve Schwartzman
November 9, 2012 at 7:08 AM
[…] appearances in these pages of poverty weed, Baccharis neglecta, have highlighted the flowers and tufts and fluff that grace our central Texas autumns. Now, with the last picture and this one, both from […]
Poverty weed’s gestalt | Portraits of Wildflowers
March 5, 2013 at 6:24 AM
[…] sunflowers (for example climbing hempvine, marsh fleabane, shrubby boneset, purple mistflower, and poverty weed). Enough already, you say? Hey, I’m only the messenger; that’s just the way things are […]
When is a “petal” not a petal? When is a “flower” not a flower? | Portraits of Wildflowers
July 3, 2014 at 6:02 AM